Bishop Justin Bianchini’s Crest

The green Ecclesiastical hat sits at the top of the crest with six tassels flowing from each side. These symbolise it is a Bishops crest and not a Cardinal or Archbishop etc.

The simple pale cross behind the shield represents the status of a Bishop also. This is known as the St Mauritius Cross and is the same cross used on the Diocesan Crest.

The shield on the crest has two sides.

The left side of the Bishop's crest contains the Diocesan Crest. 

• The star is one of the many symbols for Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and is known by this star as ‘Our Lady Star of the Sea”.
• The diagonal red cross represents the name given to the township of Geraldton by Captain Fitzgerald, the WA Governor at the time, and is from his Irish Fitzgerald family ‘coat of arms’.
• The ‘fleur-de-lis’ flower is from a French legend that Clovis, King of the Franks, received the ‘fleur-de-lis’ as a divine gift in return for his conversion to Christianity in 496.  It is also a symbol of Mary.
• The ‘Cyprus’ tree is a symbol of Pope Leo XIII, the reigning Pope when Geraldton became a Diocese.

The right side of the crest is in three sections

• The green mountain represents the mountains of northern Italy is where the Bianchini family originated from.
• The letters A and M – mean ‘Ave Maria’. A symbol of the Faith of the Bianchini family, where the Bishop grew up with the practice of daily prayer and the Rosary.
• The trowel and an arch of stone symoblises his father’s life as a stone mason and his three brothers who were in the building trade.

The Latin motto on of the crest, “In Omnibus Caritas”, translates as “In all things love”.
A principal the Bishop has lived by in his Priestly Ministry and Episcopate.

Bishop Justin Bianchini is eighth Bishop of Geraldton in Western Australia. Born in Subiaco Western Australia on 28 January 1941, Justin Joseph Bianchini entered the Minor Seminary of St Charles Guildford in 1954 where he completed his secondary schooling before continuing with three years of study in Philosophy. He then went to Genoa (Collegio Brignoe-Sale) to study Theology and was Ordained there on 29 June 1964 by Cardinal Joseph Siri.

On returning to Australia he worked as an Assistant Priest in the Cathedral and various parishes of Perth before becoming Parish Priest of Kalgoorlie in 1974, where he stayed for seven years.  He was Director of the Ministry to Priests Programme and Vocations Director in the Archdiocese of Perth for seven years from mid 1985.

He was Ordained Bishop of Geraldton on 19 May 1992, the principal ordaining prelate being Archbishop Hickey of Perth. Bishop Bianchini took for his Episcopal Motto 'IN OMNIBUS CARITAS' "In all things Love€™".

In February 2015 Bishop Bianchini wrote to His Holiness, Pope Francis, advising he would reach the Canonical age of retirement as the Bishop of Geraldton in 2016.

After celebrating 25 years as the Bishop of Geraldton, the longest in the history of the Diocese, the Ninth Bishop of Geraldton was announced on the 15th of May 2017.

After the Episcopal Ordination of Bishop-Elect, Michael Morrissey, on the 28th of June 2017, Bishop Justin Bianchini retired to Perth, W.A., to be close to his surviving siblings and family and to once again enjoy being 'pastorally involved' in peoples lives, without all the heavy responsibility that comes with the Episcopacy.