‘Mary, we’re going to Crookston’: Bishop Cozzens assumes new role with Mary at his side

“Praebe Nobis Cor Tuum, Maria” rang out brightly as women’s voices harmonized in Crookston’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception during Bishop Andrew Cozzens’ Mass of Installation Dec. 6.

The women were Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus, and the hymn was based on Bishop Cozzens’ episcopal motto: “Praebe Nobis Cor Tuum,” a phrase from the final line of a Marian prayer written in the 17th century by St. Louis de Montfort: “Give us your heart.”

The first part of that same line are the words “Totus Tuus” — totally yours — the motto of St. John Paul II, who had an immense impact on Bishop Cozzens as a young man and priest.

In 2013, the Handmaids commissioned Twin Cities composer Christine Heidgerken to create a hymn based on Bishop Cozzens’ motto. As their gift, they sang the piece for him for the first time at his episcopal ordination in St. Paul.

“Now, for eight years, almost every time he comes, we sing it,” said Mother Mary Clare Roufs, the Handmaids’ foundress and a longtime friend of the bishop. “It’s very special to him and to us.”

Archbishop Bernard Hebda asked them to sing the piece at Bishop Cozzens’ Mass of Thanksgiving Nov. 28, and they sang it again Dec. 6 as the altar was being prepared.

Bishop Cozzens’ trust and confidence in Mary’s closeness were visually underscored for Alison Kaardal on the day he left St. Paul. By mid-afternoon Dec. 3, the bishop had cleared his small apartment at The St. Paul Seminary and filled his Ford Escape with the last of his belongings — his vestments, suitcases, a stained-glass lamp. The final thing he carried out was a statue of Mary — a 3-foot tall, pregnant Madonna known as Our Lady of Hope.

Kaardal, his administrative assistant, knew the SUV was full.

“Where’s that going to go?” she asked.

“She’s riding shotgun,” he said, strapping the statue into the passenger seat.

The last thing she heard him say before he began the 300-mile trip northwest was, “C’mon, Mary — we’re going to Crookston.”

For Kaardal, who has worked with Bishop Cozzens since 2016, the moment represented the way he lives his life. He was beginning an adventure, she said, by “grabbing Mary’s hand, and saying, ‘Yes, Mary, if you’re with me, we’ll go to Crookston together, it will all be possible.’”

Throughout his episcopacy, Bishop Cozzens has expressed his closeness to Mary. It’s something that has made an impression on Archbishop Hebda. “I know he has such great love for Our Lady,” he told The Catholic Spirit in early November. “Having been ordained on that solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, he has that closeness to Our Lady and will often mention Our Lady when we’re praying together or when we’re gathering. I know that she has an important part in his ministry, too.”

On his journey to Crookston, Bishop Cozzens recognized the symbolism of Mary as a passenger, too, and texted a mid-trip photo of the statue to Kaardal and some other friends, including Bishop Juan Miguel Betancourt of Hartford, Connecticut. Bishop Betancourt revisited the image on his phone Dec. 6, ahead of the installation Mass.

The day before, Bishop Betancourt had celebrated Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, and with the congregation prayed three Hail Marys for Bishop Cozzens.

Before the installation Mass, Bishop Betancourt told The Catholic Spirit, “How providential that the Lord has called him to this diocese to be the eighth bishop in the hands of the Blessed Mother.

Referring to the passenger-seat statue, he said, “He’s got the Blessed Mother on his way to Crookston that night, so she’s taking care of him.”