Carroll College - Hilltopper Yearbook (Helena, MT)

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righteousness, in the field d’or. Conscious that his are the arms of the great Milanese, he should be spurred to imitation of the magnificent loyalty of his patron. St. Charles’ cross of silver in the chief should animate him with the spirit necessary for the making of a coming Catholic leader, not a leading Catholic. In the green chevron portion of the shield, representing “Montana,” he may see the Northwest, the great pioneer country, comparatively speaking, which his efforts, be they such as his patron and his Alma Mater would have them be, will make a center of Catholicity, and one of the great units of the American commonwealth. The custom of bearing arms is a bit of an idealistic past that reproaches us for our easy abandonment of those chivalric practices which are so often conspicuous by their absence in our day, and which spur us to a fuller realization of our duties in reviving the spirit of Chivalry and of true Christian knighthood, that made the light of learning and moral progress burn so brightly during the Middle Ages. I i Page hcentg-three

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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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The golden West! A promise from the sun Whose evening glory shines across the plains. The low hung band of molten gold afar Is limning serrate crests of Rocky chain. The one-time boundary of what belonged To men of ancient blood, bronze-limbed, and wild, The red. and what to hardy Pioneer. Lawrence K. Devlin, A', ’22. Vnge twenty-four