Page 12 - Gonzaga at 60
P. 12
The College Crest
In response to a quesion concerning how the Gonzaga Crest has
developed, Patrick Pots (Headmaster, 1990-2007) wrote:
‘In 2005 one of our senior past pupils, who
had been in Mantua and visited the Gonzaga
archives, brought back details of the Gonzaga
arms From the oicial heraldry of Italy. From this
informaion I corrected the arms as they appear
over the main door of the College: increasing
the black bands in the escutcheon to three,
causing the eagles to have outstretched wings
and face centre and so on. This brings them into
line with the arms used, in whole or in part, by
other Gonzaga or Aloysius colleges worldwide.
The magenta arms (with just the Mantuan
escutcheon and a truncated Cross of Cong)
were a cool ’70’s version selected by Dermot
Murray SJ. I had hoped to replace them on the
ie and sweater (the ie was also a new version
of Dermot’s doing – replacing what is now the
prefects’ ie) as well but ran out of ime. The
oicial colour for the College is Magenta (the
colour of the earliest blazers and skull-caps) but
the arms have always been red. The patrioic
O’Conor Don (responsible for adding the Cross
of Cong to the Gonzaga arms) was responsible
for the decision to have the boys play rugby in
“Ireland Green” – though Ireland seem to have
moved to a dull watery version for copyright and
sales reasons. I had also hoped – on prodding
From Kennedy O’Brien – to add a crest (of a lion
rampant as found in the escutcheon and on the
rugby jerseys) but ime and money both ran out.
C’est la vie.’
In response to a quesion concerning how the Gonzaga Crest has
developed, Patrick Pots (Headmaster, 1990-2007) wrote:
‘In 2005 one of our senior past pupils, who
had been in Mantua and visited the Gonzaga
archives, brought back details of the Gonzaga
arms From the oicial heraldry of Italy. From this
informaion I corrected the arms as they appear
over the main door of the College: increasing
the black bands in the escutcheon to three,
causing the eagles to have outstretched wings
and face centre and so on. This brings them into
line with the arms used, in whole or in part, by
other Gonzaga or Aloysius colleges worldwide.
The magenta arms (with just the Mantuan
escutcheon and a truncated Cross of Cong)
were a cool ’70’s version selected by Dermot
Murray SJ. I had hoped to replace them on the
ie and sweater (the ie was also a new version
of Dermot’s doing – replacing what is now the
prefects’ ie) as well but ran out of ime. The
oicial colour for the College is Magenta (the
colour of the earliest blazers and skull-caps) but
the arms have always been red. The patrioic
O’Conor Don (responsible for adding the Cross
of Cong to the Gonzaga arms) was responsible
for the decision to have the boys play rugby in
“Ireland Green” – though Ireland seem to have
moved to a dull watery version for copyright and
sales reasons. I had also hoped – on prodding
From Kennedy O’Brien – to add a crest (of a lion
rampant as found in the escutcheon and on the
rugby jerseys) but ime and money both ran out.
C’est la vie.’
