Pope Leo XIV announced his motto and badge, a long tradition of bishops, cardinals and people of the Pope ranks. The choice of symbols and words reflects a person's experience.

Leo's shield is separated diagonally: the upper half shows a white lily on a blue background, and the logo of the Order of St. Augustine is shown below, which is the order to which he belongs. His motto says “In Illo Uno Unam”, which translates as “In One, We Are One”, is the words of St. Augustine in Psalm 127, paragraph 2, paragraph 2: “I know one of a Christ.

In choosing this motto, Leo includes Augustine’s identification symbol, whose heart is pierced by an arrow.

As an art historian, I explain how Renaissance artists portray Augustine’s humility, and the choice of motto might tell us about the new pope. .

St. Augustine's Order

Augustine lived in the late fourth century and eventually served as bishop of hippos in North Africa for 34 years. The Augustine Order was founded in 1244, after several hermit communities living in the Tuscan region of Italy, applied for a single order to the Pope's innocent IV. The Pope gave them the rule of St. Augustine as the Code of Life which says, “Nothing is called yourself, but let everything be your common ground; (do) do not pursue things that are futile and earthly.”

Augustine's status as a scholar, theologian and administrator made him a widely portrayed saint. For example, he appears in a stained glass window commissioned by the priest in 1622, in which he holds his heart symbol and arrows stretch onto the book on his legs.

The image involves a quote from Augustine's book The Confessions: "You pierce our hearts with your love, and we carry your words, just like in our lives."

In this image of stained glass, the saints are seen talking to the child. The 1483 translation of Golden Legend, the 1483 translation of the Saints, explained that while trying to write his paper “on the Trinity,” Augustine walked around the seaside and saw a child in a small pit filled with water.

Augustine scolded him for being stupid when the child explained that he brought the ocean into the pit. The child replied that he would incorporate all the sea water into the pit as soon as possible, rather than Augustine bringing the mystery of the Trinity into his limited human understanding. The Trinity is the Christian concept that God is not one person, but three people - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - unite together in a divine and eternal nature.

This lesson of humility has been widely portrayed for centuries. In 1482, Augustine was shown on the altar of painter and sculptor Michael Pacher, a child holding a spoon on his feet.

Augustine's Scholarship

Augustine's legacy includes not only "confessions", one of the most widely read books in the Middle Ages and early modern times, as well as "The Trinity", but there are many other books, including "The City of God," a huge work of more than 1,000 pages.

Sandro Botticelli's 1480 Augustine's 1480 paintings in his research show that the saints seek clear thoughts when they stop writing.

He simply dressed in a long white dress and a cape, and put the bishop's beveled hat on his shoulder, which was also a humble gesture. His books are packed with books. On the right, behind his head, a book opens up a study of the study.

Botticelli attempts to show the saint as a scholar by placing an ancient and old model of celestial bodies that depicts the earth in the center of the universe, surrounding it around the sun, moon, planets and stars. With modern knowledge, we understand Augustine, and despite his ingenuity, Augustine still doesn't know everything.

Leo is both a scholar and a pastor. He served as a professor of Canon Law and early Christian theology at the Peruvian theology of San Carlos y San Marcelo.

Yet, like the founder of his commands, what he said at the First Mass reflects his humility when his appointment as Pope was “cross and blessings” and talks about his responsibility and the Cardinal in the world.