The Pope, St. Augustine and the Holy Trinity
The doctrine of the Trinity is a divine mystery.
The Pope's recognition of Augustine is evident in his new papal coat of arms. A third of its shield is taken up by a shell, with primary significance to a legend about Augustine.
The legend, which comes to us from the Middle Ages in a variety of versions, is that Augustine was walking along the seashore, meditating about the unfathomable mystery of the Holy Trinity. There he met a boy who was using a shell to pour sea water into a hole he had made in the sand. When asked what he was doing, the boy explained, "I am emptying the sea into this hole."
Augustine said that the task was impossible, to which the boy replied that for Augustine to explain the Blessed Trinity was equally impossible. Thus the shell on the Pope's coat of arms is a symbol for plunging into the unfathomable sea of the Blessed Trinity.
(Source: Augustinians in Australia)
The Pope's recognition of Augustine is evident in his new papal coat of arms. A third of its shield is taken up by a shell, with primary significance to a legend about Augustine.
The legend, which comes to us from the Middle Ages in a variety of versions, is that Augustine was walking along the seashore, meditating about the unfathomable mystery of the Holy Trinity. There he met a boy who was using a shell to pour sea water into a hole he had made in the sand. When asked what he was doing, the boy explained, "I am emptying the sea into this hole."
Augustine said that the task was impossible, to which the boy replied that for Augustine to explain the Blessed Trinity was equally impossible. Thus the shell on the Pope's coat of arms is a symbol for plunging into the unfathomable sea of the Blessed Trinity.
(Source: Augustinians in Australia)
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