RONCALLI CATHOLIC COAT OF ARMS

HISTORY OF BLESSED ANGELO GUISEPPI RONCALLI (Pope John XXIII)

Blessed Angelo Guiseppi Roncalli, our patron, was born on November 25, 1881, in Sotto il Monte, a small town in the Province of Bergamo, Italy. He was the son of Giovanni Battista Roncalli and his wife Marianna Giulia Mazzolla. The fourth in a family of 13, his family worked as sharecroppers, a striking contrast to his predecessor, Eugenio Pacelli, who came from an ancient aristocratic family, long connected to the Papacy. In 1904, Roncalli was ordained a priest in the Roman Church of Santa Maria in Monte Santo.

In 1905, Giacomo Radini-Tedeschi, the new bishop of Bergamo, appointed Roncalli as his secretary. Roncalli worked for Radini-Tedeschi until the bishop's death in 1914. During this period Roncalli was also a teacher in the diocesan seminary.

During World War I, Roncalli was drafted into the Royal Italian Army as a sergeant, serving in the medical corps and as a chaplain. In 1921, Pope Benedict XV appointed him as the Italian president of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. In 1925 Pope Pius XI appointed him as Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria, also naming him for consecration as titular bishop of Areopolis. He chose as his episcopal motto Obedientia et Pax ("Obedience and Peace"), which became his guiding motto.

In 1935 he was made Apostolic Delegate to Turkey and Greece. Roncalli used this office to help the Jewish underground in saving thousands of refugees in Europe, leading some to consider him to be a Righteous Gentile. In 1944, during World War II, Pope Pius XII named him Apostolic Nuncio to Paris, France.

In 1953, he was named the Patriarch of Venice, and, accordingly, raised to the rank of cardinal. As a sign of his esteem, President Vincent Auriol of France claimed the ancient privilege possessed by French monarchs and bestowed the red hat on the now-Cardinal Roncalli at a ceremony in the Elysee Palace.

In 1958, Angelo Roncalli was selected Pope.  As Pope John XXIII, he was known affectionately as "Good Pope John" and "the most loved Pope in history" to many people.  He died on June 3, 1963.  In 2000, John  was declared "Blessed Angelo Guiseppi Roncalli” by Pope John Paul II, the penultimate step on the road to sainthood. Following his beatification, his body was moved from its original burial place in the grottoes below St Peter's Basilica to the altar of St. Jerome and displayed for the veneration of the faithful.

POPE JOHN XXIII COAT OF ARMS

HISTORY OF ARCHBISHOP JOSEPH RUMMEL

Joseph Rummel (October 14, 1876 - November 8, 1964) was a former bishop of the Diocese of Omaha, Nebraska (Mar. 30, 1928 - Mar. 9, 1935) and former Archbishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans (Mar. 9, 1935 - Nov. 8, 1964).

Joseph Francis Rummel was born in the village of Steinmauern in Baden, Germany, on October 14, 1876. His family immigrated to the United States when he was six years old. Like many recent German immigrants, the Rummels settled in the Yorkville District of Manhattan in New York City. Joseph Rummel attended St. Boniface Parochial School, which was later demolished and is now the location of the United Nations Building.  He was a seminarian in Rome and was ordained at the Basilica of St. John Lateran on May 24, 1902.  He returned to New York and served as a Parish priest in several parishes around the city for the next 25 years.  He was named bishop of the Diocese of Omaha, Nebraska on Mar. 30, 1928, where he served for seven years.  In 1935, Rummel was named as the ninth archbishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.  He succeeded the recently deceased Archbishop John Shaw.  Rummel transferred to New Orleans during the Great Depression. At the time, cities in the United States, including New Orleans, were rapidly urbanizing, as farmers flocked to the city in search of factory jobs. Also, recent European immigrants, many of whom were Catholic, were also settling in the city. The population of the city rapidly expanded, as did the need for community services, especially schools. Over the next thirty years, the Catholic population in the Archdiocese would double to over 762,000, and the number of students in Catholic schools grew from fewer than 40,000 to over 85,000.

During Rummel's tenure, 45 new church parishes were created throughout the Archdiocese, and increasing the number of parishes from 135 to 180. In 1945, he launched the Youth Progress Program, a major initiative to raise money for the expansion of the parochial school system. This program resulted in the construction of 70 new Catholic schools, including several new high schools. Saint Augustine High School in Orleans Parish was built in 1951. Archbishop Shaw, Archbishop Chapelle, and Archbishop Rummel, all in Jefferson Parish, were built in 1962.

In 1935, Rummel mandated the creation of CCD programs in every parish. He streamlined the accounting procedures of the Archdiocese. And, he created new lay organizations to support an expansion of the many charity programs within the Archdiocese.

In October of 1960, at the age of eighty-two, Rummel broke an arm and a leg in a fall, after which he nearly died from pneumonia.  Rummel recovered and continued to serve as archbishop for another four years, but his health was a recurring concern during the last few years of his life.  He died in 1964.  Rummel High School, now Roncalli Catholic High School, was named after him.

Roncalli Catholic High School is steeped in the educational charisms of the De La Salle Christian Brothers (Lasallians) and the Notre Dame Sisters.  Both have a priority option for the poor, a passion for excellence in education and a deep belief in the dignity of each student.  The Sisters, founded by St. Peter Fourier and Blessed Alix LeClerc , have a great devotion to Mary as a role model for being a follower of Jesus and for saying “yes” to God in the daily circumstances of our lives.  The De La Salle Christian Brothers follow the direction of their founder, St. John Baptist de La Salle, in promoting a strong personal relationship with Jesus.

St. John Baptist de La Salle:  St. John Baptist de la Salle was born in Rheims, France on April 30, 1651.  He was the eldest of ten children in a nobble family.  He studied in Paris and was ordained in 1678.  He was known for his work with the poor.  He died at St. Yon, Rouen, on April 7, 1719.  He was canonized by Pop Leo XIII in 1900.  St John Bapists de la Salle was very involved in education.  He founded the institute of the Brothers of Christian Schools (approved in 1725) and established teacher colleges (Rheims in 1687, Paris in 1699, and Saint-Denis in 1709).  He was one of the first to emphasize classroom teaching over individual instruction.  He also began teaching in the vernacular instead of Latin.  His schools were formed all of Italy.  In 1705, he established a reform school for boys at Dijon.  St. John Baptist de la Salle was named patron saint of teachers by Pope Pius XII in 1950.  His feast day is April 7^th.

St. Peter Fourier & Blessed Alix LeClerc :  Peter Fourier was born in Mirecourt, France, on November 30, 1565, two years after the closing of the Council of Trent. He was educated in this post-counciliar period, with an emphasis on the meaning of Church and its apostolic mission. In 1585 he joined the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine, an abbey that was more concerned with materialism than with serving people. By his example of holiness, he tried in vain to lead the monks from moral decadence to their gospel charism. When he became pastor at Mattaincourt, he engaged the parishioners in active awareness of and involvement in moral and justice issues. He tackled all the hardships and suffering of his people, inventing ways to improve living conditions amid poverty, ignorance and superstitions.

Alix LeClerc was born in Remiremont, France, on February 2, 1576, during a turbulent period in history. At age 19 she met Peter Fourier. Following her dream, Alix pursued the idea of religious life and assembled a group willing to found a new order. On Christmas night, 1597, five young women publicly consecrated themselves to Our Lady. This was the birthing of "The Congregation of Our Lady: Canonesses of St. Augustine" in the church at Mattaincourt.

Drawn together by God's providence, Alix LeClerc and Peter Fourier created "The Congregation of Our Lady: Canonesses of St. Augustine" in 1597. Together they dreamed and helped transform unmet needs of their time by making Christian formation available to all. They believed that society can be changed for the better by empowering individuals, especially women, through Christian education. Peter and Alix frequently experienced opposition from the very church that they sought to serve, as well as civil and domestic persecution. Blessed Alix Clerc passed in 1622 and Saint Peter Fourier died in exile in 1640 and Blessed Alix Clerc passed in 1622

THE WINGED LION

Blessed Angelo Roncalli, our patron, was selected Pope while serving as the Archbishop of Venice, Italy.  As Pope John XXIII, he included the winged lion in his coat of arms as a symbol of his association with the church of Venice and the Cathedral of St. Mark.

The winged lion is the symbol of the evangelist, St. Mark.  The symbol comes from St. Mark’s description of “John the Baptist’s voice crying out in the wilderness” upon hearing the word of God (Mark 1:3).  God’s voice is said to have sounded like that of a roaring lion.

The lion symbolism also appears in a vision of the Prophet Ezekiel, where four winged creatures represent the four evangelists (Ezekiel 1:10 ).  Mark was a winged lion.

PRIDE

Pride – a family of lions – is used to define the family of the Roncalli Catholic Community, as well as to describe the feeling of Pride we have in ourselves, our school and the people we serve.  We gather Pride from our mission to provide outstanding Catholic education and quality faith development for young people of diverse backgrounds.  We instill in our students a sense of Pride in their own God-given talents and accomplishments.

CRIMSON PRIDE

Our colors are crimson and gold.  We wear them with Pride in our God, our dignity as people of God, and to symbolize our Roncalli Family and the many accomplishments of our students and graduates.