Office for Mission and Heritage

Established in 2004, the Office for Mission and Heritage assists the Saint Xavier University community to become more focused on, intentional about, and accountable for pursuing its educational mission as a Catholic and Mercy institution.

Accordingly, the Office for Mission and Heritage has a threefold focus:

• Promoting and deepening the University community's understanding of and engagement with Saint Xavier's Catholic identity
• Fostering and enlivening the University community's appreciation for and embodiment of Saint Xavier's Mercy heritage, past and present.
• Supporting and contributing to the academic excellence of the University's undergraduate and graduate programs

Beyond Saint Xavier, Mission and Heritage is active with national organizations committed to Catholic and faith-based higher education. Among these organizations are the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU), the Conference for Mercy Higher Education (CMHE), and the Lilly Fellows Program.

Prayer for Saint Xavier University

O God, give us the compassion and conviction to care for the vulnerable and marginalized, as did Catherine McAuley. Give us the zeal and courage to spread the message of Mercy far and wide, as did Frances Xavier Warde.  Give us a hunger for justice and devotion to pursuing the common good, as you have given it to generations of Mercy Sisters and their collaborators.

Give us, the Saint Xavier Community, these same tender hearts, wise minds, and brave spirits to live out our Mercy heritage and mission, today and always. Amen.

The Suscipe of Catherine McAuley

My God, I am yours for all eternity.
Teach me to cast my whole self
into the arms of your Providence
with the most lively, unlimited confidence in your compassionate, tender pity.
Grant, O most merciful Redeemer,
that whatever you ordain or permit may always be acceptable to me.
Take from my heart all painful anxiety;
suffer nothing to afflict me but sin,
nothing to delight me, but the hope of coming to the possession of You
my God, in your own everlasting kingdom.

Amen.


Prayer of Mother Agatha O'Brien

While you, O My God, are my help and defender
No cares can o’erwhelm, nor terrors appall.
The wiles and the snares of this world will but render
More lively my hope in my God and my all.

Yes, my refuge, you are in sorrows and dangers
My strength when I suffer, my hope when I fall.
My comfort and joy in this land of the stranger
My treasure, my glory, my God and my all.

To you dearest Lord will I turn without ceasing
Though griefs may oppress and sorrows befall.
I'll love you till death, my poor spirit releasing,
Secures me to Jesus, my God and my all.

And when you demand the life you have given,
With joy shall I answer your merciful call,
And quit you on earth but to find you in heaven
My portion forever, my God and my all.

Amen.

For more information contact the Vice President of Mission and Heritage, Jenny DeVivo, Ph.D., at 773-341-5734 or devivoFREESXU.