Viam Sapientiae Monstrabo Tibi

Hi folkies,

Today we reached another milestone in this year’s pillar creations. The completion of all 16 capstone elements. These are the decorative elements on top of all the painted pillars. Here is one of these elements, DePaul’s coat of arms.

The coat arms, as compared to the other three icons we are creating, is rather difficult to deal with. Fleur de Li s are tricky. The coat of arms dates back to 1954, and is very symbolic. The gold heart in the center, the phoenix figure rising from the flames of Chicago’s great fire of 1871, and the motto in Latin, ‘Viam Sapientiae Monstrabo Tibi’

(I will show you the way to wisdom).

In future pillar creations, there will be an exploration of this icon and the others. It’s interesting to see how graphic styles have changed to suit the times. And our capstones, on the top of each pillar does exactly that.