Hometown: Broadview Heights, OH
Year in Formation: First Year
High School: St. Ignatius High School (Cleveland, OH), 2023
College: University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN), 2027
College Major: History
Patron Saint: St. Valentine & St. Francis of Assisi
Favorite Movie: Ocean’s 11, My Best Friend’s Wedding
Favorite Books: Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather, The Martian by Andy Weir
Favorite Music: Billy Joel, Taylor Swift, James Taylor
Hobbies: Reading, piano, basketball
Most Memorable Prayer/Liturgy you have Attended: A Mass in the Allegheny National Forest at a Wilderness Retreat with my high school.
Place of Pilgrimage you Most Want to Visit and why: Rome, since it has so much history and is so full of beauty
Favorite Way to Pray: Adoration in silence or with gentle Praise and Worship
Favorite Devotion: the Rosary
What drew you to Holy Cross? I had been praying about the seminary when my family went to a wedding at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. I discovered Old College Undergraduate Seminary on that visit, and after doing a “Come and See” weekend retreat at Old College, the community and atmosphere seemed to fit with me in a way that I had heard it would at the place God is calling me.
Your Vocation Story: I was raised in a very Catholic household. As I grew through high school, I came to take more personal ownership of my faith. After some very fruitful youth group and school retreats, I came to talk to the vocations director for the Diocese of Cleveland. Sometime after, I discovered the Old College program, shadowed and came to believe that I am being called there.
Favorite Verse: “And Jesus went with them, but when he was only a short distance from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him, ‘Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed. For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, “Go,” and he goes; and to another, “Come here,” and he comes; and to my slave, “Do this,” and he does it.’ When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him and, turning, said to the crowd following him, ‘I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.'” – Luke 7:6-9
Favorite Quote: An Act of Humility from the appendix of an old Weekday Missal: “By myself I can do nothing; with God I can do everything. For the love of God I want to do all thins. To God the honor, to me Heaven.”
How can visitors to this page pray for you? Please pray for my discernment, for my growth into the man God desires for me to be, as well as for my niece, Briar Emery.