USA > Indiana > History of the Catholic church in Indiana, Volume I > Part 48
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Father Sorin had proposed to establish, near the university, a young ladies' academy, to be conducted by the Sisters of the Holy Cross, but met with the opposition of his bishop, and in con- sequence this school was fixed in another diocese at Bertrand, Mich., six miles north of Notre Dame, and was completed in 1846. This school later came under the charge of Mother Angela, known to the world as Miss Elize Maria Gillespie, of Washington, D. C., a relative of Hon. Thomas Ewing, secretary of state under Presi- dent W. H. Harrison. Miss Gillespie was also a sister of Father Gillespie, of Notre Dame, but had retired from the vanities of capitoline life, to enter the novitiate of the Sisters of Mercy at Chicago; had stopped at Notre Dame to bid her brother farewell, but was induced to go to France and prepare herself for the charge of the infant community at Bertrand, and after her return was made its superior under the name of Mother Angela. In 1855, the mother house of the Sisters was removed from Bertrand to Notre Dame, one mile west of the university, and from St. Mary's academy, as well as from Notre Dame university, schools have been established throughout the country, from Washington, in the east, to San Francisco, in the west.
Although bells have always been in use at Notre Dame (the first one is now in the Bishops' Memorial Hall), it was not until 1856 that the present chime of twenty-three bells arrived from France. These bells weigh from fourteen pounds to 1,400 pounds each, and are rung by clock-work. Their position is in the new church of the Sacred Heart, over 100 feet from the earth's surface, and beneath them, in the same tower, swings the great bell, which weighs 17,000 pounds, the sound of which can be heard at a distance of twenty-five miles.
In 1858 the northern part of Indiana was erected as a sepa- rate diocese-that of Fort Wayne-and soon after his consecra- tion, the first bishop, Right Rev. John Henry Luers, made a visit to Notre Dame, to the great delight of the community.
During the late Civil war, there was not, perhaps, a battle field on which the blood of Notre Dame students was not shed in the Union cause. Numbers of Sisters, led by Mother Angela, served in the hospitals of the south and west, and no less than (548)
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seven priests went as chaplains in the army, viz: Fathers Will- iam Corby, Peter P. Cooney, Joseph C. Carrier, Paul Gillen, James Dillon, Joseph Leveque and Bourget. Father Sorin had always encouraged military exercises, and in 1859 a company was formed, composed of students, denominated the Continental cadets, under William F. Lynch, an excellent tactician, as well as a com- pany of junior students, called the Washington cadets. Almost every member of the Continentals took part in the war. Capt. Lynch became colonel of the Fifty-eighth Illinois infantry, and afterward a brigadier-general, was wounded while in command in the southwest, and died from his injury a few years later. Rob- ert W. Healey, another soldier-student, also attained the rank of general.
November 3, 1863, there was great rejoicing at Notre Dame, as 230 students had registered. When the enlarged college-edifice of 1853 had been erected, to accommodate 200 students, it was thought it would serve for many years to come; but now, ten years later, were 230. Later 300, 400, and even 500, pressed for admission; every inch of space in the college and its adjunctive buildings, including Washington hall, was utilized for tuition purposes, and accordingly, in 1865, preparations were made to demolish the old and to erect a new college, a full description of which will be given in paragraphs yet to follow, as it is here necessary to interject a few words relative to the second president of the university-Father Patrick Dillon. A young man of twenty- six years, Father Patrick (as he was called, in order to distinguish him from his brother, Father James, mentioned above as a chap- lain afterward in the army), became vice-president of the uni- versity in 1858, and in 1865 Father Sorin was well content to leave the management of affairs in hands so capable; consequently Father Dillon became the second president of the university. Aided by Prof. Lucius G. Tong and Prof. J. A. Lyons, he first developed, or added, the commercial to the classical course of the college, and, later, with the aid of Rev. Joseph C. Carrier, he estab- lished the scientific course, and supplemented the degrees in arts with the degree of bachelor of science and master of science-the first graduate with the degree of bachelor of science, in 1865,
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being John Cassidy, afterward prominent as a physician of South Bend. The study of medicine, at this time, was also introduced, Rev. Father Neyron, who had been a surgeon in Napoleon's army before he became a priest, being placed at the head of this depart- ment.
Reverting, now, to the new college-building, let it be said that President Dillon, in June, 1865, demolished most of the old and finished the new in May following. The new building, 80x 160 feet, and six stories in height, was dedicated May 31, by Arch- bishop Spalding, of Baltimore, assisted by five bishops and numerous priests. Father Dillon, soon after the dedication, went to France, where he passed two years, and on his return to America filled for a short time the pastorate of St. Patrick's church in Chicago, and died, after a short illness, November 15, 1868.
Following Father Dillon, in August, 1872, came Father Will- iam Corby, as president, and Father Augustus Lemonnier, as vice- president, of Notre Dame university-the latter being a nephew of Father Sorin and both having been prefects of discipline under Father Dillon. Father Corby, the apostle of the field of Gettys- burg, whose absolution was given to thousands who found but a few hours later their habiliments of war their winding-sheets, was decorated in 1893 with a medal of honor by the state of New York as a Gettysburg veteran. During his administration the number of students increased and the courses of study were re-arranged and placed on a par with those of the oldest eastern colleges.
June 27, 1868, saw the adoption of the constitution and by-laws of the society of the Alumni of Notre Dame, first suggested by Francis C. Bigelow, a graduate of 1862. The officers elected were: President, Rev. Neil H. Gillespie; first vice-president, Francis C. Bigelow, of Dayton, Ohio; second vice-president, James B. Runnion, of Chicago; treasurer, Prof. Joseph A. Lyons; secretary, Prof. Michael T. Corby; orator, Edmund B. Kilroy, of Port Sarnia, Ontario; alternate orator, James O'Brien, of Galena, Ill. ; poet, Prof. Timothy E. Howard; alternate poet, Prof. Arthur J. Stace.
In April, 1869, the local alumni committee resolved that a (550)
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memorial of the silver jubilee, to be celebrated the following June, should be prepared, and to Father Gillespie was assigned the task of writing a history of Notre Dame up to date; Father Brown, to write biographies; Prof. Stace, sketches of the societies; and to Prof. Lyons was assigned the task of publishing. Not one of these literary gentlemen lived to see the golden jubilee of 1895. During the silver jubilee three preliminary celebrations were had, viz: The first, October 13, 1868, was that of the patronal feast of Father Sorin, who had been elevated at Rome, in 1868, to the office of superior general of the congregation of the Holy Cross-the first American to attain such dignity; the second, April 27, 1869, was a musical, allegorical and humorous entertainment, and the third, May 22, 1869, was on the occasion of the return of Father Sorin from France.
Literature and oratory had been cultivated at Notre Dame from the beginning, dramatic and debating clubs were formed, and the St. Aloysius Philodemic, the St. Edward Literary and the St. Cecilia Philomathean societies were the chief nurseries of the embryo authors and orators. The first publication by the students was the Notre Dame Literary Gazette, the manuscript of which was destroyed by the misunderstanding of a prefect, and the second undertaking in the way of journalism was the Progress, also a manuscript paper, and originated by John Collins, Francis C. Bigelow, Benjamin B. Barron and John H. Fleming. The only printed copy of this journal was read at the commencement of 1860, but when Father Gillespie, the censor, was sent to France, in 1863, the paper gradually languished, and its place was occasionally supplied with such manuscript sheets as the Olympic Gazette, the Weekly Bee, the Two-penny Gazette and others. In May, 1865, Father Sorin established the magazine, Ave Maria, the first two numbers of which were printed in Chicago, and then a new printing-press and type were brought to Notre Dame. This magazine, edited by Father Sorin, attained a circulation of over 20,000 weekly and was distributed over every portion of the world where the English language is spoken. On the return of Father Gillespie from France, in 1866, he was placed in editorial charge and held the position until his lamented death in 1874, when he
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was succeeded by Rev. Daniel E. Hudson, who has made the Ave Maria the most literary of all our Catholic publications. September 7, 1867, by order of Father Corby, the first number of the Scholastic Year was published, the idea being that it should be printed between the months of September and June only-the scholastic year. The plan was, that a select corps of students, under the supervision of Father Gillespie, was to prepare the matter for the publication, and the first number was in size a little more than a fly leaf to the Ave Maria, to which magazine it was attached. In March, 1868, the editorial supervision was passed to Father Lemonnier, and in August it was detached from the Ave Maria and published as an
independent journal. In 1869 the name was changed to that of the Notre Dame Scholastic, was modified, in September, 1872, to. the Scholastic, and in September, 1875, restored to its local signifi- cant name of the Notre Dame Scholastic -- the name it still bears. So excellent were some of the contributions to the Scholastic that many were selected to appear in an annual, which was conducted from 1876 until 1888 by Prof. Lyons, whose death occurred in the year last named.
The scientific department of Notre Dame was virtually estab- lished during the presidency of Father Dillon, but it was not until the incumbencies of Presidents Corby and Lemonnier that it became of any great importance. In 1860 the library contained barely 2,000 volumes, chiefly in French and Latin, and the museum contained a small collection of stuffed animals and birds and a few eggs, but these were stored in an ill-lighted hall; there was, however, in this museum, a herbarium of great value, in a scientific point of view, which had been presented by the eminent French botanist, De Cauvin, in 1855. In the spring of 1866 Father Carrier was sent to France on university business, and was commissioned to purchase, amongst other things, instruments for the cabinet of physics, chemicals for the laboratory and objects of natural history for the museum. The result was that twenty large boxes were received at Notre Dame from Paris, but the contents were not all purchases, as amongst them was a six-inch telescope, presented by Napoleon III, 200 volumes presented by the French government, and numerous church ornaments and sacred vessels
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presented by the emperor, empress and prince imperial. Father Carrier, on his return, spent months in arranging the library, museum, etc .; an observatory was built, a class in botany was organized, a corps of five professors secured, and instruction given in the natural and physical sciences, chemistry, zoology, botany, mineralogy, geology, physiology and comparative anatomy. Early in the 'seventies a thorough course in civil engineering was estab- lished and a partial course in medicine; later, during the 'eighties, Father Walsh, assisted by Fathers Zahm and Kirsch, added courses in applied electricity, mechanical engineering and biology. In February, 1869, Father Corby founded a law department, which was formally opened under the direction of Prof. Colovin, who was assisted, later, by Peter Foote, a lawyer of Chicago, Ill., Francis C. Bigelow, of Dayton, Ohio, and Hon. Lucius G. Tong. In 1883 Prof. William Hoynes was placed in charge and the course of study fixed at three years. Moot cases were tried each week and all the formalities of a regular court followed in detail.
In 1872 Father Lemonnier, a man of most superior abilities and excellent literary tastes, was selected as the fourth president of Notre Dame university. The most signal feature of his incum- bency was the perfecting of the courses already established and the founding of a school of painting under the celebrated Roman artist, Gregori, and the creation of a circulating library, which now bears his name. He had plans for making Notre Dame the Catholic university of America, but his administration lasted two years only, as his lamented death took place October 29, 1874.
Rev. Patrick J. Colovin, vice-president of the university under Father Lemonnier, during the latter's last sickness, acted as presi- dent and director of studies. He then became the fifth president and held the position until 1877. He was a ripe scholar and a most eloquent speaker. In 1877 Father Colovin and Father Corby changed places, the foriner taking charge of Watertown, Wis., where Father Corby had officiated for five years, during which time he founded the college of the Sacred Heart and built a large brick church, and thus Father Corby again became presi- dent, with Rev. Thomas E. Walsh as vice-president and director of studies. One of the first cares of the new administration was to
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improve the facilities for athletic exercises, which had, however, been carefully cultivated from a very early day, although the first boat-club race inaugurated by Father Lemonnier did not take place until 1870. Baseball and football were also introduced, and now a campus of twenty-five or thirty acres is set apart for these games.
A terrible disaster befell the college on the morning of Wed- nesday, April 23, 1879, when about eleven o'clock fire was discovered issuing from the roof of the administration hall, and so rapid was its progress that five other buildings in connection with the institution were destroyed, each with its priceless treasures- the unfinished church of the Sacred Heart, the old frame printing- office, Washington hall, and the domestic departments alone escaping. The fire department from South Bend, as well as many citizens, were at the scene as quickly as possible, but could only aid in removing many articles of furniture, paintings, valuable papers, etc., from the rooms of the professors, but the buildings were doomed. The cause of this disaster was never satisfactorily accounted for.
The venerable Father Sorin, now in his sixty-sixth year, was at or near Monteral, Canada, preparing to cross the Atlantic ocean for about the fifteenth time. Father Corby, fearing that the evil news would prove fatal to the venerable founder, tele- graphed to the superiors in Canada to keep it from him until the arrival of Professor Edwards, who would break it to him with gentleness and diplomacy. With all the care taken the shock was almost more than Father Sorin could bear. He instantly returned to his beloved institution. On the way home his mind was diverted from the calamity to future improvements. He com- menced to draw plans, and when he saw the great work to be done he seemed to recover his youth again. Uninterrupted activity that seized upon every source of aid actuated him. Before the com- ing September President Corby, according to a promise made by him to the students, had erected upon the ruins a building far superior to the old one. The present edifice is of the neogothic style of architecture, four stories high, in shape like the letter T, and sur- mounted with a magnificent dome. The interior is decorated by
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Luigi Gregori, an Italian artist, with frescoes illustrating the life of Columbus, and the vestibule with full-length figures of Columbus and Queen Isabella, from authentic portraits, as well as other his- toric characters and scenes. The inner surface of the dome is also decorated allegorically by the hand of Gregori. The paintings were completed and the dome opened with appropriate ceremonies, May 29, 1890, Bishop Keane delivering a masterly oration. The building is supplied with every modern convenience, and rooms and halls assigned to every department of knowledge known to the higher class of universities, with every appliance and apparatus necessary for the successful prosecution of each and every study.
To return to the chronological continuity of the presidential succession at Notre Dame, it is necessary to explain that Rev. Thomas E. Walsh, the sixth president, assumed the functions of this high office in 1881. He had been vice-president and director of studies during the last term of President Corby, and was barely past twenty-eight years of age when he became president. He was a ripe scholar, a gentleman of superior natural endowments, and possessed of broad views and a comprehensive scope of mind. During his administration two small wings were added to the prin- cipal college-building, and in 1882 St. Edward's hall, for the use of the minims, was erected. June 30, 1883, the corner-stone of Science hall was laid by the Right Rev. John Watterson, bishop of Columbus. This corner-stone is a mineral curiosity, being a con- glomerate, containing lucid and colored quartz pebbles, was pro- cured in northern Michigan, and was donated by Dr. John Cassidy, the first graduate from the university in the scientific course. Under President Walsh, also, were erected in the front of Soren hall a dormitory for advanced students, the Mechanics' hall, or institute of technology, and astronomical observatory. Mention may here be made of the dimensions and finish of the principal buildings completed under the direction of Father Corby and Father Walsh. The main building is 320x 155 feet, is constructed of cream-col- ored brick, and the dome is gilded with pure gold-leaf, surmounted with a massive statue of the Blessed Virgin, the head of which is crowned with electric-light stars-207 feet above the face of the earth. Music hall, or academy of music, with its Washington
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hall, is 170 x 100 feet, and is a little over 100 feet in height. It is octagonal in form, the acoustic properties are unusually good, the gallery seats 500, and the parterre 700 persons, and the stage is ample for all purposes, the whole being lighted by electricity. Sorin hall is 144 × 112 feet, and is the residence of the advanced classes, who have private rooms without additional cost, and also contains the law lecture room, court room, law library, etc. Science hall, 104x 131 feet, divided into two compartments, is replete with every accessory, and Mechanics' hall equipped in full with all implements and tools necessary to the acquirement of technology. The astronomical observatory comprises a revolving dome, with a transit instrument and computing rooms in which are smaller instruments, works of reference, etc., and in the second floor a complete gymnasium. The infirinary is a building 200 x 45 feet, and is properly supplied with physicians, nurses, medicines, etc., and the whole group of buildings is so arranged as to form a harmonious front.
Since 1883 Prof. J. F. Edwards, the director of the Bishops' Memorial hall, has been exerting his best energies towards found- ing the Catholic archives of America, and building a Catholic ref- erence library, with what success, the whole country knows. Thousands of volumes, thousands of pamphlets and thousands of precious manuscripts have already been collected and placed on the shelves and in the vaults of one of the finest historical collec- tions in America. Connected with the Bishops' Memorial hall is a magnificent museum, containing many thousands of precious souvenirs and relics of historic interest, besides a gallery of histor- ical portraits unequaled this side of the Atlantic. All these articles have already found a fitting home in the magnificent collection of apartments known as the Bishops' Memorial hall. Thousands of dollars have been spent for oil-paintings, manuscripts, books, frames for pictures, etc., etc., and valuable contributions of relics and documents have been received from nearly all the dis- tinguished prelates, priests and laymen of America.
The year 1888 was made memorable by the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the ordination of Father Sorin to the priest- hood, but the ceremonies were too elaborate for description in this (556)
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volume. In May, 1891, he made his last trip to Europe, accom- panied by Father Zahm, but his visit was of short duration. In 1892 he took a trip to the Atlantic coast for the benefit of his fail- ing health. February 6, 1893, he entered upon the eightieth year of his holy life. In the spring of the same year President Walsh visited Texas, partly on business and partly for the improvement of his health, which a trip to France had failed to restore, but on his return from the south his health was still impaired. At the close of the season he went to Wisconsin to seek relief, and found it, alas ! at the hand of death, July 17th, and in October following Father Sorin also passed away.
In accordance with the expressed wish of Father Walsh, Rev. Andrew Morrissey was named as his successor, and, with the sanc- tion of the venerable founder, became the seventh president of Notre Dame, and no choice for the office could have better pleased the inmates. He had been at the university since the twelfth year of his age and was thoroughly imbued with the spirit of its founder. The following list completes the roster of presidents of this noble institution to date: Father Edward Sorin, founder, from 1842 to 1865; Father Patrick Dillon, from 1865 to 1866; Father William Corby, from 1866 to 1872; Father Augustus Le- monnier, from 1872 to 1874; Father Patrick J. Colovin, from 1874 to 1877; Father William Corby, again, from 1877 to 1881; Father Thomas E. Walsh, from 1881 to 1893; Father Andrew Morrissey, from 1893 to the present time (1898).
During the same time, the vice-presidents and directors of study have been as follows: Father Alexis Granger. from 1844 to 1851; Father Francis Cointet, from 1851 to 1852; Father Richard Shortis, from 1852 to 1856; Father Neil H. Gillespie, from 1856 to 1858; Father Patrick Dillon, from 1858 to 1859; Father James M. Dillon, from 1859 to 1860; Father Neil H. Gillespie, again, from 1860 to 1863; Father Patrick Dillon, again, from 1863 to 1865; Father William Corby, from 1865 to 1866; Father Augustus Lemonnier, from 1866 to 1872; Father Michael B. Brown, from 1872 to 1874; Fathers J. M. Toohey and P. J. Colovin, from 1874 to 1875; Father John A. O'Connell, from 1875 to 1876; Father John A. Zahm (present provincial, of whom a personal sketch is
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given in Vol. II, page 1426), from 1876 to 1877; Father Thomas E. Walsh, from 1877 to 1881; Father J. M. Toohey, from 1881 to 1885; Father John A. Zahm, again, from 1885 to 1886; Father Andrew Morrissey, from 1886 to 1887; Father John A. Zahm, again, from 1887 to 1891; Father Andrew Morrissey, again, from 1891 to 1893; Father James French, from 1893 up to the present.
Many times has Notre Dame been called upon to mourn for the loss of her gifted priests and brothers: In 1854, when Father Cointet and nearly twenty other members of the order died; in 1868, when Father Patrick and Father James M. Dillon died; in 1874, when Father Lemonnier and Father Gillespie died; and finally, in 1893, when Father Walsh, Father Granger and the ven- erable founder himself, Father Sorin, died. Thanks, however, to the gracious protection of Heaven, the congregation and the uni- versity, so well planned, so wisely guarded and guided, continued to flourish as before. The works of man perish; those of God endure. So is it with 'Notre Dame, under the guardian care of Father Morrissey, president of the university; and so will it ever be so long as the spirit of the holy founder continues to guide the counsels of Notre Dame.
Under Father Morrissey's administration the completion of the work laid out by his predecessors goes on. Washington hall has been beautifully frescoed, wings have been added to Sorin hall and a magnificent gymnasium, 240 feet long by 100 wide, com- p'eted. Measures have been taken to revise and still further improve the course of studies, and the corps of teachers is kept up to the highest standard. Father Morrissey is now making plans for building a large fire-proof library building and another hall for
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