Perhaps most importantly, Father Sorin himself – who had founded Notre Dame in November 1842 -- personally and single-handedly forged the legendary spirit of Notre Dame during one bold and unforgettable moment that very same day in 1879.
Four days earlier, a great and terrible fire had reduced the University to rubble. The fire that erupted on Wednesday, April 23, 1879, rapidly destroyed the University’s main building and four other nearby structures. Within just a few hours, Notre Dame had been reduced to ashes.
Father Sorin had been traveling through Canada on the day of the fire, but he was quickly reached in Montreal and asked to return to South Bend. A few days later, on Sunday, April 27, Father Sorin – now 65 years old – returned to Notre Dame to walk through the smoldering bricks and ashes that had been his life’s work for the past 37 years.
Father Sorin never read nor heard the famous lyrics “what though the odds be great or small” (the Notre Dame Victory March was written many years after his passing) but perhaps he understood and personified their meaning more fully than anyone else who ever was or ever would be part of Notre Dame.
Miraculously, the University’s new church had survived the great fire. So Father Sorin invited the Notre Dame community into the church – known today as the Basilica of the Sacred Heart -- and spoke of the fire and its meaning.
According to an eyewitness, “there was absolute faith, confidence, resolution in his very look and pose.” Speaking of the fire, Father Sorin said, "I came here as a young man and dreamed of building a great university in honor of Our Lady. But I built it too small, and she had to burn it to the ground to make the point. So, tomorrow, as soon as the bricks cool, we will rebuild it, bigger and better than ever."
In closing, he said, “if it were all gone, I should not give up!”
From that moment on, the future of the Our Lady’s University was never in doubt, and the spirit of Notre Dame was forged forever.
That day, just a few days after the University might easily have perished, was truly one of the most significant days in the life of the University of Notre Dame. Father Sorin and others rebuilt the University, and the doors of a new Main Building would open in September.
A few years later, Father Sorin added the one unforgettable flourish that created a beloved landmark and an inspiring symbol treasured by everyone who loves Notre Dame.
Back in 1844, just two years after founding Notre Dame, Father Sorin had vowed to pay tribute to Our Lady by placing a statue of the Virgin Mary atop a dome of gold. "When this school, Our Lady's school, grows a bit more," Sorin wrote, "I shall raise her aloft so that, without asking, all men shall know why we have succeeded here. To that lovely Lady, raised high on a dome, a Golden Dome, men may look and find the answer."
A few years later, Father Sorin added the one unforgettable flourish that created a beloved landmark and an inspiring symbol treasured by everyone who loves Notre Dame.
Back in 1844, just two years after founding Notre Dame, Father Sorin had vowed to pay tribute to Our Lady by placing a statue of the Virgin Mary atop a dome of gold. "When this school, Our Lady's school, grows a bit more," Sorin wrote, "I shall raise her aloft so that, without asking, all men shall know why we have succeeded here. To that lovely Lady, raised high on a dome, a Golden Dome, men may look and find the answer."
In 1883, just four years after the great fire and Father Sorin’s bold promise to rebuild, Father Sorin’s other promise – the one he made to Our Lady -- was fulfilled. A statue of Our Lady was raised to the top of the new main building, and soon after Father Sorin’s Golden Dome gleamed brightly against the blue skies of Indiana.
