Laetare Medal

The Laetare Medal is an annual award given by the University of Notre Dame in recognition of outstanding service to the Roman Catholic church and society. The award is given to an American Catholic "whose genius has ennobled the arts and sciences, illustrated the ideals of the church and enriched the heritage of humanity." First awarded in 1883, it is the oldest and most prestigious award for American Catholics. 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.

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. 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 "Magna est veritas et prevalebit," meaning "Truth is mighty, and it shall prevail."

A candidate for the award must be a practicing American Catholic who has made a distinctively Catholic contribution in their 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.

Recipients

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 a U.S. President.

List of Recipients

Year	Laetare Medalist	Position	Year	Laetare Medalist	Position
1883	John Gilmary Shea	Historian	1948	Frank C. Walker	Postmaster General and Civic Leader
1884	Patrick Charles Keely	Architect	1949	Irene Dunne Griffin	Actress
1885	Eliza Allen Starr	Art Critic	1950	General Joseph L. Collins	Soldier
1886	General John Newton	Engineer	1951	John Henry Phelan	Philanthropist
1887	Edward Preuss	Publicist	1952	Thomas E. Murray	Member of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
1888	Patrick V. Hickey	Founder and Editor of The Catholic Review	1953	I.A. O'Shaughnessy	Philanthropist
1889	Anna Hansen Dorsey	Novelist	1954	Jefferson Caffery	Diplomat
1890	William J. Onahan	Organizer of the American Catholic Congress	1955	George Meany	Labor Leader
1891	Daniel Dougherty	Orator	1956	General Alfred M. Gruenther	Soldier
1892	Henry F. Brownson	Philosopher and Author	1957	Clare Boothe Luce	Diplomat
1893	Patrick Donohue	Founder of the Boston Pilot	1958	Frank M. Folsom	Industrialist
1894	Augustin Daly	Theatrical Producer	1959	Robert Daniel Murphy	Diplomat
1895	Mary Anne Sadlier	Novelist	1960	George N. Shuster	Educator
1896	General William Starke Rosencrans	Soldier	1961	John F. Kennedy	President of the United States
1897	Thomas Addis Emmet	Physician	1962	Francis J. Braceland	Psychiatrist
1898	Timothy Edward Howard	Jurist	1963	Admiral George Whelan Anderson, Jr.	Chief of Naval Operations
1899	Mary Gwendolin Caldwell	Philanthropist	1964	Phyllis McGinley	Poet
1900	John A. Creighton	Philanthropist	1965	Frederick D. Rossini	Scientist
1901	William Bourke Cockran	Orator	1966	Patrick F. & Patricia Caron Crowley	Founders of The Christian Movement
1902	John Benjamin Murphy	Surgeon	1967	J. Peter Grace	Industrialist
1903	Charles Jerome Bonaparte	Lawyer	1968	Robert Sargent Shriver	Diplomat
1904	Richard C. Kerens	Diplomat	1969	William J. Brennan Jr.	Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
1905	Thomas B. Fitzpatrick	Philanthropist	1970	Dr. William B. Walsh	Physician
1906	Francis J. Quinlan	Physician	1971	Walter Kerr & Jean Kerr	Drama Critic and Author
1907	Katherine Eleanor Conway	Journalist and Author	1972	Dorothy Day	Founder of the Catholic Worker Movement
1908	James C. Monaghan	Economist	1973	Rev. John A. O'Brien	Author
1909	Frances Tieran (Christian Reid)	Novelist	1974	James A. Farley	Business Executive and Former Postmaster General
1910	Maurice Francis Egan	Author and Diplomat	1975	Sr. Ann Ida Gannon, BMV	President of Mundelein College
1911	Agnes Repplier	Author	1976	Paul Horgan	Author
1912	Thomas M. Mulry	Philanthropist	1977	Mike Mansfield	Former Senate Majority Leader
1913	Charles B. Herberman	Editor of the Catholic Encyclopedia	1978	Msgr. John Tracy Ellis	Church Historian
1914	Edward Douglass White	Chief Justice of the United States	1979	Helen Hayes	Actress
1915	Mary V. Merrick	Philanthropist	1980	Thomas P. (Tip) O'Neill Jr.	Speaker of the House
1916	James Joseph Walsh	Physician and Author	1981	Edmund Sixtus Muskie	Secretary of State
1917	Admiral William Shepherd Benson	Chief of Naval Operations	1982	John Francis Cardinal Dearden	Archbishop Emeritus of Detroit
1918	Joseph Scott	Lawyer	1983	Edmund & Evelyn Stephan	Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Trustees and his wife
1919	George L. Duval	Philanthropist	1984	John T. Noonan, Jr.	Lawyer
1920	Lawrence Francis Flick	Physician	1985	Guido Calabresi	Dean of the Yale Law School
1921	Elizabeth Nourse	Artist	1986	Thomas & Mary Elizabeth Carney	Chairman of the Board of Trustees and his wife
1922	Charles Patrick Neill	Economist	1987	Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC	President of the University of Notre Dame
1923	Walter George Smith	Lawyer	1988	Eunice Kennedy Shriver	Founder & Chairwoman of the Special Olympics
1924	Charles Donagh Maginnis	Architect	1989	Walker Percy	Novelist
1925	Albert Francis Zahm	Scientist	1990	Sister Thea Bowman (posthumously)	Educator
1926	Edward Nash Hurley	Businessman	1991	Corrine Lindy Boggs	Former Louisiana Congresswoman
1927	Margaret Anglin	Actress	1992	Daniel Patrick Moynihan	U.S. Senator from New York
1928	John Johnson Spaulding	Lawyer	1993	Donald R. Keough	Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Trustees
1929	Alfred Emmanuel Smith	Statesman	1994	Sidney Callahan	Educator and Journalist
1930	Frederick Philip Kenkel	Publicist	1995	Joseph Cardinal Bernardin	Archbishop of Chicago
1931	James J. Phelan	Businessman	1996	Sister Helen Prejean	Death Penalty Abolitionist
1932	Stephen J. Maher	Physician	1997	Rev. Virgilio Elizondo	Theologian and Activist
1933	John McCormack	Artist	1998	Dr. Edmund D. Pellegrino	Medical Ethicist and Educator
1934	Genevieve Garvan Brady	Philanthropist	1999	Philip Gleason	Professor Emeritus of History, Notre Dame
1935	Francis Hamilton Spearman	Novelist	2000	Andrew McKenna	Chairman of the Board of Trustees
1936	Richard Reid	Journalist and Lawyer	2001	Msgr. George G. Higgins	Priest and Labor Activist
1937	Jeremiah D. M. Ford	Scholar	2002	Father John Smyth	Executive Director of Maryville Academy
1938	Irvin William Abell	Surgeon	2003	Peter and Margaret O'Brien Steinfels	Editors of Commonweal
1939	Josephine Van Dyke Brownson	Catechist	2004	Father J. Bryan Hehir	President of Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of Boston
1940	General Hugh Aloysius Drum	Soldier	2005	Dr. Joseph E. Murray	Surgeon & Nobel Prize Winner
1941	William Thomas Walsh	Journalist and Author	2006	Dave Brubeck	Jazz Pianist
1942	Helen Constance White	Author and Teacher	2007	Patrick McCartan	Chairman of the Board of Trustees
1943	Thomas Francis Woodlock	Editor	2008	Martin Sheen	Actor
1944	Anne O'Hare McCormick	Journalist	2009	NOT AWARDED (SEE BELOW)
1945	Gardiner Howland Shaw	Diplomat	2010	Dana Gioia	Former Chairman of National Endowment for the Arts
1946	Carlton J. H. Hayes	Historian and Diplomat	2011	Sister Mary Scullion, R.S.M., & Joan McConnon	Social Advocates
1947	William G. Bruce	Publisher and Civic Leader	2012

2009 Laetare 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 of its controversial decision to name Barack Obama as its commencement speaker and grant him an honorary degree, issued "talking points" stating that "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 in the spirit of the Laetare award, choosing not to award the 2009 medal.

External links

• "Laetare Medal Recipients". Archives. University of Notre Dame. 2010. http://archives.nd.edu/research/facts/laetare.html.