O'Shea, Ek to be invested in Order of the Holy Sepulchre

Dr. Patrick M. O'Shea, associate professor of music, and Susanne C. Ek '85, executive director for the U.S. Office of the Billings Ovulation Method will be invested as a Knight and Lady of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem at the annual meeting and investiture weekend of the U.S. Northern Lieutenancy of the Order, Sept.18-21 in St. Louis.

Tracing its origin to the First Crusade, the Order was reorganized and revitalized in 1847 with the restoration of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem by Pope Pius IX. At the December 2008 world ‘consulta’ of the Order at the Vatican, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI stated that the Order came into being as “a ‘guard of honour’ for the protection of the Holy Sepulchre of Our Lord,” and since its foundation “has attracted the particular concern of Roman Pontiffs, who have given it the spiritual and juridical instruments necessary for it to carry out its specific form of service.”

Today, the Order is an association of both lay and religious men and women with a special devotion to the support of the church in the Holy Land. Appointed directly by the Holy Father, the Cardinal Grand Master of the Order is His Eminence John Cardinal Foley, and the Grand Prior of the Order is the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Fouad Twal.

Among the schools that receive support from the Order of the Holy Sepulchre is our sister Lasallian institution, Bethlehem University.

Other members of the Order from the Saint Mary's community include Brother Chancellor. Louis DeThomasis, FSC, The Most Rev. Bernard J. Harrington, Bishop Emeritus of Winona, and The Most Rev. John Quinn, Bishop of Winona.

The speaker for the investiture weekend will be Brother A. David Carroll, FSC.