Abstract
THE MASS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT is a tradition among Jesuit academic institutions dating to 1548 in which the community gathers to thank God for the gifts of creation and salvation and to seek the guidance and wisdom of the Holy Spirit in the coming year.
The celebration of the “Mass of the Holy Ghost” at Creighton grew from a student initiative in the early 1880s. It quickly evolved into an official (and, for quite some time, mandatory) all-University celebration, coinciding with the President’s Convocation, and including the recitation of a pledge of loyalty to Creighton on behalf of the incoming freshman class.