Mass of the Holy Spirit: A tradition of 480 years

By: Brendan Hammond, Contributing Writer

Before the papers, exams and late-night study sessions of another academic year fully settle in, Jesuit colleges and universities begin with something older: prayer. 

The Mass of the Holy Spirit has marked the beginning of the academic year at Jesuit schools for nearly five centuries. The tradition dates back to 1548 and the opening of the first Jesuit school in Messina, Sicily. Since then, Jesuit educational institutions around the world have continued the custom, gathering their communities to ask for the guidance, wisdom and inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the year ahead. 

Unlike a typical Sunday Mass, the celebration places particular emphasis on the work of education. Prayers and readings traditionally focus on the pursuit of wisdom and the spiritual and intellectual growth of the campus community. Red, the liturgical color associated with the Holy Spirit and the fire of Pentecost, commonly appears throughout celebrations at Jesuit institutions. In many schools, the Mass is an explicitly communal event, bringing together students, faculty and staff at the beginning of a new year. 

At Canisius University, the Mass of the Holy Spirit has become one of the most visible expressions of that wider Jesuit tradition. Rather than treating the Mass simply as another Campus Ministry event, the university builds it into the academic calendar. The gathering is intended for the entire Canisius community, including those from faith traditions other than Catholicism, as a moment to reflect on the university’s shared mission and the purpose behind the work of learning and teaching. 

That tradition continued this year on Wednesday, Sept. 16, as the Canisius community gathered at 10 a.m. in Christ the King Chapel. Faculty were encouraged to take part in the traditional academic procession wearing regalia, while the university suspended classes following the usual Monday–Wednesday–Friday schedule to allow students and faculty to attend. Following the Mass, the community was invited to continue the celebration with a complimentary brunch in the Dining Hall. 

The ceremony provided something increasingly rare during the rush of a college semester: a deliberate moment to stop before moving forward. Students, professors and staff spend the year approaching education from different disciplines, responsibilities and perspectives, but the Mass gathers them around the same hope that the work undertaken at a university should amount to more than simply earning credits or degrees. 

This year’s celebration therefore carried forward both a Canisius tradition and a much older Jesuit one. Nearly 480 years after students and teachers first gathered in Messina to ask the Holy Spirit to bless a new school year, the same prayer continues in Buffalo. The classrooms,

subjects and students have changed beyond recognition, but the hope behind the tradition has not. That knowledge might be accompanied by wisdom, learning by purpose and another academic year by a clearer understanding of how that education might be used in service for or with others.