{"id":3370,"date":"2013-08-15T00:31:01","date_gmt":"2013-08-15T04:31:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.archives.nd.edu\/about\/news\/?p=3370"},"modified":"2013-08-15T00:31:01","modified_gmt":"2013-08-15T04:31:01","slug":"sorins-golden-jubilee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/sorins-golden-jubilee\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorin’s Golden Jubilee"},"content":{"rendered":" <\/a>
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In 1888, Rev. Edward Sorin, CSC, celebrated his Golden Jubilee – fifty years since his ordination as a priest on May 27, 1838, in LeMans, France.\u00a0 Shortly after his ordination, Sorin joined Rev. Basil Moreau’s fledgling Congregation of the Holy Cross, which sent Sorin as a missionary to America in 1841.\u00a0 Father Sorin arrived at Notre Dame in November 1842 and for the next fifty-one years he grew the University and the Congregation into world-renowned institutions.<\/p>\n

Appropriately enough for a man who dedicated his life to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the grand celebration was scheduled for August 15th, the Feast of the Assumption.\u00a0 One problem with that, however, was that classes didn’t resume until September, so many of the Notre Dame students would not be on campus to participate in the festivities.<\/p>\n

\"Souvenir
Souvenir of the Golden Jubilee of the Very Rev. Edward Sorin, August 15, 1888.
Seated: Bishop Richard Gilmour (Cleveland), Archbishop William H. Elder (Cincinnati), Father Sorin, Cardinal James Gibbons (Baltimore), Archbishop John Ireland (St. Paul), Bishop Joseph Dwenger (Fort Wayne), Bishop John Watterson (Columbus), Bishop Richard Phelan (Pittsburgh)
Standing: Bishop James Ryan (Alton), Bishop John Janssen (Belleville), Bishop John Keane (Washington, D.C.), Bishop Maurice F. Burke (Cheyenne), Bishop John Lancaster Spalding (Peoria), Bishop Steven V. Ryan (Buffalo), Bishop Henry J. Richter (Grand Rapids).
The group is seated between Sacred Heart Church Basilica and the Main Building.
Photo by A. McDonald of McDonald Studio, South Bend, Indiana. The 09\/08\/1888 issue of Scholastic, page 48, mentions that copies of this photograph were being sold “at the low price of $1.00 each.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To accommodate the students’ schedule, Acting University President Rev. John Zahm scheduled another celebration on the actual anniversary of Sorin’s ordination.\u00a0 This celebration was a private affair for the Notre Dame students to express their gratitude to their adored Founder and few visitors were invited.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, May 26th, the eve of Sorin’s anniversary, every building on campus was decorated with flags, banners, flowers, and garland.\u00a0 At 4:00 pm, there was a reception with the students, faculty, and administration in Exhibition Hall.\u00a0 The afternoon’s entertainment included student speeches, poems, and recitals as well as performances by the Orchestra and South Bend St. James Vocal Quartet.<\/p>\n

\"Card
Card from Rev. Edward Sorin’s Golden Jubilee, 1888\/0815<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After dinner, Sorin, Zahm, and faculty members retired to the Main Building porch, where below the Band played and the student military units gave their gun salutes.\u00a0 Then a barouche drawn by two black horses came up Notre Dame Avenue by surprise.\u00a0 Professor John Ewing presented the carriage and steeds to Sorin as a gift from the students, faculty, and alumni.<\/p>\n

As night fell, “there was a grand illumination of the college buildings and grounds. … Chinese lanterns of every hue and size swung from tree and arch and fountain in the beautiful parterre before the college, while flags and festooning and colors gay made the solemn towering walls of the main building put on a look of gladsomeness.\u00a0 And out of every window of the massive pile… there beamed the noon-day brilliancy of the Edison light.”\u00a0 The Band, gun salutes, and student cheers continued underneath a fireworks display.\u00a0 “The wonted sylvan stillness of Notre Dame was kept in exile far into the night” [Scholastic<\/em>, 06\/02\/1888, page 595]<\/p>\n

Sunday, May 27th, began with Solemn High Mass sung by Rev. Edward Sorin with Rev. William Corby delivering the sermon.\u00a0 Afterwards, under threat of rain, Sorin quickly blessed the cornerstone of Sorin Hall, a dormitory with private rooms for the collegiate students.\u00a0 The day continued with more banquets, speeches, toasts, performances, and military drills, in typical Notre Dame fashion.\u00a0 Due to the weather, the scheduled baseball games and and boat races were deferred to Monday.<\/p>\n

[photoshelter-img i_id=”I0000jZvDw1WUsco” buy=”1″ caption=”Sorin Hall exterior, c1893. Corby Hall is under construction in the background.” width=”576″ height=”480″]<\/p>\n

The official celebrations for Father Sorin’s Golden Jubilee took place on August 15, 1888. \u00a0Thousands of people, clergy and lay, were on campus for the event and many more sent Father Sorin letters and telegrams, congratulating him on his milestone.\u00a0 Due to the far-reaching influence of Sorin and Notre Dame, formal invitations were not issued.\u00a0 Rather, Father Corby issued general invitations in newspapers across the country via the Associated Press.<\/p>\n

The arrival of James Cardinal Gibbons to South Bend the day before itself was the cause of much fanfare.\u00a0 “An immense concourse of citizens was gathered at the station in South Bend on Tuesday evening together with several Catholic societies, bands and any number of people in vehicles. So great was the crowd and the desire to see the Cardinal when the train arrived that it was almost impossible for him and his suite to reach their carriages.\u00a0 Very Rev. Father Corby took charge of the Cardinal in Father Sorin’s barouche, and the long procession filed down South street into Michigan, and then across the Water street bridge and on out to Notre Dame.\u00a0 Bands of music were playing, the great bell of Notre Dame could be heard, and all along the line of march were decorations and illuminations.
\nThe society of the Ancient Order of Hibernians of South Bend acted as escort” [Scholastic<\/em>, 08\/25\/1888<\/a>].<\/p>\n

There ceremonies of August 15th started off at 6:00 am with the consecration of Sacred Heart Church. \u00a0Bishop Joseph Dwenger of Fort Wayne led the consecration ceremony, which lasted three hours.\u00a0 Bishop Maurice Burke of Cheyenne then blessed the large bell in the tower of the Basilica.\u00a0 The cornerstone for the Basilica was laid on May 31, 1871; the first mass and blessing was held on August 15, 1875.\u00a0 The Lady Chapel addition was completed in late 1887, in time for Sorin’s Jubilee; but the steeple wouldn’t be complete until 1892.\u00a0 In February 1888, Father Sorin requested that Sacred Heart Church be elevated to the status of Basilica Minor, a title that would eventually be realized over a hundred years later in 1992.<\/p>\n

[photoshelter-img i_id=”I0000RFMbX5hkSik” buy=”1″ caption=”Basilica of the Sacred Heart exterior without the steeple, 1888.” width=”576″ height=”352″]<\/p>\n

Father Sorin said low Mass at 9:30 am.\u00a0 Just after 10:00am, Cardinal Gibbons celebrated High Mass and a choir from Chicago sang Haydn’s Imperial Mass. “The\u00a0 Knights of St. Casimir, clad in the full uniform of the Polish guard, were drawn up before the communion rail with sabres drawn, and all this,\u00a0with the glittering tapers, the clouds of incense, the thunder of the great organ, and the solemn nature of the celebration, made the scene an impressive one” [Scholastic<\/em>, 08\/25\/1888<\/a>].<\/p>\n

Archbishop John Ireland gave the sermon, which was later published and distributed, including in Scholastic<\/em>‘s Jubilee issue<\/a>.\u00a0 Mass let out at 12:30 pm, which was followed by a lavish banquet with numerous toasts and speeches in the Main Building refectories.<\/p>\n

\"Front<\/a>
Front page of the banquet program for the celebration of Rev. Edward Sorin’s Golden Jubilee, featuring an engraving of Main Building by A.C. McClurg & Co., 1888\/0815.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Later in the afternoon, Bishop John Watterson of Columbus, Ohio, dedicated and blessed the buildings of the “New Notre Dame.”\u00a0 The Second Main Building had been consecrated in 1866<\/a>, but it and several other buildings were destroyed by fire in April 1879.\u00a0 The evening concluded with fireworks and musical performances by local bands and the Chicago musicians who earlier sang at Mass.<\/p>\n

Sorin’s Golden Jubilee and Notre Dame’s Golden Jubilee a few years later marked a long history of growing success for the Congregation of Holy Cross and her famous University.\u00a0 These Jubilees also held deeper ramifications for the Catholic Church in America:\u00a0 “What had been accomplished at Notre Dame under [Sorin’s] stewardship seemed to a wider public emblematic of the growth and maturing of the American Catholic Church as a whole, an there were those in high places anxious to give expression to this fact.\u00a0 To honor the founder of Notre Dame was in effect to proclaim the enduring and legitimate status of the Church, after much struggle, had attained within American society.\u00a0 In accord, therefore, with the late nineteenth century’s predilection for gaudy celebrations, featuring bands and banquets, fireworks and fiery oratory, plans were formulated at the beginning of 1888 to solemnize Father Sorin’s golden anniversary as a national as well as personal triumph” [O’Connell, page 702].<\/p>\n

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Sources:
\nScholastic<\/a>
\nEdward Sorin<\/em> by Marvin O’Connell
\n“History of Sorin College” (http:\/\/www3.nd.edu\/~otters\/history.php<\/a>)
\nGNDL 22\/19<\/a>
\nCEDW 30\/16<\/a>
\nGGPN 15\/10<\/a>
\nGMLS 04\/02<\/a>
\nCSOR 04\/01<\/a><\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" <\/a>

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In 1888, Rev. Edward Sorin, CSC, celebrated his Golden Jubilee – fifty years since his ordination as a priest on May 27, 1838, in LeMans, France.\u00a0 Shortly after his ordination, Sorin joined Rev. Basil Moreau’s fledgling Congregation of the Holy Cross, which sent Sorin as a missionary to America in 1841.\u00a0 Father Sorin arrived at … Continue reading “Sorin’s Golden Jubilee”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n ","protected":false},"author":4370,"featured_media":3409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[22,25,32,42,70],"class_list":["post-3370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catholic-history","category-nd-history","tag-catholic-history","tag-clergy","tag-events","tag-individuals","tag-sorin"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-22 19:07:59","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4370"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}