Our Heritage
The Immaculata story begins with Mother Camilla Maloney’s vision of erecting a college on a hill overlooking the Great Valley to prepare women, educated in the Arts and Sciences, for roles of leadership and service in the new century. That dream was partly fulfilled in 1914 when Villa Maria Academy opened on the site. Just six years later, on November 12, 1920, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania granted a college charter. Today, after almost one hundred years of growth, Immaculata welcomes women and men to undergraduate and graduate opportunities that integrate Catholic thought with liberal and professional education.
Our Legacy
Motto
Scientia floret virtute
The University motto, which reads in Latin, Scientia floret virtute (Knowledge flourishes in virtue), expresses the ideal of a true liberal arts education in the Christian tradition. The dual meaning of the Latin word, virtute, is virtue or power. It is symbolic of the kind of strength that comes from the wisdom earned by reflective study and vigorous application. Whether one takes the word virtue in its ethical sense or in its dimension of force and energy, the intellectual and moral values that students choose to make their own enable them to go “from strength to strength.” Liberally educated, Immaculata graduates have acquired that flexibility and sense of personal worth that will make them prudent risk-takers in a world that belongs to those who dare and those who care.
Seal
The seal of the University is modeled on the seal of the founding Congregation, the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The disk is blue and white, the colors of the University, with a representation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary pierced with a sword superimposed on a field of light blue-a detail taken from the seal of the congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On the blue field, above the image of the heart, are twelve stars which symbolize the virtues of Mary Immaculate, patroness of the University. On the blue field beneath the image of the heart is the motto of the University, Scientia floret virtue (Knowledge flourishes in virtue). Beneath the motto is a spray of five lilies representing the major areas of study: theology/philosophy, humanities, mathematics, natural and social sciences under which is placed the year of the University charter, 1920.
The outer edge of the disk is white, engraved with the words, Universitas Immaculatae Immaculatae Pennsylvania (Immaculata University, Immaculata, Pennsylvania)
Discover Immaculata
Grounded in IHM tradition and charism since 1920.
Find out what an IU education can do for your mind, your character and your future.