The University of Notre Dame's annual commencement exercises are held each May, currently in the Notre Dame Stadium. The exercises award undergraduate and graduate degrees.
During commencement, the Laetare Medal is awarded. [1] [2]
Notre Dame is known for inviting US presidents to deliver the commencement address, especially in the year of their inauguration. [3] [4] [5] Six recent presidents have delivered the address, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. [6] Most recently, Vice President Mike Pence spoke instead of President Donald Trump, as the president was visiting Saudi Arabia. [7] [8] Notre Dame leads the non-military university by most presidents delivering the address at commencement. [9] Joseph Biden (who had previously spoken at commencement in 2016 as the awardee of the Laetare Medal) was invited in 2021, but could not attend due to scheduling issues. [10]
Charles Joseph Bonaparte was an American lawyer and political activist for progressive and liberal causes. Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, he served in the cabinet of the 26th U.S. president, Theodore Roosevelt. He was a descendant of the House of Bonaparte: his grandfather was Jérôme Bonaparte, brother of Emperor Napoleon.
Joseph Louis Bernardin was an American Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Cincinnati from 1972 until 1982, and as Archbishop of Chicago from 1982 until his death in 1996 from pancreatic cancer. Bernardin was elevated to the cardinalate in 1983 by Pope John Paul II.
Rev. Theodore Martin Hesburgh, CSC was an American Catholic priest and academic who was a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross. He is best known for his service as the president of the University of Notre Dame for thirty-five years (1952–1987). In addition to his career as an educator and author, Hesburgh was a public servant and social activist involved in numerous American civic and governmental initiatives, commissions, international humanitarian projects, and papal assignments. Hesburgh received numerous honors and awards for his service, most notably the United States's Presidential Medal of Freedom (1964) and Congressional Gold Medal (2000). As of 2013, he also held the world's record for the individual with most honorary degrees with more than 150.
The Archdiocese of Chicago is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in Northeastern Illinois, in the United States. It was established as a diocese in 1843 and elevated to an archdiocese in 1880. It serves the more than 2.2 million Catholics in Cook and Lake counties in the state of Illinois, an area of 1,411 square miles (3,650 km2). The archdiocese is divided into six vicariates and 31 deaneries.
John Francis O'Hara was an American member of the Congregation of Holy Cross and prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as president of the University of Notre Dame (1934–1939) and as the Archbishop of Philadelphia from 1951 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1958.
Edward Frederick Sorin, C.S.C. was a French-born priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross and the founder of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and of St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas.
The Diocese of Peoria is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the north central region of Illinois in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese within the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Chicago.
Mary Ann Glendon is the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a former United States Ambassador to the Holy See. She teaches and writes on bioethics, comparative constitutional law, property, and human rights in international law. She supports government bans on abortion services and "writes forcefully against the expansion of abortion rights."
John Ignatius Jenkins, C.S.C. is a Catholic priest of the Congregation of the Holy Cross and the current president of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA. He previously served as its vice-president and associate provost. He replaced Edward Malloy as president.
Notre Dame Law School is the professional graduate law school of the University of Notre Dame. Established in 1869, it is the oldest continuously operating Catholic law school in the United States.
Peoria Notre Dame High School is a Catholic parochial high school in Peoria, Illinois. It is the largest school in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria with approximately 815 students. It has a college preparatory curriculum, and according to the school, most of the students graduating in recent years went on to college. The school uses an academy system with a trustee committee, oversight board, pastor's board, president, and principal.
Carol Ann Mooney is the 11th president of Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana (2004–2016). She is the first lay alumna president of the college.
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." First awarded in 1883, it is the oldest and most prestigious award for American Catholics.
Daniel Robert Jenky, CSC is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Peoria in Illinois from 2002 until his retirement in 2022. He also served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend in Indiana from 1997 to 2002.
John Lancaster Spalding was an American author, poet, advocate for higher education, the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria from 1877 to 1908 and a co-founder of The Catholic University of America.
St. Mary's College was a Catholic institution established by William Byrne and George Elder in Elder's hometown of Hardin's Creek near Lebanon in Marion County, Kentucky. The community was later renamed "St. Mary" after the college. St. Mary's is now closed. It operated between 1821 and 1976. Before it closed, it was the third oldest operating Catholic college for boys in the nation.
Academy of Our Lady and Spalding Institute were Catholic high schools across the street from each other in downtown Peoria, Illinois.
Timothy Edward Howard was the 43rd Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, professor at the University of Notre Dame, writer, and Civil War veteran. He served in the Indiana Senate from 1886 to 1892.
Rudolph Chester Yakym III is an American politician and businessman who is the member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing Indiana's 2nd congressional district. He is a member of the Republican Party.