Roman Catholic Archbishop. Considered as one of the most prominent armorists of twentieth century ecclesiastical heraldry, Bruno Bernard Heim was the son of a stationmaster. With his artistic talent evident since his early stage of life, he was introduced to heraldry when he was sixteen by a college professor who persuaded young Bruno to illustrate him a book he was writing. Pursuing his studies in Rome at the Pontifico Collegio Internazionale Angelicum and later at the University of Freiburg University, Heim was ordained priest in Solothurn on June 29, 1938. Serving for the next four years as a vicar in Arbon and St. Anton, Basel, in 1942 he was again in Rome, this time to study at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. Interrupting his studies during the Second World War, during which he served as chaplain for Italian and Polish military internees in the Emmental, in Langenthal and Sumiswald, following his graduation in 1947 he was assigned to the nunciature of France where he served as secretary to Msgr. Angelo Roncalli, future Pope John XXIII, who happened to share Msgr. Heim's interest in heraldry. Assigned to the nunciature of Austria as counselor in 1950 and to that of Germany as chargé d'affaires in 1954, following Msgr. Aloysius Muench's calling to Rome in December 9, 1959 he led the nunciature until the appointment of Msgr. Corrado Bafile as nuncio in Germany on February 13, 1960. Appointed apostolic delegate in Scandinavia by Pope John XXIII on November 9 of the following year, he received his episcopal consecration with the titular archbishopric see of Xanthus on December 10 that year from Bishop Franz von Streng of Basel. Founding the Ansgar Werk Schweiz in 1962 organization for humanitarian assistance in Scandinavia, he was named pro-nuncio in Finland on February 16, 1966 and in Egypt on May 7, 1969. Appointed apostolic delegate in Great Britain on July 16, 1973, in 1982 he became the Vatican's first fully fledged ambassador to Britain since the Reformation as pro-nuncio in honour of Pope John Paul II's visit to Britain. A small, plump man with a warm sense of humour, Heim was an intimate friend of the Queen Mother, whom he delighted in private dinners and cooked for her at his residence facing Wimbledon Common. During his time in Britain he was responsible for advising Rome on the appointment of nineteen bishops, the most important being that of Basil Hume as archbishop of Westminster, which he saw as his greatest moment. Patron of Cambridge University Heraldic and Genealogical Society from 1980 until his death, when Cardinal Roncalli was elected pope in 1958 he asked Heim to draw up the new papal arms, making it clear that he regarded him as the only competent authority on heraldic matters in the Church. As a result, many cardinals, bishops and prelates sought Heim's advice and some commissioned him to re-design their arms. Through the years he thus designed the coats of arms for four popes, as well as creating and painting those of some three thousand patriarchs, cardinals, prelates and religious corporations. Member of twenty national heraldic societies and board member of the Académie Internationale d'Héraldique, when in 1978 the newly elected Polish Pope John Paul II asked that his coat of arms include a large letter M (for Mary, in order to signify his devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus), Heim told him that single letters were not normally allowed in heraldic designs. With the pontiff insisting, Heim did some more research and found a tradition of Polish heraldry that did incorporate letters. The M was restored and the Pontiff was happy. A man who enjoyed the British sense of humour, when asked about his titular defunct see in Asia Minor, mainly where Xanthus was, he would say: "Most of it is in the British Museum." In private life, Heim enjoyed both gardening and cooking. At the nunciature in Wimbledon he would occasionally cook for his own staff, preparing a meal from whatever ingredients happened to be available in the larder. Developing a vegetable garden to provide fresh vegetables for meals there, he converted the conservatory into a greenhouse. As he became older, he suffered from increasing deafness. Those who did not know him misinterpreted this as coldness; intimates found he was humorous and tolerant. Prior of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and grand prior of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, he received across the years various recognitions from Italy, Finland, Austria and chevalric orders to name a few, as well as the légion d'honneur from the Republic of France. Moving back to his native Olsen following his retirement in 1985, he kept himself active with heraldry, cooking and designing Christmas cards. Publishing five books on heraldry, in May 2002 he suffered a stroke, eventually passing away at the age of ninety two years in March of the following year. In accordance with his wishes, he was buried next to the village church of Neuendorf.