A phoenix symbolizes hope, renewal and rebirth.
The eighth-grade students of St. Katharine Drexel Academy thought the mythical bird would make a great central figure in a mural they would be creating as their class project on campus. After all, the K-8 school was born four years ago when two neighborhood schools merged into one. And the students had selected the phoenix as the new school mascot, replacing the crusaders.
The academy hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the mural on Nov. 10 attended by students, staff, school volunteers and special guests.
“We thought it would be cool to have a mural on this campus,” said Principal Kelly Bonde, introducing the artwork that graces two sides of the main building. “You can see it from the street. This is how we will welcome everybody to campus.”
She explained that a former teacher at Blessed Sacrament Parish School, one of the schools that merged into the academy, is a board member of a nonprofit organization that partners with schools to paint murals. She thanked the teacher, Mike Trunzo, for connecting the school to the agency, called ArtReach.
An artist with the organization, Nina Lubarsky, held workshops with the eighth-graders to brainstorm ideas for the mural. She integrated their ideas into a digital design that itself was fine-tuned with input from teachers and staff. Once finalized, they all learned how to paint from the artist, then got busy painting the mural. The project took four to five weeks from start to finish.
The mural shows a bird soaring in front of the sun, its tail feathers trailing below. Native plants, such as poppies and aloe vera, and a busy bee, complete the nature scene, all bathed in warm reds, yellows and greens.
A representative of San Diego Council District 9, Sean Elo-Rivera, presented the eighth-graders certificates from the city.
In an interview after the ribbon-cutting, one of them, Elaine O’Connor, noted that she painted some of the leaves on the mural.
“It was really fun getting to collaborate with everyone,” she said. “And seeing the final product when you’re done painting it is really awesome.”
The above comes from a Nov. 25 story in the diocesan paper, the Southern Cross.
Oh no!
My son learned this kind of stuff at Newman List colleges.
Now it is in the grade schools.
I did not let my kid attend the Catholic grade school that had Harry Potter and Animorphs. (We found another that was better.)
Preserve the Faith.
While we should know of Greek and Egyptian mythology (it is a part of our history and cultural heritage), that’s an interesting choice for a Catholic school’s mascot.
If “crusaders” is too offensive, why not use one of many Christian images?
We’re not pagan Greeks or Egyptians.
Or, are we?
Pagan, that is. (No offense intended toward Greeks or Egyptians, many of whom became Christians after God revealed Himself in the flesh.)
PHOENIX
A symbol of Christ’s Resurrection. This fabled bird, a native of Arabia, after anticipating its own death and burning itself, in three days developed into a new bird. The legend easily established the phoenix as representing Christ’s three days before Easter in the tomb. Emperor Constantine made use of this symbol by representing the phoenix on the coin of the realm.
Fr. John Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary
I stand corrected
I did not know either.
You are right. The pelican is another ancient symbol for the Lord Jesus Christ. St. Thomas Aquinas used the symbol in his beautiful chant “Adoro te devote”.
“Pie pelicane, Jesu Domine, me immujdum munda tuo Sanguine” — “Pelican of mercy, Jesu, Lord and God, Cleanse me, wretched sinner in Thy precious Blood….”
One can look up these two symbols of Christ and their history online. Just put “Phoenix and pelican, symbols for Christ” in your search bar. Quite fascinating!
Correction: no “j” in immudum, a typo. I have no keys for accent marks.
The Lion of the Tribe of Judah is also a symbol for Jesus Christ. I have a small, hard plaster figure that I rescued from a Ross’s Store. It is a dead lion lying on an altar type foundation with a cross engraved on a shield behind the lion. It is a representation of Aslan (a Hebrew word for lion), the Christ-like character from C.S. Lewis’s “Chronicles of Narnia”.
I have never had it blessed, but I imagine there are some Catholic priests who would have no problem with blessing it.
I’m somewhat familiar with that history and symbolism. So, maybe a mea culpa is in order. But, if that’s what they meant by that choice, why didn’t the school or diocese say that? Symbols can mean different things to different people. I hope you’re right that they clearly are proclaiming the resurrection of Christ.
What was wrong with the Crusaders? “Wouldn’t you rather be a bird?”
it would be interesting to know if a woke process was behind ditching the crusader mascot? several groups would be thrilled with replacing:1) a male figure; 2) a warrior figure ;3) a christian figure that helped in the process that preserved holy land sites and responded to Islam( crusader knights often have a shield or ermor emblazoned with the cross); 4) a spiritual symbol reflecting the call of Christians to take up the battle with darkness. Not to mention the eco-green dimension alluded to. The chance to witness with at least the symbol of the Cross on a Catholic school entrance was lost. The only bird Catholics should highlight is the Dove through whole true rebirth is given
Not male or warrior but Crusaders are extremely offensive to Muslims. They just banned Crusader costumes at the soccer tournament in Qatar.
“A phoenix symbolizes hope, renewal and rebirth.” A Catholic school choosing a pagan symbol to represent everything Jesus is? He who is really the Resurrection and the Life replaced by something unreal? Yes drewelow, the alarm on my woke detector is sounding a deafening blare. I can’t think of anything more politically incorrect than crusaders, other than pro-lifers at an abortion clinic. Rather than requiring a Christian symbol ignorant adults allow the blind to lead them. (Ray Charles 11/29 8:54 p.m.)
Not to mention the cultural appropriation.
Although, I am not a Harry Potter fan and would not read it to children, you and the others are wrong about certain creatures being symbols of Christ, look up pelican, phoenix and lion of Judah, all symbols for Christ.
Yes, we were wrong.
And an “Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi:misere nobis” (Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world: have mercy on us) for us all.
There is a Catholic church in my valley that has a stag with the cross between its antlers on the tabernacle. Such a stag is another ancient symbol for Christ.
But…I still think they could have done better.
I learned about the Phoenix on Dark Shadows. I just thought it was just more of the vampire, werewolf, witches, warlocks, tarot etc that were on that show which was my introduction to the occult.
I had no idea that it was a mythological creature or a symbol of Christ.
There are only so many symbols in the whole world, and, like the rainbow, they can be used as good or bad symbols. Best to go to reliable Catholic sources.
Did you know it or did you have to look it up?
This website has some pretty serious Catholics on it and I don’t think many knew that the Phoenix has been adopted by early Christians as a symbol of Christ.
More of us considered it pagan or mythical.
The stag has a Cross. The Agnus Dei has a Cross. The rainbow is a symbol of God’s Covenant with mankind. The Lion of Judah is from the Bible. Some things are better symbols than others.
The fish- I know it is a symbol of Christ but I don’t know why.
It took decades for me to come across an old reference that explained by Jesus is the Pelican of Heaven (before the Internet.)
In answer to “me”, I already knew about the pelican, stag, lamb and lion, but I had to look up the Phoenix to make sure. Lights — candles, the sun, etc. are also symbols for Christ as he is the Light of the World. I think the scapegoat might have been used as a symbol of Christ for some as the Israelite priests sent a goat (laden with the people’s sins symbolically) out into the desert during certain sacrificial rituals, and the Bible says that Christ took our sins upon himself. I will have to look that up.
Happy hunting!
Oh, and don’t forget the unicorn, that has always been a symbol of purity and the Lord, although it is not used much now days but was in the Middle Ages.
Drewelow, I do agree with you that there should be some more easily recognizable Christians symbols, such as crosses, in that mural. There is a bee or bees included, and a bee was a symbol for the Church in the Middle Ages, but most Catholics here would not know its symbolic meaning, and I don’t think it has been explained as such. Even in the Middle Ages such creatures usually did not take up whole murals but were little carvings, quite often on smaller pillars and trims. I do hope they have crucifixes, statues and icons of saints in the building too. It does need more explaining.
Which school is going to be the first in the nation to have a drag queen as its mascot?
Why not eagles or pelicans?
Exactly.
the blind leading the ignorant
Are fish ever chosen as mascots? Like the San Diego Tuna?
you can tune a piano – but you
can’t tune – a – fish !!!
According to wikipedia, in early Christianity, the phoenix was a symbol of Christ and the Resurrection.
Oh well.
Do you believe anything in Wikipedia?
Why do you ask?
“Let us consider that wonderful sign [of the resurrection] which takes place in Eastern lands, that is, in Arabia and the countries round about. There is a certain bird which is called a phœnix. This is the only one of its kind, and lives 500 years. And when the time of its dissolution draws near that it must die, it builds itself a nest of frankincense, and myrrh, and other spices, into which, when the time is fulfilled, it enters and dies [then later rises again]… Do we then deem it any great and wonderful thing for the Maker of all things to raise up again those that have piously served Him in the assurance of a good faith, when even by a bird He shows us the mightiness of His power to fulfill His promise?”
St. Clement of Rome
the early Church piggybacked on the phoenix as a symbol of Christ that was already in use in the Grecorroman world to help pagan converts capture the teaching of the Resurrection. But since that time, the Church has been able to rely more directly on images of the Risen Lord Himself. The Stag with the cross in its horns became popular after the conversion of Roman general Placidus who was out hunting and saw Christ on his cross appear in the horns of the animal. The Lion of Judah is , of course, biblical and echoed by the figure of Aslan in the Narnia chronicles. Luckily, the Church never saw use for the pyramid very much, but some churches post-Vatican II confused Catholics and non-Catholics alike with outright pyramids as the chosen shape
why not Tucson?
Oh! cute, Helen, cute. You gave me my laugh for the evening. Now I am going to say my prayers and go to sleep.
“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I should” ………..and you know the rest, Oh! I forgot there are two versions of that childhood prayer now, so choose wisely.