Coat of Arms

The device or coat of arms for St. John Vianney School combines elements of traditional Irish and ecclesiastical heraldry.

In the upper segment are references to Gallatin, Sumner County, the state of Tennessee and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville. Composing the upper field are alternating Wavy Lines of gold (Or) and green (Vert). These elements directly proceed from the arms of County Donegal and refer to the country's position on the Atlantic Ocean, the body of water that washes the shore of the entire west coast of Ireland.The Donegal reference recalls the native place of Hugh Rogan who was one of the first caucasian settlers of Sumner County. He also was a devoted Roman Catholic. In this case the Wavy Lines do not refer primarily to the Atlantic Ocean, which Rogan and the ancestors of most other contemporary Americans crossed to reach this continent, but rather they refer to the Cumberland River that forms the southern boundary of Sumner County and that has figured prominently in Sumner County's life for over two-hundred years.The three stars in horizontal plane are taken from the Arms of the Diocese of Nashville,, and the diocesan arms refer to the three stars in the flag of the state of Tennessee. These elements link the school with Sumner County?s history, with the land, the state of Tennessee and the Diocese of Nashville. Of religious significance are the stars and the hues or colors employed. The star itself is an ancient symbol of divinity and these stars in one horizontal continuum but perfectly distant from and
equal to each other recalls the Holy Trinity. The stars appear in
silver, (Argent), which represents peace. The alternating Wavy Lines occur in gold (Or) which is the emblem of generosity, and green (Vert) which represents hope.

The lower or inferior field appears as a background of blue (Azare),
the color of strength, and also the color of Christianity. Impressed upon this field is a white lamb, referring to the Lamb of God, the title by which John the Baptist saluted Jesus. John the Baptist is important in as much as he was the heavenly patron of St. John Marie Baptiste Vianney.The prominent display of the blue field in the lower segment further recalls the arms of His Holiness Pope John Paul II, and the silver stars are important elements in the arms of Most Reverend Edward U. Kmiec, who are presiding respectively as Supreme Pontiff and as the Bishop of Nashville at the time of the re-institution of the school.

Beneath the arms is the word Providence, the school's motto, that is
taken from the name of the school founded by St. John Vianney at his parish in Ars, France.