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University Coat of Arms and University Seal
Duquesne University’s coat of arms was officially adopted and first appeared in 1923 when it was carved in the stone above the main entrance of the newly constructed Canevin Hall. Incorporated into the University’s official seal in 1926, the coat of arms appeared as part of the seal for the first time on the commencement program later that same year.
Originally designed by Reverend John F. Malloy, C.S.Sp., a Holy Ghost priest who served the University for 20 years, and later modified by Pierre de Chaignon la Rose, a specialist in ecclesiastical heraldry, the seal reflects Duquesne’s religious foundations and the influence of the early French settlement and domination of the Ohio Valley in the early and mid-18th century.
The black lion on the silver shield was adopted directly from the arms of the Marquis de Duquesne, the noted French naval hero, who was himself a Protestant although his descendants later converted to Catholicism. His nephew, Marquis DuQuesne de Menneville, the Governor-General of Canada in the mid- 18th century, was responsible for the building of Fort Duquesne at the Point in 1754, as well as first bringing Catholicism and the Duquesne name to this area.
The red book held by the lion was introduced to adapt the arms to that of an institution of higher learning. The blue and red colors of the upper portion of the seal represent not only the school’s official colors, but those of the Holy Ghost Congregation, the University’s founding order which itself was of French origin. The halved dove is the symbol of the Holy Spirit, The Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, and the Patron of the University whose official name, Duquesne University of the Holy Ghost, appears on the outer border of the seal along with the year 1878, the date of the University’s founding. The University’s Latin motto, “Spiritus est qui vivificat,†which appears on the inside border of the seal, is translated as “It is the Spirit that giveth life†and reflects the spiritual dimensions of the University’s educational mission.
