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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Observer

Moreau Day celebrations to honor Holy Cross founder

The Notre Dame community will celebrate Moreau Day today. Moreau Day marks the Feast Day of Blessed Basil Moreau, the founder of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, who died Jan. 20th, 1873.

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Keri O'Mara | The Observer


Campus Ministry and Le Cercle Français, Notre Dame's French culture club, have worked in tandem to organize events to celebrate the Feast Day. Campus Ministry has organized a "selfie competition" for students throughout Moreau Day. Students will compete to win $100 in Domer Dollars by taking as many selfies with Holy Cross religious as they can and sending them to @ndministry on Twitter and Instagram.

Fr. Peter McCormick, director of Campus Ministry, said he hopes the Moreau Day activities will have a noticeable impact to campus.

"I think it's an opportunity for us to be reminded of what our heritage is and who we are," McCormick said. "When I think about any great institution, one wants to know what its origins were and how it is that we continue to live its that vision to this day."

McCormick compared the significance of Moreau Day's at Notre Dame to Independence Day's in the United States.

"It's an opportunity for us to shine light on key figures in the history of Notre Dame and also the Congregation of the Holy Cross," McCormick said. "We remember figures such as Fr. [Edward] Sorin, Blessed Basil Moreau, and so many others who actively worked to build up this University to what it is today."

Campus Ministry has also organized a celebration of Mass at 5:15 p.m. in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart to honor Moreau and bless members of the Notre Dame community traveling Wednesday to the March for Life in Washington, D.C., which begins Thursday.

Le Cercle Français coordinated with junior Kaitlyn Krall, who works with Campus Ministry, to serve crêpes from 8 to 9 p.m. in the Coleman-Morse Center according to Paulina Luna, treasurer of the French Club. Luna said the club will be serving "homemade crêpes with very traditional fillings."

"We are known for our great cooking and flipping skills, displayed when we host 'Study Crêpes,' so we were delighted to have been invited to share our skills as we celebrate Moreau Day with the ND community," Luna said. "Campus Ministry also very generously offered our club new crêpe pans."

Luna explained the French Club's involvement in Moreau Day, citing Basil Moreau's important role in French history.

"Fr. Moreau, alongside the other priests, worked hard to educate many in faith, even when the Church was under attack during the French Revolution," Luna said. "In the present day, France is losing touch with its Catholic roots, but I think Fr. Moreau's work is an inspiration to continue to grow spiritually."