A Biography of Our Spiritual Father, Archbishop Randolph Brown

His Excellency, Archbishop Randolph A. Brown is a life-long Midwesterner. He was born and raised in Chicago and has lived in Minnesota all of his adult life. He is 51 years old, married to his wife of 13 years, Billie, and he is the proud father of his Wire Haired Fox Terrier, "Annie". Together they make their home in suburban Minneapolis.

He was ordained a priest October 4, 1985, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. His ministries since then have been primarily as a pastor and spiritual director. He has been active in the Minnesota Cursillo Community and has initiated ministries to the handicapped and shut-ins. He was elected as the first Bishop of the Diocese of Minnesota and the Upper Midwest, in October of 1994 and was consecrated the following year. In 1996 he was raised to the dignity of Archbishop. Prior to ordination, Abp. Brown had been a Life-Professed member of a small ecumenical Franciscan Religious Order.

The Archbishop's Coat of Arms

The Episcopal Seal depicted above speaks both to Archbishop Brown and our Archdiocese. The Mitre, along with the crossed Key and Crozier speak of the pastoral and juridical offices of a Bishop. He is both a shepherd to his flock and one who holds the Keys of the Kingdom; given, by Christ, the authority to bind and to loose. The shield itself has a white pall, symbolic of the office of an Archbishop, upon which 3 Clough (crows) stand. The Clough is uniquely symbolic of St Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury and Martyr.  St. Thomas Beckett is the Patron Saint of the Archdiocese, and a Bishop in whose Line of Apostolic Succession Abp. Brown stands. The pall divides the shield into fields of green (vert), symbolic of the farms and forests of the upper Midwest, and blue (azure) symbolic of Minnesota's Blue Skies and Great Waters. Finally, the German Eagle is emblazoned on the Sinister side of the Shield, representing both the single largest ethnic group in Minnesota, and the Archbishop's own ethnic heritage. The Archbishop's Motto is, in Latin, Cor ad Cor Loquitor, which means, "Heart Speaks to Heart".