Siena College Logo

J. Spencer and Patricia Standish Library Siena College 515 Loudon Rd., Loudonville NY 12211 Phone: 518-782-6717 Fax: 783-2570

The Seal of the College
 

The seal of the College has at the top Siena College and the at the bottom A.D. (Latin, Anno Domini, English, the Year of Our Lord) 1937, the date of the College’s founding.  The name of the College and its location are written around the outer circle in Latin, the English translation being Seal of the College of St. Bernardine of Siena, Loudonville, New York.  In the center of  the logo is the monogram IHS  in fancy Greek script, with a cross and twelve rays spreading out from the center.  IHS are the first three letters of the Greek form of “Jesus.” 

The Latin text around the bottom is:  Neo. Ebor. Sig. Coll. S. Bernardini Sienen Loudonvillien.  "Neo. Ebor." means "New Eboricum", Eboricum being the name the Romans gave the important military center in northern England, later called York. 

St. Bernardine of Siena (1380-1444), after whom the College is named, was an avid promoter of the Devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, and the Province of Franciscans that founded Siena is the Holy Name Province. He  was a reformer within the Franciscan Order who stressed the importance of education.  He became the “Apostle of Italy,” preaching all over the peninsula to crowds of up to 30,000.  He preached in Italian and in a style that reached the common man. He never hesitated to confront the high and the mighty in society and government, and worked to eliminate the practice of imprisoning debtors, and sought  always to bring peace between constantly warring cities, urging them to follow the banner of Jesus, (the Holy Name Symbol with the cross and rays), rather than any city banner.