College Crest and Motto

Our Motto

The OLMC motto, Sub Tuum Praesidium, is Latin for ‘under your protection’. It is the beginning of an ancient prayer of the Church which acknowledges Mary, the Mother of God and our Universal Mother, as our protector and intercessor. This motto reminds all members of the OLMC community that our patron, Mary, our Mother of Mercy, cares for us and models for us the love of our merciful God.

Under your protection, we take refuge,
O Holy Mary Mother of God,
Despise not our prayers in our necessities,
But deliver us from all dangers,
O ever glorious and blessed Virgin.

The Crest

The Mercy Cross in the College crest signifies our uniting ourselves with Christ who died on the Cross for us, that we ourselves are united in his death and resurrection. The Mercy Cross has no figure on it as signifies that we are placing ourselves on the Cross with Christ. The original Mercy Cross was ebony with an ivory insert. The contemporary emblem preserves this symbol and our identification with Christ, both crucified and risen. It reminds us that, without the cross, the real crown cannot come (1). It urges us to offer the gift of ourselves. He has written us in His hands, Shall not we then write His wounds in our minds and hearts? (2). The Mercy Cross challenges us to a deeper awareness of the mystery of death and resurrection in God’s plan of redemption. It constantly says to us how infinitely great is God’s mercy (Eph 2:8). The size of the Cross in our crest has been increased in 2019 to further highlight that we are deeply anchored in the Mercy tradition.

The Seven Bars in the College crest represent the seven Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy. These seven bars also signify the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, embodying the College’s Catholic identify in the Mercy tradition which is committed to living out the Mercy Values through our actions.

The colours in the College crest are also significant. In the Catholic tradition, blue is widely considered a Marian colour. In the artistic traditions of Christianity, it is a very important colour which has deep spiritual meanings attributed to the Blessed Mother. Blue is also recognised globally as a colour associated with the Mercy charism. Many past uniforms of the College featured blue and the Sisters of Mercy Parramatta also wore blue habits that were a very close shade to Mercy Blue for some time. Our two primary colours, two shades of blue, therefore tell the story both of Our Lady and of the Mercy Charism; they visually signify Our Lady of Mercy.