Have you ever wondered: are those owls in the official Regis seal? Or are they eagles? Or maybe mythical Griffins?
The origins of those birds could have been lost to history, had it not been for the diligent research of Fr. Eugene K. Culhane, S.J. '32.
Fr. Culhane was researching the origins of the seal's design back in the late 1950's and found himself in contact with a Jesuit priest in France by the name of Georges Guitton, S.J. The text below is a translated copy of the detailed note Fr. Guitton provided to Fr. Culhane. A scan of the original document in French, which now resides in the Regis Archives, follows the translation:
September 8, 1953
Dear Father Culhane:
Father de Boisseau has asked me to answer your inquiry of the 28th of August. I have therefore made several inquiries of my own among the documents which helped me long ago in the writing of my biography of St. Jean-Francois Regis. Here are the results.
The families with the name Regis are very numerous in the south of France. The Regis family of Fontcouverte (native village of our saint) were descendants of the D'Esplas, from Rouergue in Languedoc, a family of very ancient nobility.
The Abbe Roger, who was pastor at Fontcouverte for more than forty years, has this to say about the coat of arms which you are investigating:
The coat of arms of the D'Esplas de Regis is silver, with two eagles, wings outstretched. We came upon this coat of arms in 1896, cut in white marble and set into the wall of a mill which used to belong to the progenitors of the saint. And we placed it in the chapel dedicated to St. Regis in our parish church. (The Abbe Jean Roger, re-edition of the Vie de St. J.F. Regis par le P. Lagroue, 1911, appendix p. 174)
In the description of the coat of arms "with wings outstretched" means "with wings extended, or at least opened" and not "at rest."
Thus you see that you have nothing to change in your school seal. The Rector who had it designed in 1918 had probably investigated the writings of the Abbe Roger which appeared in 1911. These writings are now unfortunately out of print.
The information that you obtained from a book of ancient heraldry do not seem sufficient to me to evoke the slightest doubt. For the Regis families are very numerous, as I must repeat. The essential thing is to reproduce the coat of arms of the Regis family of Fontcouverte. That is the one you have. Therefore: in pace in idipsum dormiam et requiescam.
Please accept my warmest respects.
Georges Guitton, S.J.
I am at Lalouvesc only momentarily. My residence is the Montec de Fourviere, Lyons. (at the scholasticate). I shall be very happy if my answer satisfies you.
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