Our Heritage

To understand Blackfriars, is to understand our heritage. Our heritage stems from our Dominican tradition, and can be found in the origins of:

• our school name

• our motto

• our Patron: St Albert the Great

• our school crest

• our school mascot

Blackfriars - our school name

From the black cloak worn over their white habit, the Dominicans became known in England early in their history as "Black friars", and their houses or even the districts where they lived were called "Blackfriars". In England, quite apart from modern Dominican foundations, the name has survived with notable historical associations in several places. The London Blackfriars, which gave the name to a district and to a bridge over the Thames, was built in 1278,at the end of Fleet Street and the boundary of Ludgate. It stood on the Thames in the southwest corner of the city walls. The Apothecaries Hall stands on the site of the Guest House.

Two General Chapters of the Order, one in 1314 and one in 1335, were held in the London Blackfriars. Parliament was held in the Great Hall of the London Blackfriars Priory under Edward II in 1311, under Edward VI in 1471, under Henry VIII in 1523. In 1529, the tribunal for the examination of the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon was held in Blackfriars Priory, London.

The famous Parliaments of 1258 and 1388 met in the Oxford Blackfriars and the Cambridge Blackfriars respectively.

Blackfriars Priory School therefore has brought South Australian education a name rich in historical associations.

Back to top

 Motto & Our Patron - St Albert the Great

The School Motto is Deus Scientiarum Dominus, "The Lord is an All-Knowing God"; (I Samuel, ii. 3) the opening words of an antiphon in the Office of St.Albert the Great.

Albert was born of the noble family of Bollstadt in Lauingen in Suabia in 1206. In 1244 he entered the Dominican Order. He became one of the most learned men of his time and founded the famous Dominican House of Studies at Cologne in 1245. His most renowned pupil was his fellow Dominican, St. Thomas Aquinas.

In 1260 Albert was made Bishop of Ratisbon. He died in 1280, and was canonised and made a Doctor of the Universal Church by Pope Pius XI in 1931.

Back to top

School Crest

Find out about the School Crest by moving your cursor over the labels on the left.  Detailed information on elements of the Crest can be seen by moving your cursor over the crest.

Back to top

School Mascot

When Blessed Jane of Aza (Mother of St Dominic) was pregnant with her second son around the year 1170, in rural Caleruega (in the north of Spain), she experienced a curious dream. In it she gave birth to a dog with a blazing torch in its mouth - signifying, so the legend goes, the sort of man her son, Dominic, would be - setting the world on fire with his dogged preaching of the Christian faith.

The legend may have been helped along by an early pun. Dominic means "the Lord's man", and in Latin Dominicans are "Dominicani". The similar sounding words "Domini canes", however, mean "hounds of the Lord" - and so a long association between the Order and the canine species was begun!

The choice of "The Hounds" as a name for our Blackfriars sporting teams is neither accidental nor arbitrary, therefore. It is a name which grows out of the Order's seven centuries of tradition. It also has the merit of being uniquely our own.

It is a strong name without being excessively aggressive; it denotes relentless pursuit of a goal and yet a certain friendliness too. A hound is "man's best friend", of course. Just the same, we would advise sporting teams who come up against us in our sports gear to remember the Latin adage, inscribed above a kennel in Pompeii: "Cave canem!"

Back to top