"A Plan for the Perfection of the Dome"

On October 12, 1883, the statue of Mary was raised to the top of the dome of the main building at Notre Dame, partially fulfilling the promise the University’s founder, Father Edward Sorin, made to Our Lady in 1844, just two years after the founding of the University, to one day “raise her aloft…on a Golden Dome…”

With the statue finally at rest on its pedestal, Father Sorin renewed his efforts to fulfill the rest of his promise to Our Lady by raising the additional funds needed to gild the Dome -- and now, thanks to a new invention, illuminate it with electric light. In the March 29, 1884, edition of The Notre Dame Scholastic, the editors introduce a message from Father Sorin under a very brief headline, The Dome: “The appended communication from Very Rev. Father General sets forth a plan for the perfection of the Dome of the University which will be of interest to friends of Notre Dame.”

Father Sorin begins, “The exterior of the beautiful Dome of Notre Dame is now finished, thank God! and not a dollar expended on it will ever be regretted! It is the grand feature of the place – one of the chief ornaments of the West. But, beautiful as it looks, it is scarcely anything compared to what it will soon be, when covered, as originally intended, with the heavy and imperishable gilding of the purest gold which will reflect magically through the day the rays of the sun, and at night turn darkness into a bright light, from the electric crown of twelve stars with which the whole figure is to be clothed, typifying the prophecy: And there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”

A few paragraphs later, Sorin pushes for a novel application of a recent invention, Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulb, to illuminate the Dome at night:

“But, to come to the point: The Dome is up – majestic in grandeur and in form; the sacred image rests upon it in celestial splendor and beauty; but this grand cupola must shine out, all around, like a diamond in the sky, from the purest gilding; and its crowning Statue must find in its twelve radiant electric stars a new source of light, to replace the sun setting beneath the western horizon. Then we shall have a monument such as the world has probably never seen, owing to the comparatively novel application of electricity to be made here, for the first time, around such a statue at such an elevation above the ground.”

“To secure this light, with its illuminating rays extending for miles around, no expenses, if at all reasonable, should stand in the way. We wonder, indeed, at the modest figure, but we are assured that $5,000 will cover all the cost. Let us say $10,000, and thus feel doubly sure. How many generous souls would vie with each other to secure the merit and honor of this glorious act?”

In closing, Father Sorin notes his fundraising campaign is already finding a small bit of success:

“As I was sending the above to the printing office a purse of $200 in gold was presented to me, in the name of St. Joseph, for the Dome, wholly unexpected and unasked – a surprise, or rather a sanction. A few dozen more will soon prove that I was not mistaken. E. SORIN, C.S.C.”

And so Father Sorin’s "plan for the perfection of the Dome” got underway.