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MARTYRS' SHRINE

At burial, Cardinal Dulles joins Auriesville company

The interment on June 1 of Cardinal Avery Dulles, SJ, at the Jesuit Cemetery at Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine in Auriesville speaks not only of the remarkable life of the esteemed Jesuit theologian but of his communion with those of his order who have gone before him. 

"There is an apostolate brought to fruition here," commented Rev. Peter Murray, SJ, director of the shrine. "'Well done, [my] good and faithful servant' is what comes to mind while walking through the cemetery," he added, referring to the passage from Matthew 25:21. 

Cardinal Dulles was buried with his brother Jesuits after a Mass celebrated by Bishop Howard J. Hubbard. 

State to church 
Cardinal Dulles was born in Auburn, N.Y., to a prominent upstate family. His father, John Foster Dulles, and two other ancestors served as U.S. secretary of state and an uncle was director of central intelligence. 

Raised Presbyterian, Cardinal Dulles became an agnostic by the time he entered Harvard College but later converted to Catholicism. He entered the Society of Jesus and became a prominent theologian and speaker, particularly on Vatican II, the Church council held in the early 1960s, and ecclesiology. His 1974 book, "Models of the Church," remains a popular classic. 

Cardinal Dulles taught at Woodstock College, the Catholic University of America and Georgetown and held appointments at universities across the globe. At his death, he was Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University.

He was the first American cardinal who had not previously served as bishop. "He was a magnanimous but humble spirit," said Rev. Vincent Ritchie, SJ, an assistant to the director of the shrine. "Through and through a Jesuit."

Holy company
The liturgy at Auriesville was held in the coliseum, a mammoth circular church reminiscent of the Coliseum in Rome where early Christians were martyred for the faith. The symbolism alludes to the three Jesuit missionaries martyred during the 1640s at Ossernenon, the stockaded Mohawk village which once occupied the site of today's Auriesville.

Their remains, though the exact location is lost to time, and those of priests here buried add to the historic aura that many sense on this property that sits on a bluff overlooking the Mohawk Valley. "We sense energy and history here: we know this is no ordinary place," Rev. Jim Pribek, SJ, a professor at Canisius College, wrote in the shrine's newsletter, The Pilgrim.

Father Ritchie said that Auriesville stands as "an acknowledgement of the miraculous evangelization of the French Jesuits in this part of North America."

At rest in the cemetery are fellow "black robes," as some Mohawks called them, who followed them in their zeal.

"The Jesuits of the New York province dedicated their lives to evangelization in the church, specifically ministries of education and spirituality," said Father Ritchie. "These men buried in the 20th and 21st centuries have a real contact with the French evangelists of 350 years ago."

The cemetery was established in 1962, 77 years after the shrine was founded as a place of pilgrimage. Approximately 500 priests are interred there. Their ranks include former professors and theologians, presidents of Jesuit universities, provincial superiors and chaplains in armed forces. 

Humble in death
Over each, plain white granite grave markers are embellished with a simple cross superimposed over the traditional Jesuit insignia and are inscribed with name, date of birth, and date of entry into the Society of Jesus. 

Father Murray said that pilgrims are welcome to visit the cemetery and that some return every year to pay their respects to their former teachers, priest and friends. He said they may also visit the Mortuary Chapel. 

"The Martyrs Chapel is where the [Jesuit] community gathers for the rites of final commendation," explained Father Ritchie. 

Father Pribek told The Evangelist that the cemetery is "a great gift to the shrine. We have a past but we also have a future. It is through this grave that we will arise."

In The Pilgrim, he wrote: "For Jesuits in this region of the country, Auriesville is our place of resurrection, in that old and rich sense. It is the place where we meet the Lord in life, and the place where we will meet Him on the last day."

(06/04/09) [[In-content Ad]]

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