The Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Notre Dame, Indiana, is a Catholic church on the campus of the University of Notre Dame, also serving as the mother church of the Congregation of Holy Cross (C.S.C.) in the United States. The neo-gothic church has 44 large stained glass windows and murals completed over a 17-year period by the Vatican painter Luigi Gregori. The basilica bell tower is high, making it the tallest university chapel in America. It is a contributing building in Notre Dame's historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. With . Map of district included with [|text version available at National Park Service]. The basilica is a major tourist attraction in Northern Indiana, and is visited annually by more than 100,000 tourists.
History In 1686, Fr. Claude-Jean Allouez, S.J., established the Ste-Marie-des-Lacs mission on the south shore of the St. Mary's lake, in order to serve the local Potawatomi tribe along with French trappers and settlers in the area. The French Catholic missionaries were expelled by the British from the area following the French and Indian War in 1763, but in 1832 Ste-Marie-des-Lacs was re-established by Stephen Badin and the Log Chapel was built.
The first church When Rev. Edward Sorin, C.S.C., established the University of Notre Dame, the community held religious services in the small log cabin built by Stephen Badin. This was replaced by a larger log cabin built by Sorin and dedicated on 19 March 1843, slightly to the east of Badin's log chapel and about the same size. Sorin's log chapel had become much too small for the needs of the growing college, and despite the lack of funds, Sorin decided to start construction on a proper church building in August 1847. School leaders decided to spend $1500 to construct a new edifice. Work began on 25 May 1848, and the structure was dedicated on 12 November the following year. The solemn consecration took place a year later, on 11 November 1849, with Bishop of Vincennes, Maurice de St. Palais presiding. The building was 90 feet long, 38 wide, and 20 high, with twin towers on its front, and was located next to the college building. Father Sorin described the first church: "The style is Greek, with rounded arches. There are three vaults and six columns which produce a very pretty effect. The tribune, which has been built for the use of the Sisters, is elliptical like the sanctuary. It is already enriched with an organ of Mr. H. Erben, and, though a little weak for the church, is one of its most precious ornaments."16 Sorin, Chronicle, 84-85. The church was built in Carpenter Gothic. The chancel organ had 1527 pipes and part of the statuary was donated by King Louis Philippe of France.
Shortly after the completion of the church, the university added a bell to its tower. In the spring of 1851, the wind swept tower and bell to the ground. That summer, university leaders purchased a larger bell in Cincinnati weighing and installed it in one of the church towers after it was blessed on the feast of the Assumption. In 1852, double spires were built by a local carpenter in exchange for his son's tuition at the school. The church contained two round stained glass windows purchased from the Carmel du Mans Glassworks of Le Mans. A third window, a gift to Sorin from the Carmelites, depicted "The Divine Face". Sorin, on a visit to France some years later, purchased a carillon. Initially placed on the tower spires, those proved too weak, and a standalone bell tower was the constructed and placed in front of the church.
In 1864 the church was the venue of the funeral (performed by Rev. Sorin) of Charles Celestine Sherman, infant son of William Tecumseh Sherman and Eleanor Boyle Ewing Sherman, who died at age five months. The infant was buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery before being moved to the family plot at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis.
The second (and present) church The university's needs soon outgrew the small first church and in spring of 1869 the leaders decided to build a new church dedicated to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, despite the lack of funds in the school's treasury.
Popular architect Patrick Keely drew the first plans which envisioned a baroque plan similar to the Church of the Gesu in Rome.St. Joseph Valley Register, 30 September 1869. Because of the limited budget, the church at Notre Dame was not to be as large or as elaborate as the Roman edifice, but rather the size of the church of the same name in Montreal.Lemonnier to Edwards, 7 July 1869. Lemonnier Letters. UNDA. The original plan featured a cruciform church two hundred feet in length with three naves and a transept, a dome over the crossing, two large bell-towers, and a capacity of 2,000. The estimated cost would be around $100,000.
Fr. Sorin decided that these plans were too grandiose, and that the church could not cost more than half that sum, since at the moment they had only about $8,000 at hand. In January 1870, a new architect, Mr. T. Brady from St. Louis, drew new plans for the church. It is not sure who drew the definite plans, but it is likely that also Fr. Sorin, Rev. Alexis Granger, C.S.C., and Irish-born Brother Charles Borromeo Harding, C.S.C., a self-taught campus builder, were part of the planning and building. The new church was erected in Gothic Revival architecture rather than baroque, reflecting Fr. Sorin's French taste and his will to build a remarkable and striking landmark. Work on the foundations for the new church began in the spring of 1870, and the cornerstone was laid on 31 May 1871, with six bishops present, including Cincinnati Archbishop John Purcell. The building took many years to finish and underwent many changes. As soon as it was habitable, university leaders installed an organ and held functions and celebrations in the unfinished building. The first mass was held on 15 August 1875. In 1887, the Lady Chapel was added; the north end of the church, completed in 1875, was previously bricked off. Bishop Joseph Gregory Dwenger finally consecrated the new sanctuary on 15 August 1888, during the celebrations for the golden jubilee of the ordination of Edward Sorin. The steeple was completed in 1892.
When the new church was begun in 1870, Fr. Sorin decided to order glass windows from the Carmel du Mans Glassworks, owned by the Carmelite nuns, who had provided windows for the first church in 1863 and with whom Sorin had a long-standing relationship. This was a large order, which amounted to more than 450 square meters of glass. Meanwhile, the Carmel du Mans Glassworks had been suffering financial troubles, also in part due to the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. To keep the business solvent and the workers employed, the Carmelites replaced the windows of their own chapel in 1871, featuring Carmelite saints (these drawings would also be re-used in the windows sold to Notre Dame). In 1873, the Carmelite nuns sold the Glasswork business to Edouard Rathouis, glasswork importer and nephew of Mother Eléonore, mother prioress of the nuns. This sale occurred only a few months after the order for the Notre Dame windows had begun, hence only the first windows painted in 1874 were made by the Carmelites themselves.
To pay for the windows, due to the financial troubles Notre Dame was in given the Long Depression and the 1879 fire of the main building, sponsors were solicited. Major contributors to buy the windows were Alexis Coquillard and Sister M. Germaine of the Passion, CSC, who donated her inheritance of seventeen thousand francs for the chapel and sanctuary windows. Additionally, Notre Dame received a ten percent commission on all windows ordered due to Sorin's influence, who publicized the company in America. The Carmel du Mans Glassworks realized the potential publicity of a large order in America, and hence did a high-quality job and also signed all their windows with the company name, which they previously had not done. In 1880, Edouard Rathouis sold the Carmel du Mans Glasswork to Eugène Hucher. This is reflected in the signage of the windows, which read first "Carmel du Mans, E. Rathouis" (in the earlier works in the nave) and finally "Fabrique du Carmel du Mans, Hucher et Fils, Successors" (in the last windows in the Lady Chapel). The contract for the windows was negotiated by Sorin and signed by Auguste Lemonnier, CSC, who was president at the time.
In April 1899, the church was the site of the first wireless transmission in the United States by Jerome Green and his assistants. He then went on to replicate these experiments the following month in Chicago.
The church was the location of the funeral of Knute Rockne, following his death in a plane crash in 1931. CBS, WGN in Chicago and WSBT, a local station, broadcast the services from the church.
In 1931, it underwent its first thorough renovation by New York architect Wilfred E. Anthony. A new automatic clock was placed in the tower and the chimes were automated so that bells would strike on the quarter hour. Additionally, bars of some music were also automated to ring on occasion.
On 25 October 1936 the church was visited by Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli, future Pope Pius XII, on his stop at Notre Dame during his visit to the United States.
Recent history Between the late 60s and early 70s, the church was renovated with the intention of bringing it in line with the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council. The high altar was retained, but moved back and an ornate wooden freestanding altar was placed at the crossing. The choir stalls were removed from the presbytery and moved to the Lady Chapel and the stations of the Cross painted by Gregori were put in storage. In 1969, the altar rail were removed and the pulpit was substituted with one at a shorter height. These changes, in line with the direction of the council, were meant to remove barriers between the celebrant and the congregation.
The church again received a renovation 20 years later, executed by Conrad Schmitt Studios, during which some of the 1968 renovations were reverted, including the return of the Gregori stations of the Cross and a return of more ornate decoration. The conservation and restoration of the historic stained glass windows, created in Le Mans, France, was one of the studio's largest single projects, with 116 windows and over 1,200 panels of glass. On 17 January 1992, Pope John Paul II raised the Church of the Sacred Heart to the status of Minor basilica, which had been Sorin's desire since 1888. This designation is one factor in making it a popular destination for approximately 50,000 pilgrims and tourists who visit annually. From 1977 through 1997, Rev. Daniel R. Jenky, C.S.C., of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, served as rector of the basilica, before he became head of the religious community there and later Auxiliary Bishop and vicar general of the Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend and later Bishop of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois. Under his tenure, the church was elevated to a basilica.
The basilica was the site of the funeral of many members of the community, including that of Theodore Hesburgh and Regis Philbin.
On 28 October 2021 Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople visited the basilica where he delivered an address on environmental stewardship and received an honorary degree. The Patriarch was accompanied by Archbishop Elpidophoros of America and the official delegation also included Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, Metropolitan Iosif of Proikonissos, Metropolitan Ioustinos of Nea Krini and Kalamaria and the basilica hosted a concert by the Archdiocesan Byzantine choir of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of America. The Patriarch was originally scheduled to deliver the commencement address at Notre Dame in 2020, but had to cancel due to COVID-19.
Exterior