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Thomas
International’s Coat of Arms
Thomas International’s coat of arms was
designed by Diana Ciullo, following guidelines offered by
Fulvio Di Blasi. Its symbolism refers, of course, to the
person and thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. The design seeks to
embody both the canon of heraldry, and the communicative power
of contemporary art.
The Shield
The form of the shield symbolizes the
vocation of intellectuals, to defend the truth against the
errors and adversities of ideology and power.
The interior of the shield displays four
principle symbols: from the upper left, five waves, the wing of
an angel, an unsheathed double-edged sword, and a tuft of straw.
The Five Waves
The first symbol of the shield represents
philosophy or “the love of wisdom” (from the Greek,
philo-sophia).
The waves represent the famous “Five Ways,”
or five proofs for the existence of God, which, in turn, are
meant to be an image of Thomas’ philosophical thought that,
beginning from material realm, ascends to reach the most
spiritual and transcendent realities. Thomas’ philosophy begins
its quest for knowledge by contemplating those things that
present themselves to our five external senses. Because of this
basis in reality and sense-knowledge, Thomas’ method has been
called “philosophical realism”—to distinguish it from idealistic
philosophies that begin from abstract concepts and ideas. From
knowledge of the sensible world, Thomas achieves knowledge of
the human, spiritual soul and scientific proof of the necessity
of a First Cause and Ruler of the universe, that is, the
existence of God. In the thought of St. Thomas, this does not
mean that God, contained within the categories of human
knowledge, is known as He is in Himself. Rather, it means
touching the mystery of the ontological relationship that binds
creatures to their Creator.
The five ways are the apex of a realistic
philosophy open to the transcendental and the mysterious; a
philosophy that neither shelters the proper vocation of wisdom
in confronting the most profound problems of existence, nor
avoids the rationalist temptation to constrain reality within
the schemas, ideas, or systems of our mind.
Wisdom is the sublime apex of knowledge, when
the particular comes to be observed in light of its universal
and highest significance. The five ways are good
representatives of this moment because they are, for the
philosopher, the beginning of the contemplation of the world
with reference to the Being who, from the height of His infinite
wisdom and power, creates it from nothing.
The sea’s waves symbolize the inexhaustible
majesty of the cosmos, which directs the mind of man to the
mystery of the transcendent. Contemplating the sea, man is
alerted to both the proper limits and the greatness of creation,
and he opens himself to that which is beyond. The five ways,
like the waves of the ocean, lead the eye over the open sea to
that place where the horizon is mingled with the infinite and
material reality seems united with the spiritual.
The wing of the angel
Thomas Aquinas is also known as “The Angelic
Doctor” because he, more than any other, reflected on and wrote
about the nature of angels. In our shield, the wing represents
theology, which is the knowledge to which man arrives by virtue
of the revelation of God throughout history and by the action of
grace.
Theology is the highest form of wisdom since
it approaches truth from God’s point of view. One might say
that, while philosophy studies the world upwards from the
bottom, theology proceeds to the depths from above. Theology
does, however, presuppose a natural knowledge and builds upon
this knowledge because revelation can only be offered to a being
whose cognitive capacity and volition are already developed and
ready for a higher explanation and a superior truth. God
reveals himself to a man that is capax Dei, in other
words, to one who is capable of recognizing Him and of
receiving His message. This is one of the main principles of
the Christian faith: that the human being is by his very nature
oriented to a knowledge and love of God. However, by his own
powers man only reaches God in an indirect and veiled manner
through knowledge and love of created things. Grace, rather
than destroying nature, elevates it into a direct relationship
with God.
Thus, the wing also represents the
inseparable union of philosophy and theology, or of human wisdom
and supernatural wisdom. This union is present in an especially
wonderful way in manner Thomas conducts his study of the
angels. He knows by faith that certain creatures exist that,
like man, act rationally using their intellect and will but
that, unlike man, are not material beings, and thus, for
example, do not see, touch, and do not possess images of things.
Urged on by this certainty and assisted by
scriptural passages that refer to angels, Thomas rigorously
applies proper philosophical knowledge—specifically, regarding
human nature—to comprehend the modes of being and action that
pertain to a creature lacking a body. And in doing so, he
consistently maintains a clear distinction between those
arguments based upon revealed facts and those based upon
philosophical facts. The result is not only a brilliant
excursus on the angelic nature but also an extremely refined,
in-depth study of human nature and its animal and spiritual
components. In fact, it is impossible to reflect upon how one
can think and love while being deprived of the corporeal
dimension without first sharpening, at the same time, the
conceptual difference between that which, in man, is intellect
and will and that which is his animality. St. Thomas’ treatment
of angels is a splendid example of how the knowledge of faith
unites itself to purely human knowledge without diluting either
of the two, meanwhile, offering this human dimension a point of
departure and an incentive for further advances in philosophical
reflection.
The Sword
If the shield is the defense of truth, then
the unsheathed sword—with its point towards the
heavens—represents the powers of attack and seniority.
The union of the first two symbols—the union
of human wisdom and supernatural wisdom—simultaneously
represents the entire truth of which man is the intended
recipient, and the work of Thomas, which is an exemplary effort
to understand and penetrate this same truth.
Despite appearances to the contrary, truth is
the authentic ruler and queen of history. This is the case in
spite of every power, wealth, ideology, and intrigue with which
man inebriates himself in the present life. Truth is loyal!
The hero of truth, the righteous man, must neither waiver nor
despair!
The two-edged sword is an apocalyptic symbol
for the full truth by which the world and every individual shall
be judged. The sword emanates from the mouth of God and invites
all to conversion while threatening combat if unheeded (Rev
1:16; 2:16). The sword is the Word of God, it is Christ, it is
the Truth. The heroes of the truth on this earth, those who
give testimony to it with their actions and teach it with their
words and writings, are thus privileged figures of Christ along
with their privileged testimonies; and they fittingly symbolized
by a double edged sword in the position of attack.
At the end of time, the victory of Christ
will manifest itself in the unveiling of the truth throughout
history. At this time, all will understand that good has always
conquered evil, that the force of love has always prevailed
against the forces of hatred. And subsequent judgment shall be
just because the truth of good and evil—the law of God—has
always been present in all men, engraved upon their nature.
Thus to every conscience, even the most depraved, has been given
the possibility of introspection and discovery of the truth. In
the bottom of every heart, all have always known good and evil.
No one shall be able to say that he didn’t know. The
final judgment will award those who are good because they
knew to act well and it will condemn those who are evil
because they knew to do evil. Ignorance is irrelevant
and error will not be attributed to those who, in perfect
sincerity of conscience, believed that they did good.
The Tuft of Straw
Towards the end of his life, Thomas had a
special revelation from God, the details of which remain
unclear. It is only known that, from that moment on, he almost
ceased to speak and write. The silence of Thomas has
remained throughout the ages as an eloquent sign of the
greatness of his vision. During that period, he, referring to
his writings, said that they were sicut bacula (like
straw); not in the sense that that which was contained in them
was mistaken or that anything should be eliminated, but in the
sense that, when compared with that which God is in Himself, all
that man can think and write is as nothing... sicut bacula.
Following the first symbol, which represents
the greatness of human wisdom, the second, which represents the
greatness of supernatural wisdom, and the third, which
represents the power and the significance of both, the last
symbol represents intellectual humility.
Man is created with extraordinary powers to
elevate himself with his mind and heart to God. He is called
“the priest of creation” in the sense that, except for the
angels, he is the only being that is called to consciously
return the world to its creator. The greatest temptation and
ruin of man comes from intellectual pride, from not accepting
the limits proper to reason and perspective, and from wanting to
understand everything, thus closing the door to faith and
mystery. The individual’s inability to discover the entire
truth is thus an invitation to seek it in community: nobody
knows everything but together we know what is necessary.
Moreover, human knowledge of the truth is always mingled with
the difficult and arcane.
In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve easily
understood everything—the nature of all things—except the
prohibition of eating the fruit of a particular tree. Why that
one tree? Why that fruit? Why this command? They did not
place their trust in God in that one case in which their
intellect was not satiated, they disobeyed, and original sin
entered the world. The closer man is to the truth, the more he
should exercise intellectual humility to be at peace with
himself, with others, and with God.
The Colors of the Shield
The dominant color of the shield is red,
representing the theological virtue of charity. The white
represents the purity of heart that constitutes charity’s
background.
Thomas put knowledge and love of God at the
center of his entire reflection, both philosophical and
theological. God is the ultimate end of man, whose nature tends
to love God before himself and with a greater love (ST,
I, q. 60, a. 5). This tendency of nature is perfected by grace
by means of the theological virtue of charity that elevates man
to the point of making him participate in divine nature itself.
Charity directs the will of man to God as his
final end in the most perfect way. For this reason it informs
(it gives the correct form or color to) every good act of
man and every other virtue. Charity shapes every study and
investigation of the truth Thomas undertakes in response to his
specific vocation, acts of service to and love of God.
A pure heart is a detached heart that gives
itself without reservation to others and to The Other. It is
the heart that does not put base desires and disordered passions
over and above charity. Scripture says that the pure of heart
shall see God... and that God is Love. Purity and charity
become the place and method of that truth to which Thomas has
invited us to return our sight.
Fulvio Di Blasi |
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