The Colegio's motto, Deus, Patria, Letran (For God, For Country, For Letran), reflects its core values: prioritizing God, followed by devotion to the nation, and then commitment to the school. The motto emphasizes that the Colegio places God first, acknowledges the country as the foundation of divine blessings, and honors the school as the nurturing institution shaping students according to its highest ideals.
Letranite is represented by the Knight, who undergoes a series of rigorous trials, advancing from Page to Squire, and demonstrating his purity and commitment. Only after these tests does he attain knighthood. As a Knight, he carries the shield and lance, not for personal protection, but to uphold and defend his principles and ideals with integrity and dedication.
The Colegio’s seal features the Cross, a central symbol of Christianity and the Crusades. Don Juan Geronimo Guerrero, a founding figure of Letran, is believed to have been a Knight of Malta, a group that traces its roots to the Crusades as the "Knights of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem." They moved to Malta in 1530 under the condition of swearing allegiance to Emperor Charles V of Spain. Over time, the Knights of Malta became esteemed within the Church for their pious works. The Letran Cross on the seal reflects the Colegio's commitment to the Christian faith, symbolizing its mission to uphold and champion these values.
The seal's design—a silver cross on a blue and red field encircled by a green laurel wreath—represents the pursuit of excellence and moral integrity. The silver denotes purity, a goal for every learner at Letran, while the blue and red field symbolizes Letran as a battleground for moral and intellectual challenges, striving to achieve the ideals represented by the Cross. The green laurel wreath signifies continuous victory and growth in the quest for these ideals. This Maltese Cross, inscribed with "Colegio de Letran," connects to the traditions of the Lateran and the Knights of Malta, emphasizing a heritage of faith, valor, and dedication dating back to between 1696 and 1716.
At the top center of the shield is the knight, the title and the name of all members of the Letran community most especially the students must be known. At the left side of the figure is the spear and at the right side is the torch, symbolizing truth and courage every Knight must have in pursuit of quality integral formation. The shield itself contains the Dominican’s cross colored black and white, signifying that Letran is a Dominican institution. At the center is the Letran seal of a silver cross on a blue and red field enriched by the green wreath laurel. On it, hangs the Colegio’s motto, summarizing the core values of love of God, country, and Letran.
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Blue stands for loyalty and justice. It is the loyalty and justice of the blue-blooded, a loyalty of noblest form and a strong sense of justice which grasps fully well the order of waves. Red is for consummate bravery... that firmness of heart, that staunchness of will, that openness of mind. It stands for the firmness of a martyr who welcomes the heathen's sword across his neck and a hero who saves countless lives at the price of his precious own.
The colors of Letran are blue and red, not red and blue... needs must stay before red... for consummate bravery asks of consummate cause. The martyr marches firmly towards the scaffold only in complete faithfulness to his creed, and the hero offers his whole life only if such whole offertory does justice to a sublime cause... bravery simply for the exquisiteness of spilled blood, which ends in supreme sacrifice for a trivial or for no account, this is not Letran's.
November 9 marks the feast of the dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. The Basilica is considered as the mother church of Christendom. This feast was originally observed only in Rome. When the emperor Constantine donated the Laterani Palace to the Pope, the Palace was dedicated to our Lord.
The Palace was owned by the Laterani, a Roman noble family who revolted against Nero in 53-54 A.D. The Emperor Constantine stayed there when he visited Rome in 315 A.D. During the Crusades, the Pope renamed the church after the Benedictine Monastery of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist (which were situated on both sides of the Palace), but retained the Laterani appellation. Thus, it is the present name of Basilica of St. John Lateran.
During the dark days of the Church, the Papal elections were conducted at the Basilica, from the 12th century onwards. The feast of the Lateran Basilica was observed throughout the Roman Catholic as a sign of devotion to and of unity with the Chair of Peter.
The Dominican spirit of upholding church unity and orthodoxy in faith is clearly manifested when the founding father named the first boy’s school in the country after the mother Church of Christendom: Colegio de San Juan de Letran.
