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Bishop STuart Hall, 7th Bishop of the Military Ordinariate of Australia

BISHOP STUART RUSSELL HALL
7th Military Ordinary of Australia

Bishop Stuart Hall was born in Melbourne in 1962 and is the son of Donald Hall and his wife Pamela (née Wright), both now deceased, and brother to five sisters including his twin.

He completed his primary education at St Peter’s Parish School, Clayton, and his secondary education at De La Salle College, Malvern. In 1981 he entered Corpus Christi Seminary, Melbourne, where he undertook his philosophical and theological formation.

He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Melbourne in September 1987 at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne.

Following his ordination, Fr Hall served as Assistant Priest at St Therese’s Parish, Essendon 1988–1990, at St Francis Xavier’s Parish, Frankston 1991, and at Sacred Heart Parish, Preston 1992–1994.

In 1994 he entered the Royal Australian Navy as a chaplain. During 22 years of military ministry, he served in numerous naval establishments and fleet units throughout Australia and on operational deployments, including Timor-Leste and the Middle East.

In 2005 he was appointed Maritime Command Senior Chaplain and subsequently served as Navy Systems Command Chaplain.

In November 2011 Fr Hall was promoted to the rank of Principal Chaplain and appointed Director General Chaplaincy – Navy. In the same month, Pope Benedict XVI conferred upon him the papal honour of Prelate of Honour of His Holiness, with the title of Monsignor.

Returning to the Archdiocese of Melbourne in February 2017, Monsignor Hall was appointed Parish Priest of Holy Eucharist and St Mary’s Parish, Malvern East. In 2022 he was additionally appointed Parish Priest of St Joseph’s Parish, Malvern.

In October 2023 he was appointed Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne, and in November 2023 was also appointed Parish Priest of St Augustine’s Parish, Melbourne.
On 3 July 2026, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV appointed him Bishop of the Australian Military Ordinariate.

Personal Coat of Arms

As is traditional, Monsignor Hall has adopted a personal coat of arms which is blazoned, in the language of heraldry, as:
Or, a chevron checky Azure and Argent, in chief four 8-pointed estoiles Azure and in base a mullet in glory Gulesor, in plain English:
On a gold shield, a chevron with alternative squares of blue and silver between, across the top,
four blue 8-pointed stars and at the bottom a 5-pointed red star surrounded by alternating longer and shorter rays.

The arms contain three elements: the chevron checky Argent and Azure, its colours deriving from the arms of the Scottish Stuart family arms; the mullet in glory Gules deriving from and referencing the arms of De La Salle College Malvern; and the four 8-pointed estoiles Azure deriving from and referencing the arms of Corpus Christi Seminary, Victoria.

Arms as Ordinary

Very shortly after his episcopal ordination, upon being installed as Ordinary of the Military Ordinariate, Bishop Hall will combine his personal arms with arms of the Ordinariate by a practice called impalement to indicate his spiritual unity with the Ordinariate.

The arms of the Ordinariate are blazoned: Per chevron gules and azure, in the canton point a fleur-de-lis argent and in base a Latin cross couped between a representation of the Southern Cross all argent; overall a chevron argent, three swords deflected sable. or, in plain English: On a shield divided by a silver chevron charged with three black swords with points downward a red field in the upper part charged with a silver fleur-de-lis in the upper left corner and a blue field in the lower part charged with a Latin cross with shortened arms surrounded by a representation of the constellation of the Southern Cross.

The Ordinariate Coat of Arms was adopted by the 1st Ordinary, Bishop Geoffrey Mayne. The three colours of red, white and blue represent the colours of the Australian flag. The white fleur-de-lis represents Mary Help of Christians, the Patroness of Australia, the three defensive swords represent the three branches of the Armed Defence Services, on the blue is the silver Cross imbedded in the Southern Cross represents the Catholic chaplains.

The impaled arms say heraldically “Stuart, Bishop of the Australian Military Ordinariate, who was educated at De La Salle College Malvern; and formed at Corpus Christi Seminary, Victoria”.
The Bishop’s personal arms were designed by Richard d’Apice AM, KCSG of the Australian Heraldry Society and Fr Guy Selvester and depicted by Sandy Turnbull, also of the Australian Heraldry Society.

It is not known who designed the arms of the Ordinariate.

Diocesan Finance Council

Canon 492 of the code of Canon Law requires that, in every Diocese, a Finance Council be established by the Bishop. The Military Ordinariate of Australia has such a Finance Council. The Council meets regularly to discuss the financial aspects of the Military Ordinariate.