Pierre de Chaignon la Rose
Encyclopedia
Pierre de Chaignon la Rose (April 23, 1871 – February 21, 1940) was an American
heraldist
and heraldic artist.
, New York
. His father was an A. F. de Chaignon la Rose, and his mother Katharine Kappus von Pichlstein. It was rumored by some at Harvard, however, that the French surname was merely a pretense, and that his name was originally Peter Ross.
La Rose studied at Exeter Academy
and subsequently Harvard University
, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
in 1895. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, supposedly "without ever taking a single lecture-note". He also served as editor of the Harvard Monthly, and was a member of Hasty Pudding
and Signet
. His roommate at Harvard was Daniel Gregory Mason
, who described him in the following terms:
He taught at Harvard in the English department for seven years following his graduation, resigning his teaching post in 1902. By 1915, La Rose would describe his occupation as a "man of letters", busying himself with critical literary work and graphic design while making trips to Europe, Mexico, and Turkey.
A fervent Catholic, La Rose was an expert on ecclesiastical heraldry
, and designed the coats of arms of many American Catholic prelate
s. He also designed arms for institutions both Catholic and secular, including Rice University
. For example, he designed the seals of all the graduate schools at Harvard University
and served on its Committee on Arms, Seal, and Diplomas, while also designing armorial bearings for Princeton
, Yale
, and Radcliffe College
.
He was a friend of historian George Santayana
.
A 1941 recollection of him in the Harvard Crimson
noted his dignified presence on campus in his later years, but also his isolation and loneliness; La Rose never married. He died on February 21, 1940 at Wyman Cambridge Hospital
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
heraldist
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
and heraldic artist.
Biography
Pierre de Chaignon la Rose was born on April 23, 1871 in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. His father was an A. F. de Chaignon la Rose, and his mother Katharine Kappus von Pichlstein. It was rumored by some at Harvard, however, that the French surname was merely a pretense, and that his name was originally Peter Ross.
La Rose studied at Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...
and subsequently Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1895. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, supposedly "without ever taking a single lecture-note". He also served as editor of the Harvard Monthly, and was a member of Hasty Pudding
Hasty Pudding Club
The Hasty Pudding Club is a social club for Harvard students. It was founded by Nymphus Hatch, a junior at Harvard College, in 1770. The club is named for the traditional American dish that the founding members ate at their first meeting...
and Signet
Signet society
The Signet Society of Harvard University was founded in 1870 by members of the class of 1871. The first president was Charles Joseph Bonaparte. It was, at first, dedicated to the production of literary work only, going so far as to exclude debate and even theatrical productions. According to The...
. His roommate at Harvard was Daniel Gregory Mason
Daniel Gregory Mason
Daniel Gregory Mason was an American composer and music critic.-Biography:...
, who described him in the following terms:
Of all my friends he had the surest nose for the best, whether in letters, music, the graphic arts, or the more general arts of life ... His style in college essays and stories was fairly Jamesian. He could draw exquisite book-plates. As for his piano-playing, I can see him yet at our upright, stocky but erect in shirt-sleeves and red hair ...
He taught at Harvard in the English department for seven years following his graduation, resigning his teaching post in 1902. By 1915, La Rose would describe his occupation as a "man of letters", busying himself with critical literary work and graphic design while making trips to Europe, Mexico, and Turkey.
A fervent Catholic, La Rose was an expert on ecclesiastical heraldry
Ecclesiastical heraldry
Ecclesiastical heraldry is the tradition of heraldry developed by Christian clergy. Initially used to mark documents, ecclesiastical heraldry evolved as a system for identifying people and dioceses. It is most formalized within the Catholic Church, where most bishops, including the Pope, have a...
, and designed the coats of arms of many American Catholic prelate
Prelate
A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.-Related...
s. He also designed arms for institutions both Catholic and secular, including Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
. For example, he designed the seals of all the graduate schools at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and served on its Committee on Arms, Seal, and Diplomas, while also designing armorial bearings for Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, and Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the coordinate college for Harvard University. It was also one of the Seven Sisters colleges. Radcliffe College conferred joint Harvard-Radcliffe diplomas beginning in 1963 and a formal merger agreement with...
.
He was a friend of historian George Santayana
George Santayana
George Santayana was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. A lifelong Spanish citizen, Santayana was raised and educated in the United States and identified himself as an American. He wrote in English and is generally considered an American man of letters...
.
A 1941 recollection of him in the Harvard Crimson
Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson are the athletic teams of Harvard University. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2006, there were 41 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at any other NCAA Division I college in the country...
noted his dignified presence on campus in his later years, but also his isolation and loneliness; La Rose never married. He died on February 21, 1940 at Wyman Cambridge Hospital
Mount Auburn Hospital
Mount Auburn Hospital is a hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1886 as the first hospital in Cambridge, and is currently affiliated with Harvard Medical School.-External links:*...
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
.
Armorial bearings designed
La Rose designed the armorial bearings for the following persons and institutions:Institutions
- Duquesne UniversityDuquesne UniversityDuquesne University of the Holy Spirit is a private Catholic university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened its doors as the Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost in October 1878 with an enrollment of...
(modified and approved) - Harvard University's Graduate Schools
- Lancaster Catholic High SchoolLancaster Catholic High SchoolLancaster Catholic High School is a Catholic co-educational high school located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA. The school is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg secondary schools.-Academics:...
- Rice University
- Roman Catholic Archdiocese of DubuqueRoman Catholic Archdiocese of DubuqueThe Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the northeastern quarter of the state of Iowa in the United States. It includes all the Iowa counties north of Polk, Jasper, Poweshiek, Iowa, Johnson, Cedar, and Clinton counties. ...
- Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los AngelesRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Los AngelesThe Archdiocese of Los Angeles is an archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the archdiocese comprises the California counties of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura. The diocesan cathedral is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the...
- Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New OrleansRoman Catholic Archdiocese of New OrleansThe Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, officially in Latin Archidioecesis Novae Aureliae, is an ecclesiastical division of the Roman Catholic Church administered from New Orleans, Louisiana...
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Natchez (now suppressed)
- Roman Catholic Diocese of PittsburghRoman Catholic Diocese of PittsburghThe Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh is a Roman Catholic diocese. It was established in Western Pennsylvania on August 11, 1843. The diocese includes 211 parishes in the counties of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene, Lawrence, and Washington, an area of with a Catholic population of 719,801...
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Augustine
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint CloudRoman Catholic Diocese of Saint CloudThe Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Cloud is a Roman Catholic diocese in Minnesota. It was founded on September 22, 1889, out of territory that had been evangelized by the missionary priest Father Francis Xavier Pierz...
- Roman Catholic Diocese of ToledoRoman Catholic Diocese of ToledoThe Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo is a Roman Catholic diocese covering nineteen counties in Ohio. It was established April 15, 1910. Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral is the mother church of the diocese.-Bishops:...
Persons
- James BlenkJames BlenkJames Hubert Herbert Blenk, S.M. was a German American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Puerto Rico and Archbishop of New Orleans .-Biography:...
(1856–1917), Archbishop of New Orleans - Joseph Francis BuschJoseph Francis BuschJoseph Francis Busch was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Lead and Bishop of Saint Cloud .-Biography:...
(1866–1953), Bishop of Saint Cloud - Regis CanevinRegis CanevinJohn Francis Regis Canevin was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Pittsburgh from 1904 to 1921.-Biography:...
(1853–1927), Bishop of Pittsburgh - John Patrick CarrollJohn Patrick CarrollJohn Patrick Carroll was an American Catholic priest, who became the second Bishop of Helena, Montana, U.S.A...
(1864–1925), Bishop of Helena - Michael Joseph CurleyMichael Joseph CurleyMichael Joseph Curley was an Irish-born clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church. Originally a priest and bishop in the Diocese of St...
(1879–1947), Bishop of Saint Augustine - Dennis Joseph DoughertyDennis Joseph DoughertyDennis Joseph Dougherty was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Philadelphia from 1918 until his death in 1951, and was created a cardinal in 1921.-Early life and education:...
(1865–1951), Archbishop of Philadelphia - John Edward GunnJohn Edward GunnJohn Edward Gunn was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Natchez from 1911 until his death in 1924.-Early life and ordination:...
(1863–1924), Bishop of Natchez - James KeaneJames Keane (Archbishop)- External links :...
(1857–1929), Archbishop of Dubuque - Joseph SchrembsJoseph SchrembsJoseph Schrembs was a German-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Toledo and Bishop of Cleveland .-Early life and education:...
(1866–1945), Bishop of Toledo