University of Notre Dame - Dome Yearbook (Notre Dame, IN)

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t- Dome ♦: Notre Dame, later, he divided his labors between his work with the redmen and his teaching and preaching in the school of Notre Dame. A slab in the replaced log chapel marks the supposed spot of his burial. On the east shore of St. Mary ' s lake the party erected a small two-story log cabin. This was the first chapel building. It was destroyed by fire in 1856, but its replica is seen today standing in the shadow of the new Library. Many of the historic relics were saved from the fire, and are on view in the rebuilt chapel. A few months later the First College Building was built. It was intended as a larger chapel, but was used instead for teaching purposes. It housed the first student, Alexis Coquillard. The structure rests beside the 1 THE OLD LOG CHAPEL replica-log cabin. The friendly Indians and the helping settlers made the dim beginnings of Notre Dame hsss gloomy for Sorin and his band. Next year the Metropolitan Almanac printed an advertisement which stated that a school for young men had been recently opened at Southbend, near Washington, Indiana, under the direction of the Rev. E. Sorin. But it was not until 1844 that the legal existence of the school began. A charter was granted that year by the State of Indiana, empowering the university to confer degrees. This same year a building, four floors high, as large as the front wing of Science Hall, and a Novitiate on the Island, graced the campus. In 1848, Fourth of July Day, the first catalogue was printed for the third Com- mencement. 19 :

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I 1 t Dome The Jubilee History SORIN did not idly dream. Seventy-five years of undying ideals are crys- tallized in the present Notre Dame. Poverty, stubborn circumstances, and indifference did not dim the visions of the early founders who glowed with dreams of the future Notre Dame du Lac. When told by Bishop Hailandiere of Vincennes that a grant of land awaited him if he would build upon it within two years, the youthful Father Edward Sorin, just arrived from Father Stephen Badin France, accepted the commission, unmindful of any dangers that might clog his course. Three-quarters of a century ago, a band of seven Brothers of the Congre- gation of the Holy Cross, headed by the brave Sorin, blessed the land that smiled them welcome, the land graced by Pokagan, Pottawattomie — the land fragrant with the word of God sowed by His priests, from the saintly AUouez in 1680 to Father Badin in 1842. Father Badin, the first priest ordained in America, had been with the Indians all his priestly life. With the opening of 18 ■t mi:

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i ►$♦ Dome From year to year improvements were made upon the campus, and various courses were added to the curriculum; so that when the Silver Jubilee was celebrated in 1869, twenty-five years of incessant toil had been rewarded. The celebration should have been held in 1867, but to conform to the legal birth of the school, the later date was fixed. The school now held a ranking as high as the earlier-founded universities. The curriculum was complete; science and law courses had been recently added. Father William Corby was now President. His predecessors were the Reverend Edward Sorin (1842- ' 65) and the Reverend Patrick Dillon (l865- ' 66). The period of Sorin was a time of faith, struggle, triumph. Father Dillon ' s management was characterized by business activity and natural prosperity. While the stewardship of Father Corby fostered devotion to learning. The first student to be graduated took his A.B. in 1849. He returned as Father Gillespie and established a reputation as editor of both the Scholastic, founded in 1867, and the Ave Maria, 1865. His sister was professed in the Holy Cross Sisterhood. She is cherished in memory as the famous Mother Angela. With her advent the Sister House at Bertrand, Michigan, was moved to Notre Dame. The Civil War had drained the school of professors and students. Seven priests, besides many Brothers and Sisters of the Holy Cross Congregation, went to serve in the army. The historical episode of the giving of Absolution by the Reverend William Corby to the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac has been told by General St. Clair MulhoUand, and has been immortalized by the brush of Gregori. The students who went into the Civil conflict were pre- pared to act the soldier. Military training had been established in 1859 by William F. Lynch, Captain, of Zouave fame and martyr hero of the war. The companies were known as the Continental Cadets. They wore the uniform of the soldiers of the Revolution. An Alumni was formed in 1865 with Father Gillespie as president. The late Timothy Howard was Poet of the society. A third magnificent building of six stories, almost the size of the present Main Building, adorned the campus. This building was surmounted by a large Dome which bore aloft the crowned Virgin. Thus closed the Silver Jubilee on but few of the events chronicled here. But the school of Our Lady was not without its misfortunes; the deadly plague in 1854 carried away a score of professors and students, and caused almost a year ' s discontinuance of school; and in April of 1879, fire destroyed the whole beautiful campus that had cost such an effort of the founders and early builders. The unfinished Church of the Sacred Heart and the frame building in which the Ave Maria was published were the only structures to be spared by the fire. The great loss was nobly borne by the students, who offered to remain at school amid hardships to help rebuild the institution. SO II mv