{"id":2034,"date":"2014-03-30T02:30:59","date_gmt":"2014-03-30T06:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.archives.nd.edu\/about\/news\/?p=2034"},"modified":"2014-03-30T02:30:59","modified_gmt":"2014-03-30T06:30:59","slug":"laetare-medal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/laetare-medal\/","title":{"rendered":"The Laetare Medal"},"content":{"rendered":" <\/a>
<\/div>

In the early 1880s, the Notre Dame faculty and administration were discussing a way to engage American Catholic lay men and women with the hierarchy of the Church.\u00a0 University President Rev. Thomas Walsh, Rev. Edward Sorin, and Professor James Edwards<\/a> decided that Notre Dame should bestow a medal of honor each year on an American lay Catholic member, preferably a college-educated “man of letters,” in similar fashion as the Vatican’s Golden Rose<\/a>.\u00a0 The Laetare Medal quickly became not only the highest honor Notre Dame bestows, but also the highest honor American Catholics can receive.<\/p>\n

As the medal was initially presented on Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent, the medal was known as the Laetare Medal.\u00a0 Notre Dame administrators or a delegate usually presented the medal to the recipient away from campus.\u00a0 As time grew on, the presentations floated further away from Laetare Sunday to accommodate the recipient’s schedule, but the announcement is still made on Laetare Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"Front
Front side of the Laetare Medal given to Albert Zahm in 1925. Astronaut James Wetherbee (Class of 1974) carried this medal with him on his first flight into space aboard the Columbia<\/em> space shuttle in 1990.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John Gilmary Shea<\/a> was the first recipient of the Laetare Medal in 1883.\u00a0 Artist Eliza Allen Starr<\/a>, dear friend of Rev. Edward Sorin, was the third recipient of the Laetare Medal and the first female recipient in 1885.\u00a0 Edward Pruess accepted the 1887 medal under anonymity, not wanting public honors.\u00a0 It wasn’t until after his death that his name was added to the honor roll.<\/p>\n

In the early years, an illustrative announcement accompanied the medal.\u00a0 This practice ended in 1908 on the Silver Jubilee of the Laetare Medal.\u00a0 Each medal has a unique design, reflecting an important aspect of the recipient’s life.\u00a0 For example, aviation pioneer Albert Zahm’s<\/a> (Class of 1883) medal features an airplane and the Golden Dome (see above) while President John F. Kennedy’s medal features the Presidential Seal of the United States.<\/p>\n

\"Laetare
Laetare Medal certificate to James Charles Monaghan, 1908.
Artwork by Howard Darnell of Philadelphia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For decades, Notre Dame administrators, usually accompanied by the local bishop or other Catholic hierarchy, would bring the medal to the recipient.\u00a0 Usually the ceremony was simple, but other times it was a lavish affair.\u00a0 In 1911, former Notre Dame professor Maurice Francis Egan<\/a>, who was then service as the United States Ambassador to Denmark, was awarded the Laetare Medal.\u00a0 Notre Dame invited dozens of dignitaries, including cabinet members, congressmen, high-ranking military officials, and foreign ambassadors to the presentation ceremony.<\/p>\n

In 1918, Los Angeles Bishop John Cantwell spoke to a packed crowd in the Shrine Auditorium on the occasion of the Laetare Medal presentation to attorney Joseph Scott<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“This distinguished assemblage of citizens is unique among civic gatherings.\u00a0 We come together this evening to witness an academic act of a university whose center is far from here, but whose range of activity is confined only by the continent. … When the University of Notre Dame confers the Laetare Medal this evening, it is the witness of a great university to the superb character of Mr. Joseph Scott.”<\/p>\n

[“Joseph Scott Receives the Laetare Medal,” <\/em>The Tidings, February 28, 1919; CJWC 14\/22]<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For the Golden Jubilee of the medal in 1933, the presentation was held at Notre Dame’s Commencement.\u00a0 All living medalists were invited and among those who returned to campus to speak were Margaret Anglin<\/a>, Al Smith<\/a>, and Dr. James J. Walsh<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Rev.
Rev. Edmund Joyce, CSC, and Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, presenting President John F. Kennedy with the Laetare Medal in the White House, 1961\/1122.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1968, the Notre Dame search committee opened up the requirements of Laetare Medalists to include clergy, not just lay people.\u00a0 The first religious Laetare Medalist was Rev. John O’Brien, a Notre Dame faculty member and popular author.\u00a0 Notre Dame has also awarded the Laetare Medal jointly to married couples and groups.<\/p>\n

By the 1970s, the presentation of the Laetare Medal became a regular part of Commencement Exercises, and the medal recipient is one of the principle speakers.\u00a0 In 2006, Laetare Medalist jazz musician Dave Brubeck also graced the audience with a performance of “Travelin’ Blues” (see video below).\u00a0 In 2009, Mary Ann Gleason declined the Laetare Medal in protest to Notre Dame’s decision to name President Barack Obama as Commencement speaker and award him an honorary degree.<\/p>\n

\"Commencement
Commencement – Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC, presenting Helen Hayes with the Laetare Medal, 1979\/0520.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the centennial of the Laetare Medal in 1983, University President Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh admitted,<\/p>\n

“there was serious discussion whether the University should continue to make the annual award.\u00a0 After all, with twenty-one Catholic members of the United States Senate, we are hardly an immigrant minority; we have entered the mainstream.\u00a0 But the consensus was that our nation will always need – and it will be salutary to recognize – the kind of men and women who have worn the Laetare Medal, persons of excellence and faith who exemplify best what it means to be both American and Catholic.\u00a0 For this reason, I suspect that there will be a Laetare Medal as long as there is a Notre Dame”<\/p>\n

[<\/em>Laetare Medal Centennial: 1883-1983, PNDP 40-La-01]. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sources:
\nScholastic<\/a>
\nAlumnus<\/a>
\nNotre Dame: One Hundred Years<\/a><\/em> by Arthur J. Hope
\nCJWC 14\/22<\/a>
\nPNDP 40-La-01<\/a>
\nGNEG 02D\/24B<\/a>
\nGLAE
\nGPHR 45\/4321<\/a>
\nGPHR 35m\/05764<\/a>
\n“Declining Notre Dame:\u00a0 A Letter from Mary Ann Glendon,<\/a>” Mary Ann Glendon,\u00a0 April 27\/2009 (http:\/\/www.firstthings.com\/blogs\/firstthoughts\/2009\/04\/declining-notre-dame-a-letter-from-mary-ann-glendon\/)
\nList of Laetare Medal Recipients <\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" <\/a>

<\/div>

In the early 1880s, the Notre Dame faculty and administration were discussing a way to engage American Catholic lay men and women with the hierarchy of the Church.\u00a0 University President Rev. Thomas Walsh, Rev. Edward Sorin, and Professor James Edwards decided that Notre Dame should bestow a medal of honor each year on an American … Continue reading “The Laetare Medal”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n ","protected":false},"author":4370,"featured_media":2984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[15,22],"class_list":["post-2034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catholic-history","category-nd-history","tag-awards","tag-catholic-history"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-16 05:47:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4370"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}