Cardinal Gérald Lacroix, Archbishop of Quebec and Primate of Canada, will be awarded the Saint Anselm Medal as part of the College’s 125th anniversary celebration.

Abbot Mark Cooper, O.S.B. explained that the medal is meant to “Honor someone who understands and upholds our faith tradition and contributes to both the Church and to academics.”

The medal has only been awarded once before, with renowned scholar of medieval monasticism Jean Leclercq, O.S.B. receiving the honor during the College’s centennial celebration in 1989.

Father Benedict Guevin, O.S.B. explained that the infrequency of awarding the medal is due to its reservation for celebrating major milestones in the history of the College.

As for the medal itself, Father Benedict shared that the College had plain prototypes made during the centennial celebration, with the intent of personalizing each medal for each future recipient.

Father Benedict serves on the 125th Anniversary Steering Committee, a representative board of all of the College’s institutions that decided to include the Saint Anselm Medal within this year’s celebration.

The committee’s desire was to select a worthy recipient that would be known to a wider audience, with Cardinal Lacroix being their final choice from a list of potential candidates that Abbot Mark provided for the committee. Both Abbot Mark and Father Benedict described Cardinal Lacroix as a worthy recipient.

While the initially intended tradition was to award the medal during the Feast of Saint Anselm which occurs in late April, Cardinal Lacroix was unable to attend on that day, prompting the committee to begin planning the ceremony for April 24.

Although the itinerary for the day is not fully solidified, Father Benedict revealed that tentative plans include a celebratory mass which Cardinal Lacroix will preside over and provide the homily for, followed by a reception and perhaps a luncheon in the President’s Dining Room.

In commenting on the general procedure of awarding the medal, Abbot Mark shared that he would be in favor of reviewing and potentially changing the criteria of the process, in order to create a more rigorous and broad search standard that ultimately leads to the medal being awarded more frequently.