How Santa Sophia College got its name

21 July 2017
A mosaic from Hagia Sophia depicting Christ held by the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Seat of Wisdom. Image: Wikimedia Commons

Santa Sophia College is coming to Our Lady of the Angels Parish, in January 2018.

The beautiful name Santa Sophia means ‘Holy Wisdom’ and there is an interesting story about how the name was chosen.

A committee of parishioners from Our Lady of the Angels Parish, Rouse Hill, gathered to decide the initial names as a community.

First a shortlist was created and several options were available to vote on.

‘Santa Sophia’ was a clear favourite and that is how the College’s name was born!

While there is an early Church martyr named Sophia, ‘Santa Sophia’ refers to a profound theological truth about the Wisdom of God, or the Logos.

Christ is the second person of the Trinity and the Word or Logos made flesh.

So, the school is really named after Christ, who is wisdom itself.

The name also reminds of what was once the most glorious Church in the Christian East – the Basilica Hagia Sophia.

This was the former seat of the Patriarch of Constantinople and was built in the 6th century, until it was conquered by Ottoman Turks and converted into a Mosque.

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