The Symbols of St. Bonaventure University

Academic Regalia

Photographs by Third St. Studio, Allegany, NY

The Mace

The ceremonial Mace of St. Bonaventure University symbolizes the authority of the President of the University.  Its design was supervised by Br. Cajetan Baumann, OFM, the architect responsible for several of the buildings on campus.

The ovoid middle boss on the Mace bears the Seal of St. Bonaventure University--a six-winged Seraph symbolic of the Franciscan order beneath the Cross, the symbol of salvation, and crossed arms, signifying work and prayer and the conformity of the stigmatized Francis with his crucified Master.

The lower boss, a truncated cone, bears the coat-of-arms adopted by St. Bonaventure in 1273 when he was created a Cardinal.

The Seal of Office

Academic Gowns

The cap, gown and hood are the three distinctive parts of most academic wear.  They are representative of the academic clothing of students and professors of the Medieval universities.  They represent a simplified heraldry which denotes the distinctive character of the institution, field of learning and level of the degree earned.

The Hood offers the most information of the three part.  Its inner lining represents the colors of the institution at which a degree was earned, in St. Bonaventure's case, brown and white.  The velvet trim bordering the Hood indicates the Major field of study--Arts is white, Commerce drab, Education light blue, Philosophy dark blue, Science golden yellow, Theology scarlet, Medicine green, Engineering orange, Law purple.  The length of the hood and the width of the border also distinguish the degree.  Doctors wear the longest Hoods--four feet long with a five inch border.

The Gown is usually black but in recent years many colleges and universities have chosen colors.  The cut of the Gown is also distinctive in regard to the three levels of degrees.

The standard Cap is a black mortarboard and the standard tassel is also black.  The Doctor's Cap may be velvet and have a gold tassel, and may be of a variant shape.

The gray doctoral gowns worn by the Board of Trustees take their color from that of the first habits worn by the Friars Minor.  Gray continued to be worn by the Friars in England even after brown was adopted by most of the Franciscans on the Continent.  The English Franciscans came to be know as the "Greyfriars" and contributed to education and scholarship at Oxford and Cambridge until the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII.