The College 'may, forever hereafter, have a common seal, to serve and use for all causes'
Since 1667 the College of Physicians has had 'a common seal' to be used for all College purposes, but just what is the seal and why does it look the way it does?
In 1667 the Fraternity of Physicians, founded by Dr John Stearne in 1654, was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II establishing the College of Physicians in Dublin. One of the first acts of the newly established College was to apply to the Ulster King of Arms for the granting of arms to be used by the College.
1667 Grant of Arms
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| Detail of the arms from the 1667 Grant of Arms |
On 16th August 1667 Sir Richard St George, as Ulster King of Arms, granted the newly founded College its own arms. This grant, the original of which is held in RCPI’s archive, was made in the following words;
Party per Fes, Argent, and Azure, in the middle of the cheife, a cælestial hand issuing out of a cloud, feelinge the Pulse of a Terrestrial hand, all proper, in ye Nombrill point ye Royall Harpe of Ireland, as a fit distinction from the like Colledge in England, together with this motto Ratione et Experientia as in the margent about more lively depicted.
The heraldic terminology of the grant can be explained as follows;
- Party per Fes, Argent, and Azure – a shield divided in half, silver above, blue below
- In the middle of the cheife, a cælestial hand issuing out of a cloud, feelinge the Pulse of a Terrestrial hand, all proper – in the centre a celestial hand coming from the cloud to take the pulse of the terrestrial hand, all in their natural colours
- In ye Nombrill point ye Royall Harpe of Ireland – in the middle of the lower half the Royal harp of Ireland.
The motto granted to the College translates as Reason and Experience
The 1667 grant also gave the College permission to ‘use, beare, and set forth [the arms] either in publique seale, or otherwise’. As there are no surviving records for the College from the period 1667 to 1692 it is impossible to know if, or how, the arms and/or seal were used by the College but it is reasonable to assume that they were.
Hercules Slaying the Hydra
In 1692 a second Royal Charter was granted to the College by King William and Queen Mary, this stated that
‘they and their successor shall and may, forever hereafter, have a common seal, to serve and use for all causes, matters, things, and affairs whatsoever ... And that it shall and may be lawful to and for the President and Fellows of the same College, or the major part of them, for the time being, to break, alter, change, or make new, the said seal, from time to time, at their wills and pleasures, and as to them shall seem requisite and fit’.
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| Seal used by the College between 1692 and 1863 |
Following the granting of the second Royal Charter in 1692, a Committee was established by the College to design the seal. There is no record of why the design selected was chosen, it was not based on the 1667 grant of arms, and there is no record of the seal in the office of the Ulster King of Arms.
The seal selected in 1692 show a shield with Hercules slaying the Hydra, with the harp of Ireland in the top right corner. The shield is supported by the gods Mercury and Apollo. It is topped by a helmet with a pelican. The motto is Invidet Orco. The whole is surrounded by text Sigillum Collegii Medicorum Regis et Reginæ in Hibernia.
As with all heraldry, the elements of the design all have meanings, the key features of the 1692 arms are as follows;
- Hercules slaying the Hydra – the Hydra was a mythological many headed serpent like creature, the slaying of the monster was the second of the twelve labours of Hercules. Hercules was, amongst other things, the Greek god of health.
- Mercury – the Roman god of, amongst other things, commerce, poetry and communication.
- Apollo – the Roman god of, amongst other things, medicine.
- Helmet – the type of helmet used in the seal is that of an esquire or private gentleman, and may be a reference to the social status of medics.
- Pelican – the pelican in heraldry is used for its Christian symbolism of the caring and self-sacrificing parent, a reference to the belief at the time that pelicans pecked their breast to feed their young with the own blood if no other food was available.
The Latin motto Invidet Orco is a quote from the Odes of Horace, and means to rescue from death or hell, or render immortal; a reference to the physicians’ role in saving patients from death.
The Latin Sigillum Collegii Medicorum Regis et Reginæ in Hibernia is the Latin name of the College, which under the 1692 Charter was changed to King and Queen’s College of Physicians of Ireland.
The Hercules seal seems to have been used by the College from 1692 to 1863, and can still be seen as the seal of the College used on the College Mace, which was designed in 1860.
Current Seal
The current design of the College seal was introduced in 1863. In that year the College applied to the Ulster King of Arms for a ‘common seal, with armorial bearing there on’ as allowed for under the 1692 Charter. The seal granted in 1863 moved away from the seal that had been used by the College since 1692, and back to the design of the 1667 arms. The 1863 grant, also preserved in the archives, describes the arms as follows;
Per Fesse Ermine and Azure, a dexter celestial hand issuing out of the clouds in chief proper, and in base the harp of Ireland ensigned with the Royal Crown, all also proper, for motto, Ratione et Experientia.
The whole is surrounded by the Latin phrase Sigillum Collegii Medicorum Regis et Reginæ in Hibernia.
In terms of the design of the arms the meaning is as follows;
- Per Fesse Ermine and Azure – shield divided in half, ermine (used in heraldry to denote Royalty) above, blue below
- dexter celestial hand issuing out of the clouds in chief proper – a left celestial hand descending from a cloud in the centre of the top half of the shield, in natural colours
- in base the harp of Ireland ensigned with the Royal Crown – the harp of Ireland with a Royal Crown above in the bottom half of the shield.
The similarities between the 1667 and 1863 seal are clear, and the same motto was also used. The earliest surviving example of the use of the 1863 seal is in the President’s chair, which was presented to the College by William Beatty in 1866, when he completed his term of office as President.
The final change to seal came in 1890, when the College name changed to the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and the text around the seal was changed to Sigillum Collegii Medicorum Regii Hiberniae.
A version of this seal is still in use by the College today, and can be seen (in a modernised form) in our logo.