The Women Youth Apostle logo symbolizes several key elements of who we are as a community.
At the center of the logo and our community is the cross. According to our statutes, we were founded with “the ultimate purpose of inspiring young people to a Christ-like life based on the Lord’s sacrificial love.” The entire life of Jesus Christ communicates this love. Through the cross we come to know Christ’s sacrificial love and through the Resurrection we are filled with His joy.
The style of cross we chose is called a Budded Cross or Apostles’ Cross. Three buds emerge at each of the cross’ four ending points, creating a total of twelve buds representing the Apostles. Like the first missionaries who encountered Christ and were sent to spread the Gospel we desire to build up His Church, particularly as missionaries to young people. As members of Christ’s lay faithful, our apostolic work bears fruit in obedience to our local bishop and “successor of the apostles.” Finally, this same style of cross sits atop the Salesian Coat of Arms, reminding us of St. John Bosco, one of the patron saints of our community who embodies our call to work with youth.
Symbols of our other four patron saints are found in the rim of our logo. First, if you look at the upper rim you will count twelve stars. This points to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title Mary, Queen of Apostles. It is this title which the Second Vatican Council referred to Our Lady as the “perfect model of this apostolic and spiritual life” (Apostolicam Actuositatem, 4) and therefore fitting that we seek to model her radical yes in our personal spiritual lives, community, and commitment to young people.
At the bottom of the rim you will see three different types of flowers. The top flower is the violet. This flower which grows in hidden places and under larger plants, points us to St. Jane Frances de Chantal who embodies the humility and simplicity that inspire our spirituality. In the middle is the lily, which reminds us of St. Clare of Assisi. We look to St. Clare because of her purity, poverty, great love of God (especially in the Blessed Sacrament), and firm commitment to her sisters in community. The final flower is the rose which symbolizes St. Therese of the Child Jesus. As the Patroness of the Missions, her “little way” is the path that encourages us to serve Jesus Christ with confidence and love.
Our patron saints inspire the head, heart, and hands of Women Youth Apostles. St. Jane Frances de Chantal’s spirituality is the head of our community. St. Clare of Assisi’s great example of loving Christ is the heart of our community. St. Therese as the Patroness of Missions and St. John Bosco as the Patron of Youth are the hands of our community.
One final connection to St. John Bosco is found in the words “Truth, Freedom, & Care” that are listed under our name. We call these our ultimate values because they are precisely what we are called to live out in service to young people: to live in the Truth as disciples of Christ in the Church, to live in freedom from sin particularly through the Sacrament of Penance, and to live in love through the Eucharist, the source of our love. Our ultimate values correspond to the Preventive System through which St. John Bosco taught his community to minister to young people with reason, religion, and kindness.
As a community dedicated to youth and campus ministry we are firmly convinced that “the love of our Lord must always be made accessible, so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 25). Thus, having examined the logo in separate pieces—beginning with the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ on the Cross and then looking at the ways our patron saints inspire our common life and commitments—the symbolism of our logo culminates as you step back to see it as a whole. A lightly-colored circle with a cross stamped in the middle reminds us of the Sacrament of the Eucharist in which Jesus Christ is truly present, clothed in the humility of what appears to be a simple host. Through frequent attendance at Mass and reception of Holy Communion, He who is truly present, body, blood, soul, and divinity, communicates His divine life to each of us, inspiring us to share His great love with young people.
Women Youth Apostles 