Faith & Service
The Congregation of Holy Cross
The Holy Cross priests and brothers who live and serve at Notre Dame represent the cornerstone of the University’s unique Catholic character and spirit. Today's Holy Cross community is a spiritual descendant of the Congregatio a Sancta Cruce (C.S.C.), which was founded in the French countryside in the early 1800s by the Venerable Basil Anthony Moreau. It was Moreau who sent forth a young Father Edward Sorin, C.S.C., and six Holy Cross brothers in the early 1840s to establish a school in the wilderness of Indiana. Little could they have imagined the great University that would survive and thrive well into the twenty-first century nor the burgeoning community of dedicated religious who would continue to serve its mission in so many ways.
Mission
The Congregration’s foundational documents summon its members to be “educators in faith,” and they take this calling most seriously, placing it at the heart of their commitment to their community and to the University. In devotion to that mission, they are privileged to have so many talented and caring colleagues among the University’s faculty and staff—many of whom apply their talents in the classrooms, in the research facilities, in the residence halls, in Campus Ministry, and in the administrative offices.
Ministry
The word “ministry” can be traced back to the Latin word for service. The priests and brothers of Holy Cross at Notre Dame find many ways in which to be of service to Jesus Christ, Our Lady, and the human race, to whom the Catholic Church has been called to minister. Throughout the year, members of the Holy Cross community celebrate Mass numerous times each day, in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart as well as in the smaller chapels of academic buildings and residence halls, inviting students, staff, and faculty alike to participate in this daily renewal of faith.
Holy Cross religious teach in the classrooms and collaborate in the scholarship, research, and intellectual energy of the many departments, institutes, and organizations on campus. Other members serve in the administration and the University's President is, by statute, a Holy Cross priest. The Holy Cross ministry also extends to Notre Dame’s residence halls, where a number of priests, brothers, and sisters serve as rectors and chaplains in residence.
Finally, members of the Congregation also serve in Campus Ministry, along with a staff of dedicated lay people, to offer a diverse array of responses to the spiritual needs that arise among students of all backgrounds and faith.
Community
The community of Holy Cross priests and brothers at Notre Dame is a large population of individual thinkers, unique talents, different perspectives, and deeply personal spiritualities. The Notre Dame community started out as a band of pioneers who displayed both independence and cooperation as they literally built a university from the ground up. Holy Cross members still strive today to embrace both of these qualities as they seek to fulfill the mission of Holy Cross and this University.
The instinct to be part of a “big family” also extends to the whole Congregation of Holy Cross, whose members can be found in a variety of apostolates around the world—in Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Ghana, Haiti, India, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Peru, Tanzania, and Uganda, as well as in the United States. New members of the Indiana province are joyfully welcomed into life in Holy Cross and offered guidance and encouragement to explore a vocation to the priesthood or consecrated life.
Faith and Service
Related Links
Seal of the C.S.C.
The community’s seal is the cross and anchors and its motto, Ave Crux Spes Unica: Hail the Cross, Our Only Hope.
Venerable Basil Anthony Moreau
Venerable Basil Moreau, C.S.C., founded the Congregation of Holy Cross in Le Mans, France, during the 19th century. He is to be beatified in a ceremony there on Saturday, September 15, 2007. Visit the Holy Cross Vocation Office >
