Feast of Assumption brings day of celebration at Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame Australia\u27s Sydney Campus had much to celebrate on the Feast of the Assumption. The Broadway Courtyard and St Benedict\u27s Church were abuzz with staff, students and friends of the University who came to observe one of the most important feast days in the Roman Catholic calendar and to participate in a series of events organised by the Chaplaincy team. Notre Dame Chaplain Fr Lam Vu OFM Cap, together with Assistant Chaplain Fr John Neill OP, led a full congregation in celebrating High Mass at St Benedict\u27s Church. A small ceremony was then held in the Courtyard, below the icon of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom, where artist Chris Wolter placed the final tile on the mosaic, three years after the rest of the image was completed. In 2009, the icon commissioned by Blessed Pope John Paul II, Our Lady Seat of Wisdom, visited Notre Dame as part of its journey to the world\u27s universities. In the same year, His Eminence Cardinal George Pell commissioned artist and Notre Dame staff member, Chris Wolter, to create an icon of the Virgin Mary, modelled after the visiting icon, as a gift to Notre Dame\u27s Sydney Campus. Notre Dame\u27s icon was completed by Mr Wolter and blessed by Cardinal Pell in 2009 before being installed at the south end of the Broadway Courtyard in 2010, with one tile deliberately omitted from the mosaic. This year, the tile travelled to Rome with a group of Notre Dame pilgrims and was blessed by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. Fittingly, on the Feast of the Assumption, that tile made Our Lady\u27s image complete. Mr Wolter said it was a relief to see the mosaic, which took him six months to create, finally complete. It\u27s great to see it finished! Mr Wolter said. It was fitting to complete the icon on such a lovely feast day and to have such a large crowd gathered both for Mass and to see the tile go in, was really quite special. Following the ceremony, a World Youth Day barbecue was held in the Courtyard, a fundraiser for Notre Dame pilgrims travelling to Rio in 2013, yet another initiative that can be traced to Pope John Paul II. For further information please contact: Communications Officer, Elizabeth Fenech The University of Notre Dame Australia, Sydney Campus T: 02 8204 4407 E: elizabeth.fenech@nd.edu.au W: www.nd.edu.au