Saint Louis University Students Participate in Camino de SLU
Maggie Rotermund
Senior Media Relations Specialist
maggie.rotermund@slu.edu
314-977-8018
Reserved for members of the media.
ST. LOUIS - Ahead of the beatification Mass for Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in St. Louis on Thursday, Sept. 24, a group of Saint Louis University students and Jesuit scholastics participated in a Camino, or walking tour of significant places, from campus to the Old Cathedral on St. Louis' riverfront, stopping at historic churches along the way.
The Wellness Day tour was organized by Catholic Studies program and offered the SLU community an opportunity to share prayer and reflections at several churches in St. Louis. The pilgrimage began with reflections on SLU's quad at the statue of St. Ignatius before continuing on to St. Francis Xavier College Church and at the Rock Church.
Nicolas Titone, a junior majoring in biomedical engineering, said he was eager to join the tour after participating in church tours in Spain and Italy.
“This is a unique thing to do in the U.S. and I'm blessed to have the opportunity,” he said.
The Illinois native said he chose SLU because it is a Catholic, Jesuit university and he sought out a school that embraced faith traditions.
Fellow pilgrim Ruben Hernandez, a graduate student in history, came to SLU this fall to study American immigration, particularly of Hispanic and Vietnamese immigrant populations.
“SLU has deep archives into the history of Catholic immigration,” he said.
John Peck, S.J., Ph.D., assistant professor of philosophy, led the pilgrims in Mass at the Shrine of St. Joseph before the group enjoyed a meal together on the Landing.
The pilgrimage culminated with the Holy Hour for Young Adults at the Old Cathedral, hosted by the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal as part of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen’s beatification events. Sheen, an American priest who became one of the first broadcast evangelists with radio and television programs in the 1950s, was born in El Paso, Illinois in the Diocese of Peoria.
The Mass of Beatification for Sheen was held Thursday at The Dome at America’s Center in downtown St. Louis. The Rite of Beatification takes place at the beginning of the Mass. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, serving as the representative of Pope Leo XIV, read an Apostolic Letter of the Holy Father in Late, which grants the title of Blessed upon Archbishop Sheen. Beatification is the penultimate stage on the road to sainthood and comes only after a miracle has been reported and investigated.