Trent;77303 wrote:

Do you have more information on Br. Gerard and his heraldry? What are your sources?

I ran across his work Armorial of the American Hierarchy at the Library of Congress some years ago. As I said, it was unfortunately never finished, although apparently volumes beyond the two or three that were published exist in manuscript form. He also published an Armorial des évêques du Canada in 1940. Then I started running across his name when doing research on Catholic diocesan arms. Some of the institutional arms you can find in the Canadian Heraldic Authority’s online records were also originally designed by him, and so on. I seem to recall that he also contributed some articles to the Heraldry Society’s journal, The Coat of Arms in the 1950s and 60s, but may be confusing him with another armorial monk, Dom Wilfrid Bayne. Fr. Selvester may know more.

Joseph McMillan;77281 wrote:

I would say that there’s almost zero chance that the arms on the seal are supposed to be different from what you’re characterizing as the arms.  I think the differences you’re seeing are almost certainly the result of errors on the part of one or the other, and since the seal as depicted on the college’s website would be authoritative, that should indicate which version is correct.

Two thoughts:

First, the fact that a coat of arms or seal appears on an institution’s website does not make it authoritative. For several years, an incoorect emblazonment of the arms of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati has appeared on its website—on every page of its website! I have complained several times, and it seems that my complaints have been heard. A new website is being designed, and those working on it are trying to make sure they get the coat of arms correct.

Second, the article posted in Trent’s album explains why there are two slightly different versions of the Assumption arms. It says that two coats of arms were designed for the express purpose of distinguishing the College itself from the Preparatory School. Unfortunately, the article does not explain how they differed. The article shows to coats of the arms, one standing alone and the other as the central motif of a seal. The article goes on to describe as the arms of the college those with a book inscribed Alpha and Omega. The version in which the book is inscribed ATR, therefore, should be the arms of the prep school, BUT the seal with the ATR inscription declares itself the seal of the college! Did some wires get crossed in producing the seal? This is what happens when one differences two coats of arms insufficiently.

Trent;77279 wrote:

2. My copy of Friar’s Dictionary of Heraldry defines a celestial crown as an Eastern Crown with its rays terminating in mullets.  It also shows a picture of each type of crown. Neither one matches the crown in the depiction of the arms.

3. Here is the missing text to which the pronoun "elle" refers:  L’écran de couleur rouge (gueules) portant le monogramme A.R.T d’argent est la devise de la Congrégation des Assomptionistes: “Adveniat regnum tuum,” Que votre régne arrive!

 

4.  The distinction between the seal and the arms is the distinction between the inscriptions on the books.

The book on the arms is inscribed with the two letters Alpha and Omega.

The book on the seal is inscribed with the initials ATR for “Adveniat regnum tuum."

I suspect the style of the crown is not important, since the blazon says on "crowned Or."

"Elle" then refers to the motto; it is the motto which expresses etc.

See my most recent post. The article posted in your album explains that the difference was meant to distinguish the college from the prep school, not the seal from the arms. It seems that there really are two coats of arms of two different institutions floating around here, but it is hard to pin down which is which.

Joe,

Thanks for the sources.  I’ll let you know if I find them in the stacks when I return to the library.  Didn’t get a chance to make it over there today.

Fr. Dohrman

Would you translate the first paragraph of the document?

Could it be that the 50th anniversary was the reason to separate the prep school from the college and that the new college arms and seal merely mark that separation?

I’ll check to see what devices the prep school used after 1954.  There was a previous set of arms before the separation.  I’m wondering if they just kept the old one and let the college develop the two new devices that we’re now discussing.

The first paragraph of the document in your album reads:

"On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the foundation of Assumption College, celebrated this year, and its division into two distinct institutes, the College proper and the Preparatory School, Brother Gerard Brassard has prepared new coats of arms and distinct seals for the two institutions."

This doesn’t quite clear up the confusion, but it explains how it began.

Fr. Dohrman.

You’re right.  It’s so strange that the text would contradict itself that way.  I’ll let you know what I find out next week.  Again, thanks so much for your help.

Fr. Dohrman & Joe,

So, here’s what I’ve found.  The two devices do indeed belong to the college.

The prep school had separate arms (and possibly a separate seal).  The prep school arms are very similar to the arms and seal of the college.  The shield is parted and colored the same as the college seal.  The cross on it is a normal cross, quarterly and counterchanged (no fancy treatments on the terminal points).  On the center of the cross is a bezant bearing the ART monogram in red. The arms are within a wreath of oak and maple leaves, the oak on the dexter, the maple on the sinister.  And the motto underneath reads: "Je Maintiendrai."

I’ll post a photocopy of it in my album soon.

Joe,

I got a chance to briefly see copies of Fr. Brassard’s books, both the Canadian and American volumes.  Impressive catalogs.  Three to four volumes each.