Updating Our Crest
Chapel Façade Inspires Changes
(Fall 2007 Newsletter)
 To
be featured in bas relief over the tympanum of the Chapel's façade
is the College's shield, supported on either side by angels. This
rendering in limestone has inspired an update to the College's crest
that was originally designed in the late 1960s.
Though most of the changes are subtle, there are three that are
more noticeable: the College's shield has been elongated to more
closely conform to the three-dimensional limestone crest; the typescript
has been updated; and the whole has been bounded within a circle.
Moreover, the shield has been placed on a claret-colored background,
giving the crest a new sense of depth. Alumni, friends, and benefactors
identify this shade of red with the College as it has been featured
in the masthead of this quarterly newsletter for many years.
 Because
the shield's symbols represent key characteristics of Thomas Aquinas
College, they have remained the same. In the top quadrant is a sun,
the Church's symbol for St. Thomas, who is our model in both intellectual
and moral virtue. In recommending St. Thomas to the faithful as
the "universal Doctor" of the Church, Pope Leo XIII said,
"like the sun, he heated the world with the warmth of his virtues
and filled it with the splendor of his teaching." In the right
quadrant, the open book with three tabs on one side and four on
the other represents the seven liberal arts-the trivium and the
quadrivium-the foundation on which rests our pursuit of the higher
disciplines, philosophy and theology. The Dominican Cross in the
bottom quadrant of the shield represents our dedication to St. Thomas,
and the lamp of knowledge is a sign that our final goal is wisdom.
As the Psalmist says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a
light to my path."(Ps 118:105)
We hope you enjoy our fresh, new look.
-- Qtrly Newsletter, Fall 2007
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