Our Motto & Crest

Our crest was designed by the Perth-based graphic designer, Elizabeth Bogoni, to whom we owe many thanks for helping us bring it to fruition.

The crest features the three colours of rust-red, cobalt and burnt gold, these are suggestive of Western Australia's mineral wealth, for iron, cobalt and gold are all mined in the State, but also of the colours of the red earth of the land, and of the Rock which is Christ, the cobalt blue of the sea which surrounds us, symbol of the depths of God, and the gold of the sun, symbol of Christ, the sun of righteousness, and of the illumination of learning.

The Motto around the crest is: "Participare thesauros veteres et novos", "To share treasures old and new". This is a reference to the Gospel of Saint Matthew Chapter 13, Verses 51-52: “Have you understood all this?” They said to him, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” For our school, this passage means that we look both to what we have inherited, especially in the classical traditions of the West, the great scholarship of the past, the cultures of the Greco-Roman world, the Celts, the Anglo-Saxons, the Normans, the languages of Latin and Ancient Greek, the vast scope of both secular and Church history, and the melting pots of the other cultures that have interacted with ours as the basis of our current culture, and also we look forward to the new directions in which the world is headed, seeking to find what is good, honourable and true in these things and sharing them, seeing in them how they may fulfil our vocation to holiness, and to human flourishing in the Kingdom of God. The Gospel passage makes reference Jesus asking whether they have "understood" and  to the "scribe who is trained", and thus this passage specifically connects to the knowledge and abilities built up in the disciple of the things of the Kingdom. Therefore the mission at Saint Theo's is to serve the faith by sharing our vast Patrimony for the benefit of souls in order to help them live to the fullest human potential and spiritual flourishing.

The primary symbol is of the Canterbury Cross. This is based on the cross design of a Saxon broach discovered at Canterbury in 1867, which dates from the mid Ninth Century A.D., some one hundred and sixty years after Saint Theodore was the Archbishop there. The Canterbury Cross is used on all the Service and Mass books of the Personal Ordinariates to demonstrate our connection to the English Patrimony which we have inherited from our forebears in the faith. On the arms of the Canterbury Cross are triangular knot-work designs that remind us of the Holy Trinity and they also suggest the shape of a fish, which in Greek (the first language of Saint Theodore), gives us the ancient acronym, IXTHUS, Iesus Christos Uios Theou Soter - Jesus Christ Son of God, Saviour.

In the centre of the Cross is the Monogram of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, who is at the centre of the Christian life. The Mother of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ stood beneath the Cross, and Jesus gave her to us to be our Mother, and we her children. Our Lady of the Southern Cross guides us towards Christ. The placement of the monogram on the cross reminds us that the Christian disciple comes to God through the Cross of Christ, and taking up our own Cross, together with Mary, who is our helper and paragon along the spiritual journey, we trust in and rely on God alone.

The symbol of the Hand Under the Foot is a reference to the life of Saint Theodore, who had appointed Saint Chad to be bishop of Lichfield. Saint Chad was used to walking all over his diocese, whilst leading his horse, however, Saint Theodore called him under obedience to ride, so as to make his pastoral visitation easier and less hard on him. In order to encourage Saint Chad to ride, Saint Theodore personally helped him onto his horse. This gesture symbolises that the goal of Saint Theodore of Canterbury Catholic Grammar School is to help young people take up the mission God has entrusted to them and equip them to carry it out throughout this life and into the next.

The Southern Cross symbolises our nation, Australia, the stars are depicted as they are on our National Flag. The Southern Cross is also a symbol in the heavens of navigation. The second verse of our National Anthem says that "Beneath our radiant Southern Cross, we'll toil with hearts and hands to make this Commonwealth of ours renowned throughout the lands..." We have a mission to make good citizens of our nation at Saint Theo's, and good citizen should look towards heaven to find that fixed point by which they can navigate the waters of their lives, as sailors look to the Southern Cross to find due South. Our Lady of the Southern Cross is also referenced in this symbol, Mary, the Star of the Sea, who guides us to Christ her Son.

The Clarion, depicted in the lower right hand of the crest, is a particularly English symbol for music. It is not known whether the clarion is like the pan pipes, whether it depicts and organ, or even the keys of a keyboard. On our crest it is included because it reminds us of the words of Psalm 150, which calls us to praise God for his holiness, power, noble acts and excellent greatness. In verses 4 and 6 we hear: "Praise him in the cymbals and dances: praise him upon the strings and pipe... Let everything that hath breath: praise the Lord." The clarion is both a symbol of praise, but also of breath, which in Hebrew, Latin and Greek is the same word used for spirit. And this wind instrument, reminding us of the pipes of the organ, which Vatican II recommends as the primary instrument for the Liturgy of the Church, therefore encompasses both the beatific vision - the life of the praise of God both on earth, but finally in heaven - and also all the arts as expressions of the beauty of God in his creation.

The Rowing Boat symbolises the Church, or as it is sometimes called, the Barque of Saint Peter. It also symbolises evangelisation, when we recall that Jesus often preached to the crowds whilst seated in a boat. The rowing boat also reminds us in particular of the Celtic missions around the British Isles which were greatly assisted by evangelising monks carrying the Word of God to the pagans using small rowing or sailing boats called coracles to plough the highways of the seas. The boat also reminds us that our nation of Australia depends on commerce across the seas and that as an island ships connect us to the rest of the world. The boat is furthermore a symbol of the adventure of learning, the delight of discovery and that we must "duc in altum"  - "put out into the deep" if we wish to catch fish - or make disciples of all nations, as our Lord commanded us to do in the Great Commission. Rowing means that we have to make an effort, to strive at the oars and with all our might to work for the Kingdom of God.