Beauty, goodness, and truth are described in Catholic intellectual tradition as “transcendentals,” or properties of reality at its very roots. According to this way of thinking, beauty, goodness, and truth “transcend” particular things, and they pertain to everything that exists.
President Rob Vischer spoke about these values during his when he announced a new initiative to invite all ÖØ¿ÚζSM community members to “experience the many ways in which truth, beauty, and goodness are lived out each day across our campus.”
Through its wide-ranging and interdisciplinary programming, the Claritas Initiative seeks to both reclaim and illuminate insights regarding beauty, goodness, and truth and, in doing so, reframe the education of students at ÖØ¿ÚζSM.
Our discussions, performances and experiences are designed to help community members explore ways that all of us in our unique roles can nurture beauty, goodness and truth.
Summer 2025 - Iversen Center for Faith
Daily, 7:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m
Throughout the summer, the Hoedeman Gallery of Sacred Art welcomes all to view and enjoy the second annual Catholic Schools Visual Arts Exhibition for 7th - 12th grade students. The theme of this year’s exhibition is “The Saints.” Admission is free, and all tours are self-guided.
The experience of being in the atrium of the Schoenecker Center during the announcement of John Monahan's $20 million dollar gift to elevate arts education at ÖØ¿ÚζSM was about as beautiful as it gets. Standing in a beautiful building...
The Claritas Initiative cultivates appreciation of beauty, goodness, and truth with the aim of re-framing and enriching the educational experience of our students, and the professional lives of our faculty and staff.
About the Name
Thomas Aquinas uses the Latin term claritas in his theory of beauty. To Aquinas, beautiful things have claritas, which translates most straightforwardly as "clarity," but which also involves a certain luminosity, a shining quality. Things that are beautiful radiate something enthralling to the observer. The term claritas thus captures a potent, multifaceted aspect of beauty in Aquinas’ thought.
Beauty transports us out of ourselves and leads us to engage the world, goodness inspires us to reach our highest aspirations and truth provides shared understanding for our lives together.
Seed funding for the Claritas Initiative was generously provided by the .