Bishop Peter Baldacchino
To Teach, Shepherd, and Serve the People of God
Born in 1960 and raised on the Island of Malta, Peter Baldacchino was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, on May 25, 1996. He served as the parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Ridgewood until 1999.
He then became a missionary in the Turks and Caicos, as Chancellor, Our Lady of Divine Providence Mission, where he served for 15 years.
Msgr. Peter Baldacchino was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Miami by Pope Francis and was ordained as a bishop on March 19, 2014.
In 2019, the Holy Father appointed him as the third bishop of the Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico, with his Installation Mass taking place on July 23, at the Cathedral of the Heart of Mary.
Recently, he celebrated his sixth anniversary, continuing to inspire and lead our community with faith and joy.
Bishop Coat of Arms
The Most Rev. Peter Baldacchino, D.D., Titular Bishop of Vatarba and Auxiliary Bishop of Miami, has chosen for his motto “Ubi Dominus ibidem laetitia” (“Wherever is God, there is joy”, see Judith 15: 10, tu laetitia l§rahel, and Psalm 67:4, et in conspectu Dei delectentur in laetitia), recalling also ~ Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (“The Joy of the Gospel”).
Dominating the Coat of Arms is found Christ crucified: “Far be it from me to glory except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world” (Gal 6.14). The Cross emerges as a sign of victory over death, represented by the waters of the baptismal font, the source of Christian life, which communicates to every Christian the victory of Christ.
The baptismal font is also a reference to his own rediscovery of baptism through the Neocatechumenal Way and to the work of evangelization: bringing people to live their baptism so that they may receive divine life.
Beneath the Cross and baptismal font is found an image of a palm tree upon which a lobster rests, a well-known symbol of the early Church, representing the mystery of salvation through baptism: a sea creature, accustomed to live in the waters of sin, through the work of the Holy Spirit, can leave behind its natural environment and live upon a palm tree, symbol of eternity and paradise (see image attached).
Above the Cross hovers a dove, symbol of the Holy Spirit, who is the life of the Church, and without whom nothing can be done.
In the upper part are found the moon, representing the Blessed Virgin Mary, (Rev 12.1: ”And a great sign was seen in heaven; a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars”) and the Cross of Malta, but also the star which leads the way to Christ. The palm tree is also a reference to the Archdiocese of Miami, and the lobster to the Turks and Caicos Islands, where Most Rev. Baldacchino ministered for 15 years.
The coat of arms is completed by the three waves of the baptismal font representing the three rivers of the Archdiocese of Newark, where Bishop Baldacchino was ordained in 1996, and by the glorious Cross that links the shield to the pontifical hat with its six tassels in three rows on either side of the shield, the heraldic insignia of a Bishop.
