{"id":3638,"date":"2014-02-06T11:21:04","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T16:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.archives.nd.edu\/about\/news\/?p=3638"},"modified":"2014-02-06T11:21:04","modified_gmt":"2014-02-06T16:21:04","slug":"edward-sorin-the-founding-of-notre-dame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/edward-sorin-the-founding-of-notre-dame\/","title":{"rendered":"Edward Sorin & the Founding of Notre Dame"},"content":{"rendered":" <\/a>
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On February 6, 1814, Edouard-Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Sorin was born and baptized in the small town of Ahuill\u00e9, France.\u00a0 He was born the seventh of nine children into a relatively well-to-do Catholic farming family, a generation or so after the bloody French Revolution.\u00a0 The Revolutionaries heavily persecuted the Catholic Church, sending thousands of priests to the guillotine or exile.\u00a0 However, by the time Sorin’s birth, France had begun mending fences with the Church.\u00a0 In this resurgence of peace, Sorin saw an opportunity for leadership to rebuild the Catholic Church in France through the priesthood, a calling he had since childhood.<\/p>\n

\"Chateau
Chateau de la Roche – Birthplace of Rev. Edward Sorin, CSC, in Ahuille, France, 1939\/0715.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1834, at St. Vincent’s Seminary in Le Mans, France, Sorin met the charismatic professor Rev. Basil Moreau, who was on the brink of founding the Congregation of Holy Cross<\/a>.\u00a0 Sorin was ordained on May 27, 1838, and assigned to be a parish priest in Parc\u00e9-sur-Sarthe.\u00a0 A year later, Sorin jumped on the opportunity to join Moreau’s new ambitious order that focused on education and foreign missions, rejoining the novitiate in Le Mans.\u00a0 On August 15, 1840, Sorin officially took vows in the name of the Congregation of Holy Cross.<\/p>\n

At the appeal of the C\u00e9lestine Guynemer de la Hailandi\u00e8re, Bishop of Vincennes, for clergy in a predominantly French Indiana,\u00a0 Moreau offered to send six brothers led by a young priest – Edward Sorin.\u00a0 As would echo throughout Sorin’s life, Sorin saw this assignment as a direct mission from God and he threw himself into the idea with unabashed zeal.\u00a0 Before he even left French soil, Sorin declared his allegiance to America, which to him was a relatively blank canvas upon which he could help build the Catholic Church:<\/p>\n

“How happy I am to be able to assure you that the road to America stands out clearly before me as the road to heaven. … Henceforth I live only for my dear brethren in America.\u00a0 America is my fatherland.\u00a0 It is the center of all my affections and the object of all my thoughts. … At the present time I see clearly that our Lord loves me in a very special manner as has been told me many times.” [Sorin to Hailandi\u00e8re, summer 1841, as quoted by O’Connell, page 52.]<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The group left France on August 5, 1841, the Feast of Our Lady of the Snows, a coincidence not lost on Sorin a year later, and headed to New York.\u00a0 Hailandi\u00e8re arranged for Samuel Byerley to meet the group in New York, who remained friend and benefactor to the Community throughout the years.\u00a0 From there, they took an arduous journey primarily across a series of canals and rivers to Vincennes, with none of them knowing English.<\/p>\n

\"Portrait
Portrait of Rev. Edward Sorin, CSC, c1860s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fr. Sorin and the Brothers were assigned to St. Peter’s parish near Washington, Indiana, tasked to build a novitiate for the Brothers of St. Joseph.\u00a0 The hope was that novices would serve as teachers within the diocese.\u00a0 A poor harvest, lack of monetary resources, and struggles between the strong personalities of Sorin and Hailandi\u00e8re led both of them looking for new opportunities.\u00a0 As it happened, the Diocese of Vincennes had in its possession a tract of land in Northern Indiana, near the south bend of the St. Joseph River.<\/p>\n

The land now occupied by the University of Notre Dame has a long tradition of being a place of Catholic missions.\u00a0 French Jesuit Rev. Claude Allouez founded a mission along the lakes and christened it Sainte-Marie-des-Lacs.\u00a0 Rev. Stephen T. Badin, the first priest ordained in the United States, came to the area at the request of Leopold Pokagon, leader of the Potawatomi, for Catholic priests to minister to his people.\u00a0 He bought the parcels over time in 1830-1832.\u00a0 As one who was often negotiating real estate deals, Badin sold the land and a few dilapidated buildings to the Diocese of Vincennes in 1835 for $751 with the condition that it be used for a school and orphanage.\u00a0 Rev. Ferdinand Bach was given the task to build such institutions on the land in 1840.\u00a0 His failure to do so and abandonment of the post timed perfectly with Sorin’s ambition to build a college in America.<\/p>\n

Perhaps as a way to physically distance himself in Vincennes with Fr. Sorin, Hailandi\u00e8re offered the northern land to Sorin as a place for him to build his envisioned college, giving him only two years to do so.\u00a0 Sorin was so determined to make it a reality that he made up his mind to leave Vincennes in the middle of a harsh Indiana November without first seeking permission from Fr. Moreau.<\/p>\n

Fr. Sorin and seven of the Brothers – Mary (later changed to Br. Francis Xavier), Gatien, Patrick, William, Basil, Peter, and Francis – left Vincennes on November 16, 1842, and their 250 mile trek was not an easy one.\u00a0 They only gained five miles on the first day in the cold, snow, and high winds.\u00a0 Impatiently, Fr. Sorin and four of the Brothers went ahead of the other three, who were slower with all the gear loaded on a broken-down ox-drawn wagon.\u00a0 Eleven days later, Sorin and the four Brothers arrived in South Bend.\u00a0 Alexis Coquillard, nephew of the South Bend merchant of the same name, greeted the band and showed them to their new home that same afternoon.<\/p>\n

\"Engraving
Engraving envisioning Rev. Edward Sorin, CSC, and the founding of Notre Dame in November 1842 [the exact date is left up to interpretation, but is generally acknowledged as November 26th].\u00a0 The artist is Francis Xavier Ackermann, who was a faculty member from 1890-1937.<\/figcaption><\/figure>Finally writing to Moreau over a week after arriving at Notre Dame, Sorin basks in the majesty of the land:<\/p>\n

“Everything was frozen, and yet it all appeared so beautiful.\u00a0 The lake, particularly, with its mantle of snow, resplendent in its whiteness, was to us a symbol of the stainless purity of Our August Lady [Our Lady of the Snows]<\/a>, whose name it bears; and also of the purity of soul which should characterize the new inhabitants of these beautiful shores. …\u00a0 Yes, like little children, in spite of the cold, we went from one extremity to the other, perfectly enchanted with the marvelous beauties of our new abode.\u00a0 Oh! may this new Eden be ever the home of innocence and virtue!\u00a0 There, I could willingly exclaim with the prophet: Dominus regit me … super aquam refectionis educavit me! [“The Lord guides me … beside still waters”; Psalm 23]\u00a0 <\/em>Once again in our life we felt then that Providence had been good to us, and we blessed God with all our hearts.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The great dreamer continued,<\/p>\n

“While on this subject, you will permit me, dear Father, to express a feeling which leaves me no rest.\u00a0 It is simply this: Notre Dame du Lac has been given to us by the Bishop only on condition that we build here a college.\u00a0 As there is no other within five hundred miles, this undertaking cannot fail of success, provided it receive assistance from our good friends in France.\u00a0 Soon it will be greatly developed, being evidently the most favorably located in the United States.\u00a0 This college will be one of the most powerful means of doing good in this country, and, at the same time, will offer every year a most useful resource to the Brothers’ Novitiate; and once the Sisters come – whose presence is so much desired here they must be prepared, not merely for domestic work, but also for teaching; and perhaps, too, the establishment of an academy. … Finally, dear Father, you may well believe that this branch of your family is destined to grow and extend itself under the protection of Our Lady of the Lake and St. Joseph.\u00a0 At least such is my firm conviction; time will tell whether I am deceived or not.”
\n[Sorin to Moreau, December 5, 1842<\/a>]<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The men quickly got to work clearing the land to build a new log chapel, which opened on March 19, 1843, the Feast of St. Joseph.\u00a0 Sorin nearly exhausted his finances buying lumber and bricks with the hopes of building a grand main building.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the hired architect showed up months too late for it to be open in 1843.\u00a0 In the meantime, the Community built the sturdy brick Old College<\/a> so that at least the Brothers wouldn’t have to spend another drafty winter in the log chapel.<\/p>\n

In the summer of 1843, more support personnel came from Le Mans – “two priests, Fathers Francis Cointet and Theophile Marivault; a seminarian, Mr. Gouesse; one Brother, Eloi; and four Sisters, Mary of the Heart of Jesus, Mary of Bethlehem, Mary of Calvary, and Mary of Nazareth” [Wack].\u00a0 Each had his own talents, which contributed greatly to the growth of Notre Dame.<\/p>\n

Among the first students to arrive were Theodore Alexis Coquillard and Clements Reckers in 1842.\u00a0 Others slowly trickled in and Notre Dame had 18 students enrolled by June 1844, although many didn’t stay long enough to earn a degree.\u00a0 Ever ambitious, Sorin saw Notre Dame as a central beacon for the influx of Catholic immigrants in America.\u00a0 Notre Dame would be the model for all levels of Catholic education – elementary, preparatory, collegiate, seminary, vocational.\u00a0 He envisioned satellite campuses and most definitely institutions for girls and women.\u00a0 Notre Dame applied for a charter with the State of Indiana to grant degrees with the authority of a college and formed an administration.\u00a0 On January 15, 1844, Indiana chartered Notre Dame as a university, even though it would be some time before Notre Dame would have a strong collegiate student body and faculty.<\/p>\n

\"Engraving
Engraving of the first Main Building in 1844<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mr. Marsile, the main building architect, finally arrived in August 1843.\u00a0 Sorin was running out of funds, but knew that if he delayed building, it might never happen.\u00a0 He boldly decided to start the project right away.\u00a0 Fortunately, the winter of ’43 wasn’t as harsh as the year before and “[b]efore the first snow fell, the walls were raised and the building was partially under roof.\u00a0 The remainder of the work, particularly the inside plastering and preparation of the rooms, was left to be finished in the spring.\u00a0 By June, 1844, the main college building was complete. This first main building did not include the two wings which had been planned; these were left to be added in later years” [Wack].\u00a0 Notre Dame was well on the way to success, although not without the obstacles and growing pains that many American colleges faces at this time.<\/p>\n

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Sources:
\nChronicles of Notre Dame du Lac<\/a> by Rev. Edward Sorin
\nEdward Sorin<\/em> by Marvin O’Connell
\nThe University of Notre Dame du Lac: Foundations, 1842-1857<\/em><\/a> by John Theodore Wack
\nThe University of Notre Dame: A Portrait of Its<\/em> History & Campus <\/em>by Thomas Schlereth
\nSorin to Moreau, December 5, 1842<\/a>
\nScholastic<\/em><\/a>
\nGNDL 21\/08<\/a>
\nGCSC 04\/30<\/a>
\nGCSC 04\/32<\/a><\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" <\/a>

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On February 6, 1814, Edouard-Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Sorin was born and baptized in the small town of Ahuill\u00e9, France.\u00a0 He was born the seventh of nine children into a relatively well-to-do Catholic farming family, a generation or so after the bloody French Revolution.\u00a0 The Revolutionaries heavily persecuted the Catholic Church, sending thousands of priests to the guillotine … Continue reading “Edward Sorin & the Founding of Notre Dame”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n ","protected":false},"author":4370,"featured_media":3714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[22,42,70],"class_list":["post-3638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nd-history","tag-catholic-history","tag-individuals","tag-sorin"],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3638","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=3638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/ndarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}