A RAMPANT LION.
A HISTORY WITH HERALDIC.
The Cardenal Newman College Alumni Association was founded by Brother David O'Connor and he was its honorary president for many years. After its foundation, the Brother wanted to give the Association a shield. O'Connor knew a lot about heraldry and therefore wanted the shield to follow all the rules of heraldic science. By chance, whoever tells you this story here, while still at the College, was passionate about heraldry, and O'Connor called him to help him devise the shield and that is why he met and can repeat this story today.
We must keep in mind that each figure, each color, each accessory, that carries a heraldic shield, has a universal meaning, and the shields were granted by the kings, to each family, with a content that reflected what that family had done for them. his country. It was not free to put any color or figure. It had to be granted. To us, to the alumni,it was Brother O'Connor who gave us a certain shield. The first thing that O'Connor decided was the central figure of the shield, what would appear in his field. Many different animals may or may not be used in heraldry: dragon, unicorn, leopard, fox, lynx, bear, wild boar, dolphin, eagle, elephant, bull and the most significant is obviously the lion.For a coat of arms the lion can be rampante (in attack), or pasante (the one represented in the position of an animal in marcha), or nascent (only the upper half is seen), or leopardized ( when the tail is turned over the back), and others.
O'Connor chose the most traditional form of the lion, symbol of his bravery, that is, the rampant, which is the attacking lion, which is represented in profile, standing on its left hind leg, the right hind leg forward, the left foreleg advanced, the right foreleg more raised and the tail raised.
It has a tongue and claws and is whole. He wanted to choose the lion to convey a message to the former students.This heraldic lion represents the duty of act NOBLY and BRAVELY.This lion calls us, each alumni, from the shield, to act like this. The color of the field, that is, its enamel, was blue, called azur, and it was another message to the former students, since this color represents the virtue of justice and perseverance. (The alumni shield was copied for the Newman Club, changing the field from azure to purple, since this color represents the harmony between thought and action). The color of the lion is gold, which means constancy, joy and wisdom, qualities that we are expected to have. The lion carries in its right claw the cross with two bars, called the Cross of Lorraine. Why did O'Connor choose such a cross? Because this Cross represents the Cross adopted by the Crusaders who accompanied Godfrey of Boullion in the first crusade and recovered Jerusalem in the year 1099. Also becauseThis cross, which had been incorporated into the coat of arms of the Dukes of Anjou and Lorraine, was the symbol adopted by Free France in its fight against the Nazi occupation.
That is to say, the cross that our lion has, is a call to the alumni to always fight in defense of the values of CHRISTIANITY, with the ethics that this entails, and of FREEDOM. (O'Connor told me that this corresponded to those who defended Christianity and freedom, after the burning of the churches suffered in Argentina in 1955). The war cry of the lion is “Newman”. The war shield was used by each family and their followers when they marched to war. The troops belonging to each family followed their flag and when the order to attack was given, the "war cry" was shouted. Such was the rule for armies in the Middle Ages. (It's more of a Hollywood "charge my braves," or yell "fire" and all the actors shoot arrows.) The war cry of the Christian warriors in the Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors, and now of the Spanish paratroopers, is: "Santiago and close Spain"; that of the Argentine independence forces: “Viva la patria” and that of the Alumni Association: “Newman”. It is what we have to shout at the moment of attack, when that try that will give us the championship is about to arrive.
The motto of the shield, which appears at the foot of the lion, is “Viriliter age”, a Latin expression that means that we must act manfully, with healthy good manliness. O' Connor was very respectful of heraldic rules. He himself had his O'Connor family crest and was a descendant of the Kings of Connacht (Connaught in English spelling), who were of the O'Connor family. (Rory O' Connor king in 1151-1154).
Our lion calls us, each alumni, every day, to act with nobility, nobility and courage, with justice and perseverance, virilely and with a healthy good manhood, in defense of the values of Christianity and freedom.