“We asked how we might follow you, and we found many footprints on the road. A great band of men and women had passed this way… people who had walked side by side in the following of Our Lord.” (Holy Cross Constitution: 1)

Yes, we received an individual call to follow Our Lord. What a blessing it is to have community to walk side by side with us. Jesus chose to create community by having called twelve Apostles. Holy Cross provided the same experience. Father Moreau, its founder, brought sisters, brothers and priests, and lay men and women to form Holy Cross.

The Community was initially called Holy Cross because it originated in Sainte Croix, which is a suburb of Le Mans, France. But the cross also became a key element of Moreau’s spirituality. He used to say that the crosses were a blessing that endured in the community and its mission. Having endured, they became a sign of strength and a promise that this Community would endure.

The rejection of Moreau by the Community at the end of his life was an example of how the cross would be central to Holy Cross spirituality. The patronal feast day of the Community and of the Community’s church in Le Mans was named Our Lady of Holy Cross.

“The important point for us is to accept everything with equal conformity to the will of God. We should say, ‘If you wish, O my God, that I be in darkness, so be it.” —Blessed Basil Moreau, C.S.C

Repeat often: SPES UNICA, THE CROSS, OUR HOLY HOPE