Maria Mater Ecclesiae

The coat of arms of the International College Maria Mater Ecclesiae is a reminder of the proclamation that the Holy Father Paul VI made on the Virgin Mary at the end of the third session of Vatican Council II.

By the will of the Holy Pope John Paul II and with the hope that the Virgin presided over St. Peter’s Square with her maternal gaze, he chose this ancient image, a copy of the Virgin called “della Colonna” which is located in St. Peter’s Basilica.

In memory of all these events and for the particular interest and support expressed by St. John Paul II that a college for the formation of priests was created in Rome, the college chose this invocation and image because being the mother of the Church she is the protector of those who are preparing to serve the Church.

The motto that accompanies the image of the Virgin, “Love, form and serve”, reflects the attitudes that every priest must have in his pastoral work and that he can learn from Mary. In the same way that you loved and educated her son Jesus Christ, the College incessantly requests the intercession of the Mother so that she instills these attitudes in the hearts of every seminarian and priest, so that they are good pastors in the service of the Church and of the anime.