In the One, we are one’ - Pope Leo XIV’s motto, coat of arms revealed

‘In the One, we are one’ - Pope Leo XIV’s motto, coat of arms revealed

Pope Leo XIV has released his papal coat of arms, which showcases his Augustinian background.

He retained the diagonally divided design of his coat of arms when he was a cardinal. The upper part features a white lily on a blue background, and the lower shows the symbol of the Augustinian Order: a heart pierced by an arrow on top of a closed book.

The American-born pope, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, studied at the Minor Seminary of the Augustinian Fathers. In 1997, entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine (O.S.A.) and made his solemn vows in 1981.

He was later elected as the Provincial Prior of the Augustinian Province of “Mother of Good Counsel” in his hometown of Chicago in 1999. 

Two and a half years later, he was elected as Prior General of the ordinary General Chapter of the Order of Saint Augustine, a position he held for two terms.

Leo XIV’s motto is “In Illo uno unum,” which means “In the One, we are one.” These were the words of Saint Augustine in his Exposition on Psalm 127, wherein he wrote: “Although we Christians are many, in the one Christ we are one.”

In an interview with Vatican News in 2023, shortly after becoming a cardinal, he explained that his motto is key in promoting “communion in the Church.”

“Unity and communion are truly part of the charism of the Order of Saint Augustine, and also of my way of acting and thinking… as an Augustinian, for me, promoting unity and communion is fundamental,” he explained.

Furthermore, the red hat at the top of his coat of arms, called galero, and the 15 red