The O’Neill Coat of Arms

Champions in the Land of the Irish

Fashioned in the Spring of 2007, the O’Neill coat of arms is one of a number of “new traditions” in our hall.

It presents the name of the hall, and the year of its founding, along with two Latin quotes. On the lower left, the words “Mobilium turba Quiritium” come from Horace (65BC – 8BC), the leading Roman poet of his time, and are literally translated as “a crowd of inconsistent citizens,” but are thought to be the origin of the word “mob.” O’Neill Hall’s nickname on campus is “The Mob.” On the lower right side are the words “Fratres in Unum,” which translates from Latin as “Brothers as One.” We come to Notre Dame and to O’Neill as nothing more than a scattered mob, but each new class of first years is completely assimilated by the upperclassmen, and soon we are all O’Neill brothers in one family.

In the O’Neill display case near the lobby is the official crest of the O’Neill family, and we take some of its features for our crest. The name “O’Neill” literally means “champion,” and the red hand on the upper left side of the shield is a symbol of the O’Neill family motto, “the red hand of Ireland in defiance,” sometimes given as “the red hand of Ireland forever.” That will be explained in a moment. On the lower right side is the classic symbol of O’Neill on the Notre Dame campus, recognized by all:

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The Red Hand of O’Neill

The origin of the legend of the “Bloody Red Hand of O’Neill” is lost in the mists of history, but most stories recount brave Celtic chieftains, in several boats, rowing across the northern Atlantic, where they caught sight of the beautiful green coastline of a land that today we call Ireland. These chieftains were proud rivals, and after a conference at sea in which they could not decide who would become lord of the land, they came to a decision that the first of them to touch the land with his hand would claim it as his reward. The furious race narrowed to two boaters, and Niáll, seeing his rival edging ahead, made a decision. He pulled out his battle-axe, severed his left hand, and with his right hand threw it to shore, thus claiming the land as his for his descendents forever. The name O’Neill derives from “uá Niáll,” “the descendents of the champion” as the clan of Niáll was called. Indeed these O’Neills reigned over large parts of Ireland until the English began to invade in the early 1600s. The waves in the upper right and lower left of the shield represent the seas brave Niáll had to traverse on his way to fame.

The bloody left hand of the O’Neill clan predates the advent of formal heraldry, which was introduced by the Normans in the 11th century, and is recorded on the battle standards of the uá Niáll clan as early as the 5th century.

There is some disagreement about whether the hand pictured in the O’Neill coat of arms should be right (“dexter”) or left (“sinister”), but the oldest records and legends relate that Niáll severed his left hand. In more recent times, the bloody hand is often associated with the Protestant and Catholic difficulties in Northern Ireland, but that newer symbolism completely ignores the original. If nothing else, the bloody red hand has become a cross-traditional symbol.

Today many consider those of the name O’Neill the rightful heirs to the title The High King of Ireland.

With permission of our O’Neill benefactors, the men of O’Neill Family Hall proudly claim their inheritance as champions in the land of the Irish in the tradition of the uá Niáll family line!

Download a scalable vector graphic of the O'Neill Crest: