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Page 19 text:
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THE. eOLLBeB INSIGNIA There is in the world of today a tendency to look with disfavor on anything that reminds us of the past. Horace’s “laudatores temporis acti” arc regarded as old-fashioned and ultra-conservative individuals, and their ideas considered of little value usually receive scant attention. So pronounced is this tendency that many of those studies and arts which exert a broadening influence are fast being dropped from the curricula of our colleges, and he who would revive them is regarded as hopelessly behind the march of human progress. Among these obsolescent arts, one which possesses a world of interest for the archaeologist, the philologist, and the modern historian, is that of armory or heraldry. Its history is most interesting as it shows the first efforts of man toward effecting a distinction for himself and his tribe by a peculiar mark or token. It renders clear oftentimes not only the history of old families, races, and peoples, but reveals to the modern student many of the institutions with which the modern historian must deal. It is closely allied to philology in forging the missing links of that, language and sign chain which binds us to pre-historic times. Heraldry as a living art declined with the advent of the Tudors in England, and of the Reformation there and elsewhere. But few families outside the aristocracy retained any heraldic reminder of past times, and the use of heraldic devices was confined almost exclusively to institutions of learning, many of which had to search far and long to lay claim appropriately to any armorial bearing. Mount St. Charles was most fortunate in its heraldic possibilities. The insignia of the institution is, in technical terms: “Or, a chevron vert; on a chief gules a cross throughout argent, the inferior half of each canton per less vert.” In common parlance, the shield or insignia of the institution might be described as a green chevron on a field of gold. On the chief, or upper third, is a silver cross superimposed, the alternate red and green stripes of the Borromeo arms appearing in the cantons on either side. Obviously, the Borromeo arms must receive a special honor in position on the shield. Hence, they are placed in the chief. The alternate stripes of red and green, four in number, are taken from the arms of the Borromeo family of Milan and are placed in the spaces called cantons at the four angles of a silver cross that represents the religious character and significance of the chief of the insignia. The Borromeo arms, however, contain six alternate stripes of red and green. Six were not used in the College shield, first, because of the impossibility of seeing Pnac twenty-one
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Page 20 text:
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at some distance that number, their narrowness making them almost indistinguishable; and secondly, because this heraldic “abbreviation” is sanctioned by all authorities in armorial science. As a familiar example, it may be recalled that the chief of England's coat-of-arms, when bestowed upon a house, contains but one lion, instead of the customary number, for this same reason of inability to distinguish at a distance a large number from the background of the chief. Because of the fact that the chief is preponderantly of color, it must be placed upon a metal. Gold was the metal used. On this gold field is placed a green chevron. It not only represents the “Mount.” but symbolizes “Montana,” being one of several similar chevrons found on the dexter half of the seal of the Bishop of the Diocese. As this is the diocesan institution of higher learning, it is eminently fitting that some part of the episcopal arms be placed on its insignia. Many might here interpose the question, “Why are not the athletic colors of the College used or placed in the insignia?” The reason of this seeming emission is that the use of purple and gold with the arms of the patronal saint of the College is heraldically impossible, for the Borromeo arms are peculiar in their coloring, and very exacting in their combinations. Since they are incorporated in the chief, it is not possible to use both the purple and the gold in the inferior portion of the shield, and be consistent with the laws of heraldry. The gold is used as the metal forming the field, but an heraldic difficulty arises in the use of the purple. The heraldic colors are red, blue, and black, which are primary, and green and purple which are secondary. The metals are gold and silver. According to the canons of heraldry, one may not use two secondary colors on the same shield. St. Charles' green could not well be given up, but the right of the purple to the position could be ignored, as it could be used anywhere else. As authority for the discrepancy in the colors of the shield and the athletic colors, we may instance that livery colors do not of necessity depend on the shield. The livery color of the English Hanoverians, for example is black, although the shield is red and gold. Livery colors of noble houses may be said to be the equivalent of collegiate athletic colors. And often these difTer materially from the colors on the shield. Thus, according to heraldic authorities, the Seal or Coat-of-Arms of Mount St. Charles is armorially correct, and yet appropriate in conveying an ideaographic picture of the institution. A justification of the use of arms is beyond the scope of this undertaking. Reasons for them, however, are by no means wanting. The arms, in idealistic figures, remind the student of the ideals on which the College was founded. On the seal he may see the golden beauty of truth, of Page tu'fvtjftwo
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