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1. St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas is our patron saint. Known as the “Angelic Doctor”, Thomas Aquinas was a mediaeval monk who produced a huge corpus of theological work. That may not sound very different from other saints, so here’s the kicker: Aquinas was one of the first Catholic theologians to ever read Aristotle.

Aristotle wrote before Christ lived. For over 1,000 years, his works were lost to the Latin-speaking world. When they were translated in the 1200s, many feared that Aristotle’s ideas contradicted what was revealed in the Bible. Thomas Aquinas was so confident that faith and reason are compatible, he synthesized or brought together the revelations of Scripture and the philosophy of Aristotle. His work remains one of the greatest theological achievements ever.

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2. St. John Henry Newman

Newman Centers all over the world are named in honor of St. John Henry Newman. Born and raised and ordained as an Anglican, Newman shocked the entire nation of England when he converted to Catholicism.

“Newman Centers” are so named because Newman had a passion and a genius for Catholic education. He wrote one of his most famous books — The Idea of a University — about how Catholic faith and universal learning complemented one another. He also was the founding president of The Catholic University of Ireland.

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3. Tantum Ergo

G.K. Chesterton once joked that St. Thomas Aquinas was a writer of hymns who did a little theology on the side. The Tantum Ergo, part of the longer Pange Lingua, is one of the most beautiful hymns ever written about the Eucharist. Father Luke and the Missionaries often sing it at the end of their daily Holy Hour.

Here, in the painting, Aquinas displays a short lyric from this hymn, describing the help that faith gives our “outward senses” — in modern terms: the compatibility of faith and reason.

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4. Newman’s Hand

In addition to writing several books, dozens of tracts, and hundreds of sermons, John Henry Newman wrote several thousand letters. Over 20,000 in his lifetime.

He also suffered from arthritis. Late in his life, a simple note — 4 or 5 sentences — could take an hour to painfully etch. One of those notes is on display at Father Luke’s alma mater: the Department of Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas. In it, Newman tells a mother that her son has been accepted to primary school. We don’t know if the mother knew how much pain writing such a note caused Newman, or if she knew the saintly love he showed by doing it anyway.

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5. The Sun

St. Thomas Aquinas is almost always shown with a sun on his chest. That’s where we got the idea for the undCatholic logo.

But why a sun? What is especially sunny about Aquinas? The short answer is that the sun is a way to symbolize wisdom. Wisdom is “certain and evident knowledge of things through their ultimate causes.” (Aumann, Spiritual Theology, 271)

It means that the wise person knows the way things really are.Just as the sun rises and reveals the world, so too wisdom, when it is present, shows things clearly and truly.

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6. Aquinas’ Rosary

St. Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican priest. One of the distinctive features of the Dominican habit is the rosary worn at the waist.

Here’s the thing: In mediaeval times, a sword would typically be worn in this spot on the waist. So, by putting their rosaries there, Dominicans were showing that the true weapon is prayer.

Note: Dominicans would actually wear their rosaries on the left side, not the right side. Please excuse our artistic license.

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7. Newman’s Ring

John Henry Newman was made a Cardinal toward the end of his life. What makes his elevation to the College of Cardinals unique is that he was never a bishop.

This leads us to the ring. Today, a priest receives a ring when he is consecrated a bishop.