Campus Ministry Celebrates New Academic Year with Clootie Tree, Nine-Day Prayer

Spiritan Campus Ministry will celebrate the return to campus with the creation of a “Clootie Tree” and a nine-day novena prayer for the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Spiritan Campus Ministry’s Clootie Tree sits outside the 3rd floor Student Union entrance.
Spiritan Campus Ministry’s Clootie Tree sits outside the 3rd floor Student Union entrance.

In Scots nomenclature, a “clootie” or “cloot” is a strip of cloth or rag. A Clootie Tree stems from the Scottish and Irish custom of fastening pieces of cloth to trees near “holy wells.”

Duquesne’s Clootie Tree is near the fountain by Academic Walk.

According to the Rev. Bill Christy, C.S.Sp., director of Spiritan Campus Ministry and University chaplain, each piece of cloth is meant as an offering to the saints, who guard the holy wells. The idea for Duquesne’s Clootie Tree was proposed by campus minister Brenda Merrick, who was inspired by a conversation with the Celtic Sisters of Mercy, the founders of neighboring Carlow University.

“We in Spiritan Campus Ministry wanted to call everyone for a big blessing and big Mass, but we can’t do that right now,” Christy said, referring to social distancing practices resulting from COVID-19 pandemic. “We wanted to find a way that we could physically see each other together, even when we aren’t gathered ‘together.’ When we place that piece of cloth in the tree next to someone else’s, it’s a physical representation of our prayers being gathered.”

Faculty, staff and students are invited to participate in the Clootie Tree practice by dipping a piece of cloth (provided by Campus Ministry) in the fountain and attaching it to the tree. The pieces of cloth on the tree represent the offered prayers for protection and blessings.

Campus Ministry also invites the Duquesne community to pray a novena to the Holy Spirit, which is a form of worship comprising nine successive days of devotional prayer. The novena, which was suggested by the parent of a first-year Duquesne student, will begin Saturday, Aug. 15, and end on the first day of classes, Monday, Aug. 24.

Each day, a short video of Christy praying the novena will be posted to the Campus Ministry social media channels. In the Catholic tradition, the prayer asks for the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, understanding, piety and fear or reverence of the Lord.

For updates on both the Clootie Tree and novena and to follow along virtually, visit Spiritan Campus Ministry’s Facebook and Twitter. View the Clootie Tree video on Campus Ministry’s YouTube channel.