The Oxbridge Pursuivant: HERALDRY | St Antony's (Updated May 13, 2018)~

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

HERALDRY | St Antony's (Updated May 13, 2018)~

St Antony's College

Blazon: Or on a chevron between three tau crosses gules as many pierced mullets of the field.

Authority: Granted November 30, 1953.

Meaning: The tinctures on the arms are for Egypt's desert, gold (or) for the sand, and for the Red (gules) Sea. The mullets echo the trademark of the founder's firm. The T crosses are Franciscan taus.

Nominees: The arms reference not one but three Anthonys, so someone has suggested with good reason that the apostrophe in the name of the college should go after the final "s" in St Antony's:

(1) Sir Antonin Besse, a French merchant who founded the college in 1950 by donating the required funds, and can be considered its founder. The mullets on the chevron match the trademark of Sir Antonin Besse's company in Aden.

(2) St Anthony of Padua, a Franciscan friar, follower of St Francis and Patron Saint of the Poor. The three crosses on the arms are the Franciscan taus, worn by Franciscans; by not having a top arm, the crosses are considered humble. The only statue to a St Anthony at the college is the one to St Anthony of Padua in the Hilda Besse Building.

(3) St Anthony the Great of Egypt, born about 254 A.D., by legend the first Christian monk and the first abbot, whose biography was written by St Athanasius, archbishop of Alexandria. There is rumored to be a statue to St Anthony the Great somewhere at St Antony's, but the Porter's Lodge denied the existence of this statue in April 2018. For the first decade after the college was founded, it was presumed that the nominee of the founder was St Anthony of Padua. But the college decided in 1961 that St Anthony the Great of Egypt should be the primary nominee.