The following article was originally published in a Summer 1979 Alumni Newsletter detailing the origins of the Regis Owl statue.
Origins of the Regis Mascot, The Owl
Regis Alumni News | Summer 1979
The winged creatures in the Regis school seal are not Owls. How then did the school mascot come to be an owl?
Fr. Swords discovered the answer in a diary of the first headmaster, Rev. James M. Kilroy, S.J. The diary entry for September 22, 1914 runs as follows:
"The Owl was set up in the Quadrangle today, over the middle 'panic' door of the auditorium. It is a relic of what was here before Regis was erected. On the present site of the school (84th Street) there formally stood an old Flemish style building (used as a garage) surmounted by the Owl. When the building was razed the Owl was preserved and now looks down on the quadrangle."
Alumni may be delighted by the remainder of
the diary entry as well:
"The 85th Street 'Arcade' boys' entrance ready for use today. This entrance is to be known as the Arcade and it is to be used as the students' entrance. Boys are at no time permitted to make use of the 84th Street Faculty entrance."
As detailed in Anthony D Andreassi, C.O.'s history of Regis, "Given his long tenure and now prominent position in the new school, not surprisingly the students adopted him as their mascot." (
Teach Me To Be Generous: The First Century of Regis High School | Chapter 2, page 39). But regardless of the statue's prominent position in the school, Dr. Alexander Burke '49 would argue that the owl is a good choice as a symbol of Regis. Below is a brief reflection written by Dr. Burke about the owl as a symbol of Regis.
Reflections on the Owl as a Symbol of Regis
By Dr. Alexander Burke '49
The first time I entered the Regis tunnel and I emerged into that spacious courtyard, I was stunned by the piercing glance of that stony-eyed owl that guards the entranceways to Regis. Ever since I have been fascinated by the owl as a symbol of Regis. So, when two years ago I was asked to teach a short theology class to Regis seniors, I closed the course with some thoughts on the owl as the embodiment of Regis values.
The owl is a nocturnal bird of prey (except for the Snow Owl which is a diurnal or day hunter). Their large, round eyes are set very forward to give them that penetrating night vision for which they are renowned. Their sharp vision is enhanced by the fact that owls have the unusual capacity to swivel their heads 270 degrees. And, they have the most accurate hearing of any known animal. The owl's famously flat face operates like a satellite dish to gather sound waves that are then directed to the owl's ears by specialized feathers along the disk's circumference.
Their wingspans range generally from 12 inches to four feet, four inches. But the largest species of owl, the Blakeston owl that patrols Eurasia has a wingspan of six feet. What makes the owls such ferocious and effective predators is that they can fly silently at night do to their velvety down plumage that absorbs sound. Yet at the same time, owls are so strong that they can pull from the river an adult salmon that is two or three times their weight, and if they are encountering difficulty, they can grab a tree root with one talon to help them make the haul. Because of their diverse capabilities, owls survive in every habitat--desert, rain forest, arctic tundra and farmlands. Owls, when disappointed, make stridently mournful cries, and when happy, they communicate in a complex language of calls, trills, barks and hoots. And, they speak eloquently in an eight-note sequence (like Hearn speakers!).
A few years ago, Prospect Park in Brooklyn suffered such a large infestation of rats that few people were enjoying that beautiful park. One perspicacious official (perhaps a Regian?) suggested that the city import enough owls to clean up the park. They took this advice and the park was restored to its pristine state within a week. A similar tale is told of a southern farmer whose farm was suffering from cotton rats. He imported a parliament of owls who found a home in his spacious barn and consumed 25,000 cotton rats. Owls are very family-oriented and love to congregate together and mold as a single group, thus their frequent designation as a parliament of owls.
But how did owls ever get their reputation for wisdom? Perhaps surprisingly (though not to the vanishing species, Regis Greek scholars), the owl's moniker as "the wise, old owl" derives from the 6th Century B.C. Greek fabulist, Aesop. Here is Aesop's fable,
The Owl and the Birds:
AN OWL, in her wisdom, counseled the Birds that when the acorn first began to sprout, to pull it all up out of the ground and not allow it to grow. She said acorns would produce mistletoe, from which an irremediable poison, the bird- lime, would be extracted and by which they would be captured. The Owl next advised them to pluck up the seed of the flax, which men had sown, as it was a plant which boded no good to them. And, lastly, the Owl, seeing an archer approach, predicted that this man, being on foot, would contrive darts armed with feathers which would fly faster than the wings of the Birds themselves. The Birds gave no credence to these warning words, but considered the Owl to be beside herself and said that she was mad. But afterwards, finding her words were true, they wondered at her knowledge and deemed her to be the wisest of birds. Hence it is that when she appears they look to her as knowing all things, while she no longer gives them advice, but in solitude laments their past folly.
The goddess Athena, the patroness of Athens, was said to have sprung, full grown and armed, from the head of Zeus. She became the
goddess of wisdom, innovation, and the arts and adopted the owl as her symbol. Athena has her counterpart in the Roman pantheon of gods in Minerva, whose names derives from the Indo-European root
men--from which we derive our English words--think, mind Muse, museum, music, demonstrate--all favorites of Regians. It is Greek culture, then, that is most responsible for the owl's renown for wisdom.
In literature, the owl has earned a minor place for its trip with a pussycat in a beautiful pea-green boat and for delivering the mail to Harry Potter.
But the Regis owl has extended its reputation from classical and secular wisdom to spiritual wisdom. The wise, old Regis owl has a wisdom that embraces the seven gifts of the Hold Spirit and the greatest of those gifts is the one that encompasses
all the others--spiritual wisdom, the most perfect of the gifts. It is said of wisdom that "all good things come to me with her and innumerable riches through her hands."
The Latin meaning of Regis as "of the King" is fitting for Regians who are the intellectual rear guard for Christ the King, men specifically trained to lead a predatory attach on ignorance and heresy, fraud and malice.
The world needs to beware of Regians who, with their sharp talons, pursue their goals with a wisdom both secular and divine. Hoot Hoot!
