A new coat for Michaelmas

Today is the feast of St. Michael the Archangel - or Michaelmas, if you prefer the more antiquated term.

St. Michael is the patron and protector of the Archdiocese of Toronto, as well as grocers, mariners, police and paratroopers.

Michael led the army of angels against Satan in the battle for heaven. In Hebrew, Micha'el means "Who is like God?".  The name was the war cry of the good angels - a rhetorical question demanded scornfully of Lucifer and his fallen angels. The motto of the Archdiocese of Toronto is Quis ut Deus, which is Latin for "Who is like God?" 

Our patron saint has been represented on both renditions of the archdiocesan coat of arms. In 1935, Archbishop of Toronto James McGuigan formalized the first corporate crest, which included the golden wings of the archangel.

From the archives, this undated document gives the official description of the coat of arms that appears on the old letterhead.

"The arms consist of the erect, golden wings representing St. Michael, the Patron of the Diocese..."

In the archives, we also store the (very heavy) metal shield that used to grace the entrance of the former chancery building:

In 1984, G. Emmett Cardinal Carter asked the College of Arms in London to create new corporate arms that would strongly reinforce the image of St. Michael as the protector of Toronto.

Our current crest is therefore dominated by the diagonal spear of St. Michael, which overcomes and controls the dragon’s head, symbolic of the Devil. The rays of light at the upper end of the cruciform shaft also allude to the Archangel, whose light overcomes Lucifer.

Description of the 1984 archdiocesan coat of arms on parchment.  The redesign was initiated by Cardinal Carter and registered with the College of Arms.  This version includes the archdiocesan motto "Quis ut Deus," or Who is like God?

A year ago, Thomas Cardinal Collins updated the coat of arms to include a mitre and more stylized shield. All archdiocesan communications now boast the new logo:

Record of the Week: St. Michael the Archangel, Our Patron Saint

Blessing and laying of the cornerstone of the new cathedral of this city to be erected under the invocation of St. Michael the Archangel "whom we had already and publicly announced as the Principal Patron - protector of the City of Toronto"

Special Collections: Letterbooks, LB01.133

This past Sunday, September 29, 2013 the whole Archdiocese of Toronto celebrated the Solemnity of St. Michael the Archangel, our patron saint.  One hundred and sixty-five years ago on September 29, 1848, St. Michael’s Cathedral was dedicated.  The naming of the Cathedral and the dedication of the diocese to St. Michael the Archangel has much significance.  Not only was our first bishop, Michael Power named for him, but as a warrior and protector, St. Michael would have been a powerful and fierce saint to invoke in nineteenth century Ontario.  Toronto was at the edge of the frontier and the Catholics of the time would have felt the need to keep the forces of evil and Protestantism at bay.

The image above is the record of the laying of the cornerstone of St. Michael’s Cathedral on May 8, 1845.  This record can be found in a letterbook, which is an oversized bound volume.  Before photocopiers and even carbon paper, letterbooks were the way bishops in the past kept copies of outgoing correspondence, recorded special events, and documented important appointments, policies and regulations of the Diocese.