Our Motto

The Motto of the Irish School of Ecumenics (ISE) is Floreat ut Pereat, ‘May it flourish in order to perish’ (Tagadh Bláth Chun go dTagadh Feo). This motto was created by ISE founder Fr Michael Hurley. Mr. Gerard Slevin, who was Chief Herald at Dublin Castle around the time of the founding of ISE, suggested that an ear of wheat would be an appropriate emblem for ISE. Fr Hurley wrote (2008):

“‘…our motto reminded him of the dying and rising involved not only in the glorification of Jesus but also in natural growth and in the sacrament of the Eucharist. He remembered the Johannine verse which says: ‘Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit’ (Jn 12:24)”