The Laetare Medal is an annual award given by the University of Notre Dame in recognition of outstanding service to the Catholic Church and society. The award is given to an American Catholic or group of Catholics "whose genius has ennobled the arts and sciences, illustrated the ideals of the church and enriched the heritage of humanity."Skinner, Rosemary, (editor), 2006, Encyclopedia of Women And Religion in North America, Indiana University Press, p. 877, . First awarded in 1883, it is the oldest and most prestigious award for American Catholics.
Overview
The medal is an external award which can be given to a person from outside the University of Notre Dame. It is named the Laetare Medal because the recipient of the award is announced in celebration of Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent.Laetare medal to labor priest, Notre Dame Magazine, Summer 2001. The Laetare Medal was conceived by University of Notre Dame professor James Edwards as an American version of the papal award the Golden Rose. It was approved of by the university's founder Father Edward Sorin, C.S.C. The Golden Rose has existed since the 11th century, and was customarily awarded to a royal person on Laetare Sunday, although this was rarely done during the 20th century. The university adapted this tradition — awarding a gold medal, instead of a rose — to a distinguished American Catholic on Laetare Sunday. The medal has the Latin inscription meaning "Truth is mighty, and it shall prevail."Tomme, Alyson, 2001-05-18, Higgins wins Laetare Medal, The Observer. The medal is awarded during commencement at Notre Dame, during which the laureate delivers a remark.
A candidate for the award must be a practicing American Catholic who has made a distinctively Catholic contribution in his or her professional or intellectual life. A committee generally takes names of potential recipients from faculty and staff at the University of Notre Dame. They select two or three candidates from this group, which are voted on by the officers of the university.
History John Gilmary Shea, a historian of the Catholic Church in the United States, was the first person to be awarded the Laetare Medal in 1883. The recipients of the Laetare Medal come from varied fields. Recipients include jazz musicians, Cardinals, philanthropists, ambassadors, authors, opera singers, senators, doctors, generals, and two U.S. presidents. Both Catholic Presidents of the United States, Kennedy and Biden, are recipients of the award.
2009 Medal Harvard Law School professor and former United States Ambassador to the Holy See, Mary Ann Glendon, was chosen as the 2009 recipient but declined the award when the university, as part of its justification for naming Barack Obama as its commencement speaker and grant him an honorary degree, stated:"President Obama won’t be doing all the talking. Mary Ann Glendon, the former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, will be speaking as the recipient of the Laetare Medal. ... We think having the president come to Notre Dame, see our graduates, meet our leaders, and hear a talk from Mary Ann Glendon is a good thing for the president and for the causes we care about." In light of Obama's strong pro-choice policies, Glendon considered Notre Dame's decision to be in violation of a 2004 pronouncement from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops instructing Catholic institutions not to provide "honors, awards, or platforms" to "those who act in defiance of [Catholic] fundamental moral principles." She also believed that the university's statements had placed her in an untenable position; as she wrote in her letter declining the medal: "A commencement, however, is supposed to be a joyous day for the graduates and their families. It is not the right place, nor is a brief acceptance speech the right vehicle, for engagement with the very serious problems raised by Notre Dame’s decision—in disregard of the settled position of the U.S. bishops—to honor a prominent and uncompromising opponent of the Church’s position on issues involving fundamental principles of justice." Notre Dame ultimately selected 1984 Laetare recipient Judge John T. Noonan, Jr. to speak, choosing not to award the 2009 medal at all.
List of recipients
Year Laetare Medalist Position Year Laetare Medalist Position 1883 John Gilmary Shea Historian 1956 General Alfred M. Gruenther Soldier 1884 Patrick Charles Keely Architect 1957 Clare Boothe Luce Diplomat 1885 Eliza Allen Starr Art Critic 1958 Frank M. Folsom Industrialist 1886 General John Newton Engineer 1959 Robert Daniel Murphy Diplomat 1887 Edwin Preuss Publicist 1960 George N. Shuster Educator 1888 Patrick V. Hickey Founder and Editor of The Catholic Review 1961 John F. Kennedy President of the United States 1889 Anna Hanson Dorsey Novelist 1962 Francis J. Braceland Psychiatrist 1890 William J. Onahan Organizer of the American Catholic Congress 1963 Admiral George Whelan Anderson, Jr. Chief of Naval Operations 1891 Daniel Dougherty Orator 1964 Phyllis McGinley Poet 1892 Henry F. Brownson Philosopher and Author 1965 Frederick D. Rossini Scientist 1893 Patrick Donahoe Founder of the Boston Pilot 1966 Patrick F. & Patricia Caron Crowley Founders of The Christian Movement 1894 Augustin Daly Theatrical Producer 1967 J. Peter Grace Industrialist 1895 Mary Anne Sadlier Novelist 1968 Robert Sargent Shriver Diplomat 1896 General William Starke Rosecrans Soldier 1969 William J. Brennan Jr. Associate Justice of the Supreme Court 1897 Thomas Addis Emmet Physician 1970 Dr. William B. Walsh Physician 1898 Timothy Edward Howard Jurist 1971 Walter Kerr & Jean Kerr Drama Critic and Author 1899 Mary Gwendolin Caldwell Philanthropist 1972 Dorothy Day Founder of the Catholic Worker Movement 1900 John A. Creighton Philanthropist 1973 Rev. John A. O'Brien Author 1901 William Bourke Cockran Orator 1974 James A. Farley Business Executive and Former Postmaster General 1902 John Benjamin Murphy Surgeon 1975 Sr. Ann Ida Gannon, BVM President of Mundelein College 1903 Charles Joseph Bonaparte Lawyer 1976 Paul Horgan Author 1904 Richard C. Kerens Diplomat 1977 Mike Mansfield Former Senate Majority Leader 1905 Thomas B. Fitzpatrick Philanthropist 1978 Msgr. John Tracy Ellis Church Historian 1906 Francis J. Quinlan Physician 1979 Helen Hayes Actress 1907 Katherine Eleanor Conway Journalist and Author 1980 Thomas P. (Tip) O'Neill Jr. Speaker of the House 1908 James C. Monaghan Economist 1981 Edmund Sixtus Muskie Secretary of State 1909 Frances Tieran (Christian Reid) Novelist 1982 John Francis Cardinal Dearden Archbishop Emeritus of Detroit 1910 Maurice Francis Egan Author and Diplomat 1983 Edmund & Evelyn Stephan Chairman Emeritus of the board of trustees and his wife 1911 Agnes Repplier Author 1984 John T. Noonan, Jr. Lawyer 1912 Thomas M. Mulry Philanthropist 1985 Guido Calabresi Dean of the Yale Law School 1913 Charles George Herbermann Editor of the Catholic Encyclopedia 1986 Thomas & Mary Elizabeth Carney Chairman of the board of trustees and his wife 1914 Edward Douglass White Chief Justice of the United States 1987 Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC President of the University of Notre Dame 1915 Mary Virginia Merrick Philanthropist 1988 Eunice Kennedy Shriver Founder & Chairwoman of the Special Olympics 1916 James Joseph Walsh Physician and Author 1989 Walker Percy Novelist 1917 Admiral William Shepherd Benson Chief of Naval Operations 1990 Sister Thea Bowman (posthumously) Educator 1918 Joseph Scott Lawyer 1991 Corinne Lindy Boggs Former Louisiana Congresswoman 1919 George L. Duval Philanthropist 1992 Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Senator from New York 1920 Lawrence Francis Flick Physician 1993 Donald R. Keough Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Trustees 1921 Elizabeth Nourse Artist 1994 Sidney Callahan Educator and Journalist 1922 Charles Patrick Neill Economist 1995 Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Archbishop of Chicago 1923 Walter George Smith Lawyer 1996 Sister Helen Prejean Death Penalty Abolitionist 1924 Charles Donagh Maginnis Architect 1997 Rev. Virgilio Elizondo Theologian and Activist 1925 Albert Francis Zahm Scientist 1998 Dr. Edmund D. Pellegrino Medical Ethicist and Educator 1926 Edward Nash Hurley Businessman 1999 Philip Gleason Professor Emeritus of History, Notre Dame 1927 Margaret Anglin Actress 2000 Andrew McKenna Chairman of the Board of Trustees 1928 John Johnson Spalding Lawyer 2001 Msgr. George G. Higgins Priest and Labor Activist 1929 Alfred Emmanuel Smith Statesman 2002 Father John Smyth Executive Director of Maryville Academy 1930 Frederick Philip Kenkel Publicist 2003 Peter and Margaret O'Brien Steinfels Editors of Commonweal 1931 James J. Phelan Businessman 2004 Father J. Bryan Hehir President of Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of Boston 1932 Stephen J. Maher Physician 2005 Dr. Joseph E. Murray Surgeon & Nobel Prize Winner 1933 John McCormack Artist 2006 Dave Brubeck Jazz Pianist 1934 Genevieve Garvan Brady Philanthropist 2007 Patrick McCartan Chairman of the Board of Trustees 1935 Francis Hamilton Spearman Novelist 2008 Martin Sheen Actor 1936 Richard Reid Journalist and Lawyer 2009 NOT AWARDED (SEE ABOVE) 1937 Jeremiah D. M. Ford Scholar 2010 Dana GioiaPoet and Chairman of National Endowment for the Arts 1938 Irvin William Abell Surgeon 2011 Sister Mary Scullion, R.S.M., & Joan McConnon Social Advocates 1939 Josephine Van Dyke Brownson Catechist 2012 Ken Hackett Former President of Catholic Relief Services 1940 General Hugh Aloysius Drum Soldier 2013 Sister Susanne Gallagher, S.P.Sister Mary Therese Harrington, S.H.Rev. James H. McCarthy Founders of S.P.R.E.D. (Special Religious Education Development Network) 1941 William Thomas Walsh Journalist and Author 2014 Kenneth R. Miller Professor of Biology at Brown University 1942 Helen Constance White Author and Teacher 2015 Aaron Neville R&B Singer 1943 Thomas Francis Woodlock Editor 2016 Joseph BidenJohn Boehner Vice President of the United States (and later President of the United States) former Speaker of the House of Representatives 1944 Anne O'Hare McCormick Journalist 2017 Father Greg Boyle, S.J. Founder of Homeboy Industries 1945 Gardiner Howland Shaw Diplomat 2018 Sister Norma Pimentel, M.J. Executive Director, Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley 1946 Carlton J. H. Hayes Historian and Diplomat 2019 Dr. Norman Francis President Emeritus, Xavier University of Louisiana and civil rights leader 1947 William G. Bruce Publisher and Civic Leader 2020 Kathleen McChesney Former FBI executive assistant director and director of USCCB Office of Child Protection 1948 Frank C. Walker Postmaster General and Civic Leader 2021 Carla Harris Finance executive, gospel artist, and motivational speaker 1949 Irene Dunne Griffin Actress 2022 Sharon Lavigne Environmental justice activist and founder of RISE St. James 1950 General Joseph L. Collins Soldier 2023 Sister Rosemary Connelly, R.S.M. former executive director of Misericordia Home 1951 John Henry Phelan Philanthropist 2024 Claire Babineaux-Fontenot CEO of Feeding America 1952 Thomas E. Murray Member of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission 2025 Kerry Alys Robinson President of Catholic Charities, USA 1953 I.A. O'Shaughnessy Philanthropist 2026 Timothy Shriver Chairman of the Special Olympics 1954 Jefferson Caffery Diplomat 2027 1955 George Meany Labor Leader 2028
See also List of ecclesiastical decorations
References
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