Sacred moments: First-year Notre Dame students gather in prayer at the Grotto

The fall semester is in full swing, and the Notre Dame campus is abuzz with the excitement of many firsts.

Incoming students just experienced the season’s first home football game in South Bend, the first few weeks of classes, and their first of many sacred traditions: an inaugural visit to the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes as a student body.

This year, Vice President for Student Affairs Rev. Gerry Ollinger, C.S.C., presided over the First Visit ceremony, offering Mass and prayer for hundreds in attendance. He reflected, “At Our Lady’s University, one of our most cherished traditions is the First Year Class’ First Grotto Visit. This prayer service serves as the formal end to Welcome Weekend, and begins what I hope is a long and life-giving relationship with one of Notre Dame’s most sacred places. 

“I often remind our students that it is unlikely they will ever live as close to the Grotto as they do now, and I hope that throughout their time at Notre Dame, they find the Grotto to be a place to pause, reflect, and entrust both their joys and their sorrows to Notre Dame, Our Mother.”

Amid the uncertainty and emotion that can accompany the transition to college, the First Grotto Visit can become a time for students to remember where they came from while beginning to imagine what lies ahead.

For Emi Jiménez ’27, the candles illuminating the Grotto during her first visit carried a deeply personal meaning. She recalled, “At the end of my senior year of high school, my close friend Lucy passed away suddenly. As some people may know, the name Lucy comes from the Spanish word luz, meaning ‘light.’ So, as we approached the Grotto with lit candles in our hands as a class during our first week at Notre Dame, freshman year, it felt like a true full-circle moment for me after a very difficult year.

I was taken back to my high school senior graduation Mass, when our entire class walked in, holding small candles to honor our classmate. As I thought back on that moment, standing in front of the Notre Dame Grotto and looking at the new candle in my hand, I felt confident that this was exactly where I needed to be. I haven’t doubted it ever since.”

Juliet Mullally ’28, who came to Notre Dame through the Gateway Program, said her first visit to the Grotto offered a similar sense of peace during a time of transition—and marked the beginning of a friendship that would shape her Notre Dame experience.

“I was a Gateway student my freshman year, and the year was a bit rough for me,” said Mullally. “So, when I was randomly placed into Badin, I was anxious to find a good group of friends. Welcome Weekend was a lot. On Sunday, I was debating which events to attend when I saw the Grotto Mass on the schedule.

I decided to see if any of the Welcome Weekend sophomores were going so I could tag along with them. I asked one of them, Juliana, and she said she would go with me. We went, and the Mass was beautiful. I felt a sense of peace, like everything was going to fall into place. And after that night, things began to.

Juliana is now one of my very best friends, both at school and in life. This year, we returned to the Welcome Weekend Grotto Mass together, this time as Welcome Weekend Co-Captains.”

That return is part of what makes the First Grotto Visit so meaningful. Students arrive together during their first days at Notre Dame, but the Grotto soon becomes a place they make their own—returning in celebration, uncertainty, grief, gratitude, or simply for a few quiet moments away from the pace of campus life.

Sometimes, those individual visits even become unexpected moments of community.

At the beginning of this year, Mullally returned to the Grotto and noticed a freshman sitting alone and crying. Remembering times when she herself had wished someone would approach her there, she decided to introduce herself.

“I said, ‘I know I don’t know you, but could I give you a hug?’ She warmly accepted. She was a freshman experiencing the very common struggles of transitioning to college. While she was telling me about her experience, a girl sitting on the bench next to us joined the conversation and shared that she was also a freshman going through a similar experience. I reassured them that things would improve with time and that it was normal to feel alone. I gave them each another hug and made my way over to the Grotto to say my prayers, including one for them, of course, and light a candle.

When I got back to my bench, they were both gone. I was sad that I had missed the chance to say goodbye, but I went ahead and gathered my things. Then, I looked up and saw one of the girls! She told me she had just gotten back from a walk around the lake with the other girl we had been talking to.”

In a place known for quiet reflection, a simple act of compassion had connected three students—and two freshmen who arrived separately and left together.

Students from all residence halls were represented at the event this year, wearing their hall t-shirts and standing together for the first time in candle-lit reflection and prayer. As they settle in, they will undoubtedly return to the Grotto many times in the years ahead.

For Luke Williams ’28, one of his earliest visits came as he prepared to say goodbye to his mother at the end of Welcome Weekend. An unexpected encounter with the niece of former Notre Dame student Dr. Tom Dooley, of whom there is a statue near the Grotto, transformed an emotional farewell into a lasting Notre Dame memory. Williams now makes a point of visiting Dooley’s statue whenever he returns to the Grotto.

“For me, it truly symbolizes both a place of convocation and commencement, all in one,” Williams said.

Perhaps that is part of the enduring beauty of the Grotto. A first visit is only that—a beginning. Over four years, students return carrying different joys, questions, friendships, losses, hopes, and prayers. Regardless of a student’s faith background or tradition, the Grotto offers a place for peace, community, and, sometimes, an unexpected encounter with another member of the Notre Dame family.

The generosity of the Notre Dame family makes it possible for current and future scholars to partake in traditions like these that help shape the distinct Notre Dame student experience. Together, students can grow in mind, body, and spirit thanks to the generous belief of alumni, parents, and friends who foster their growth and provide invaluable opportunities for meaningful formation.