From a Priest, to a Bishop, to a Cardinal

There is no particular historical news about the titular see of Putia in Numidia but the fact that northern Africa (the actual Algery) was where St Augustine (Bishop of Hippo) was primate and from his see, it is known, he used to give advices to the bishops of Numidia.

Jun 05, 2021

There is no particular historical news about the titular see  of Putia in Numidia but the fact  that northern Africa (the actual  Algery) was where St Augustine  (Bishop of Hippo) was primate  and from his see, it is known, he  used to give advices to the bishops of Numidia.

In the upper part of the shield  there is a golden embattled fess  to represent the desert of Numidia with the dunes and an over  standing sun, with the monogram of Christ (IHS), rising in  the red sky of the desert dawn.  In heraldry the sun symbolises  Providence and the monogram  represents the Christocentric  concept of the Providence. 

In the lower part of the shield there are many symbols. The silver and blue wavy bars represent  the sea. Bishop Sim was born in  Seria, a sea city; the sea and the  boat appear also in the logo of  the Apostolic Prefecture (today  Apostolic Vicariate) of Brunei. 

St Augustine and his mother, St Monica (which is also the  name of Bishop Sim’s mother)  left their country by boat to reach Italy. St Monica died in Ostia,  close to Rome (where she is buried) and in a stained-glass window of a Roman church, she is  painted with a boat close to her. 

The silver star is one of the many ways to represent the Virgin Mary (Stella Matutina,  Stella Maris, etc.) and reminds  the Church of the Immaculate  Conception where Msgr Sim was ordained priest. In addition, the star appears in the logo of the Vicariate too.



Motto: Duc in Altum
The phrase means “'put out  into the deep” based on Jesus’ encounter with Peter,  James, John and Andrew. We have to have a new paradigm, a new vision, and we  need to move on and do things in a new way, when things are not working.  “Non nova sed novae”, which  means not new things but  in a new way. If we do this,  we have a greater chance of  spreading the Good News  more effectively.

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