The Vision
	The Exterior
	The Interior
	The Sanctuary
	Donate to the Chapel
	Schedule of Masses

	After 10 years of planning and construction, Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel was dedicated to God on Saturday, March 7, 2009, by the Archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony. From hereon, this day will be celebrated as a solemnity for the Thomas Aquinas College community, a special dispensation of Providence in that it is also the anniversary of the death of our patron, St. Thomas Aquinas.

The Vision

	"The dedication of the Chapel to Our Lady acknowledges her essential role in God's plan for our salvation and the Church's filial love for her as our mother." - His Eminence Justin Cardinal Rigali Archbishop of Philadelphia February 2, 2009

The Name

The entire Thomas Aquinas College curriculum is ordered toward the queen of the sciences, theology, and in a special way to the works of the Church's premier theologian and Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas. Similarly, all of St. Thomas' theology aims ultimately at the highest object of contemplation, the Triune God, the study of Whom is among the last to be taken up by students at the College.

In this enterprise, the Blessed Mother is our model. As Pope John Paul II observed in his encyclical Fides et Ratio, Mary's life is a "true parable," illuminating the connection between faith and reason: "For between the vocation of the Blessed Virgin and the vocation of true philosophy there is a deep harmony."

So it is that the Chapel is dedicated to Our Lady in her unique relation to the Trinity - the perfect daughter of the Father, the most admirable mother of the Son, the dearest spouse of the Holy Spirit. The name Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel pays homage to the Triune God we worship and to the Blessed Mother whom we strive to emulate.

Presiding majestically over Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel is an 8-foot, marble statue of the Woman of the Apocalypse. The statue is held aloft by the Chapel's pediment, which, triangular in shape, suggests the Holy Trinity. The pediment bears a relief of the Thomas Aquinas College crest, supported on either side by angels. Etched just below is St. John's description of the Woman of the Apocalypse: et signum magnum apparuit in caelo mulier amicta sole et luna sub pedibus eius et in capite eius corona stellarum duodecim, "A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" (Rev. 12:1). Above the archway appears, in Latin, the name of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel: domina nostra sanctissimae trinitatis.

The Blessings

In 2003, His Holiness Pope John Paul II blessed the architectural plans for Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel, as did His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in 2006. Two years later, Pope Benedict also blessed the Chapel's cornerstone. These blessings, which took place at St. Peter's Basilica, signify Thomas Aquinas College's commitment to remaining loyal to the Holy Father and faithful to the teaching Church.

As an expression of gratitude, the College has inlaid the coat of arms of Pope John Paul II, under whose pontificate the building was designed, in the marble floor of the Chapel's central aisle, just inside the main entrance. At the other end of the nave, just outside the sanctuary, lies the coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI, under whose pontificate the Chapel was constructed.

"To have the Holy Father, the successor of St. Peter, bless the cornerstone of the College Chapel right there over the grave of St. Peter in Rome — and this stone will be brought back and inserted in a prominent place in the College Chapel building — this builds up our faith." — His Eminence Francis Cardinal Arinze Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments September 3, 2008

Thomas Aquinas College President Dr. Thomas E. Dillon and his wife, Terri, present plans for Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel to Pope John Paul II on April 23, 2003.

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI blesses the Chapel's cornerstone on September 3, 2008.

The coats of arms and papal mottos of the late Pope John Paul II (left) and His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI (right) are inlaid in the marble in the main aisle of the Chapel, one at each end.
The Latin inscription on the cornerstone translates as "For the Greater Glory of God and the Blessed Virgin Mary" and includes the year of its blessing, A.D. 2008. The bronze Thomas Aquinas College crest seals a compartment within the stone for holding scrolls listing the names of the College's benefactors, governors, students, faculty, alumni, and other friends. These scrolls, too, were blessed by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome, as they were laid alongside the cornerstone at the blessing ceremony.

The Four Marks

From its inception, the vision for Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel has been predicated upon four distinguishing marks: beauty, which disposes us to what is true and good; grandeur, which lifts the mind to contemplate God's transcendence; permanence, which reminds us that God's word is everlasting; and tradition, which connects us to the wisdom of the past.

Beauty: Inspired by the flooring in several of Europe's most magnificent churches, Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel's marble floor is exquisitely arrayed in an intricate pattern.

Grandeur: From the sanctuary one can see the clerestory, where the arched windows fill the building with warm, natural light.

Permanence: Concealed within the Chapel's marble columns are 31-foot-high steel beams, and behind its limestone façade is a skeleton of steel, concrete, and rebar strong enough to stand up to California's seismic uncertainties. Yet the marble and limestone are themselves also enduring materials, meant to demonstrate, albeit beautifully, that this is a building constructed to withstand the wear of ages.

Tradition: Drawing upon two millennia of Catholic architecture, Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel embraces the Church's Early Christian, Renaissance, and Spanish Mission heritage. The quatrefoil window in the Chapel's façade, for example, is a common element in Mission architecture.