Above the bend is an open book (silver, edged in gold) that displays in red the words Tolle Lege. This charge honors St. Augustine of Hippo, titular of the Cathedral Church in Kalamazoo. The story is related that, as a repentant, St. Augustine meditating on the Sacred Scriptures under a tree heard a little child say "Take and Read" (Tolle Lege). Then opening the text to St. Paul's letter to the Romans, Augustine read "let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." (Rom. 13:13). Considering that he had heard the Voice of God, Augustine took up the religious profession, to the great joy of his mother, St. Monica, eventually becoming the Bishop of Hippo in northern Africa.