Edward Sorin

Simon Bruté, who Sorin has witnessed recruiting priests and missionaries for his recently established diocese in Vincennes in Indiana, died in 1839. His successor Célestin Guynemer de la Hailandière renewed the call for help, and Moreau decided to send assistance. Because of Sorin's leadership abilities, motivation, and youthful vigor, Moreau chose him to lead this missionary expedition.[5][2] Missionary enterprise in foreign lands, including distant lands such as China, Japan or America, motivated French clergy and inspired numerous vocations.[3] Sorin was accompanied by six brothers of the Congregation: Brothers Vincent (born John Pieau), Joachim (William Michael André), Lawrence (John Menage), Francis Xavier (René Patois), Anselm (Pierre Caillot), and Gratian (Urban Mosimer).[2]

Accompanied by the six brothers, Sorin left Le Mans on August 5, 1841, and left Le Havre on board the ship Iowa. They arrived in New York City on September 13, and one of Sorin's first acts upon arrival to America was to kneel down and kiss the ground, as a sign of adoption of his new country. They spent three days in the city hosted by Samuel Byerley, a rich trader and convert to Catholicism, and met with New York's bishop John Dubois. On September 16 they went up the Hudson River by paddleboat to Albany and then reached Buffalo via the Erie Canal, with a short detour to view Niagara falls. They crossed Lake Erie on steamboat and reached Toledo, from where they went down to Maumee river to Maumee, then Napoleon, Defiance, Fort Wayne, Lafayette, Terre Haute, and following the Wabash river they finally reached Vincennes on October 10.[2]

Portrait picture of Sorin

Bishop Célestine Hailandière welcomed the congregation and first offered them property and ministry in Francesville, but Sorin declined. He accepted the bishop's second offer of establishing themselves in the parish of St. Peter in Montgomery. The mission already had a few buildings, a small wooden chapel, and a primitive school with a few pupils. The school was soon headed by Charles Rother, a German immigrant who soon desired to join the congregation and became the first to do so in the United States, with the name of Brother Joseph. Other brothers soon joined, mostly Irish and German immigrants, although many left. The start of the mission saw some hardships, particularly in adopting foreign agricultural practices and the cultivation of corn, but they adapted with help from the locals. Sorin celebrated Mass and gave spiritual assistance to around thirty-five Catholic families in the area, preaching in French and sometimes English, a language Sorin was only beginning to learn.[2][3]

Soon, more problems developed in the community.[2] Sorin and bishop Hailandière had disagreements over financial matters, since Sorin expected the bishop to provide 3,000 francs for their expenses. The bishop, who had expected them in 1839, had already employed the money elsewhere. Despite this, the bishop agreed to pay for the community, but on the condition they would report to him instead of being under the jurisdiction of Moreau, a condition which Sorin refused. This disagreement was partially diffused by Father Juliane Delaune, who was able to solicit funds and donations amounting to 15,000 francs, which he divided between Sorin and the bishop. A second and deeper misunderstanding arose when Sorin made his intentions to start a collège (a college-high school on the French model). The bishop rejected this idea, since there already was a Catholic college in Vincennes, St Gabriel's, which was staffed by the Erudists fathers. The bishop had promised them he would have no competition for funds and students.[3] Instead, the bishop mentioned that he owned land in northern Indiana, close to South Bend, and Sorin could start his college there instead.[4] This land had been purchased by Stephen Badin in the 1830s with the intent of building a school, but after his plans had failed he offered it to the bishop. Sorin consulted with the brothers and then accepted, departing St. Peter's with seven of the brothers on November 16.[2]

Sorin and his seven brothers (three French and four Irish) traveled 250 miles north in one of Indiana's harshest winters. They followed the Wabash River, passing by Terre Haute. They split, and Sorin with the first group arrived in South Bend on the afternoon of November 26, 1842.[6][7] Here they were welcomed by Alexis Coquillard (who bishop Hailandière had put them in contact with) and then undertook the two-mile trip to visit the property before spending the night guests of Coquillard. The next day they visited the site with day-light, and took formal possession of the property.[8] Rev. Sorin described his arrival on campus in a letter to Basil Moreau:

Everything was frozen, and yet it all appeared so beautiful. The lake, particularly, with its mantle of snow, resplendent in its whiteness, was to us a symbol of the stainless purity of Our August Lady, whose name it bears; and also of the purity of soul which should characterize the new inhabitants of these beautiful shores. Our lodgings appeared to us-as indeed they are-but little different from those at St. Peter's. We made haste to inspect all the various sites on the banks of the lake which had been so highly praised. Yes, like little children, in spite of the cold, we went from one extremity to the other, perfectly enchanted with the marvelous beauties of our new abode. Oh! may this new Eden be ever the home of innocence and virtue!

— Rev. Edward Sorin, C.S.C., Circular Letters, Part II, No 1[9]

At the time, the property only had three buildings: a log cabin built by Stephen Badin (the original burned down in 1856 but a replica was built in 1906), a small two-story clapboard building that was the home of the Potawatomi interpreter Charon, and a small shed. Of the 524 acres, only 10 were cleared and ready for cultivation, but Sorin stated that the soil was suitable for raising wheat and corn. While the land had two small lakes, the snow and marshy area might have given to Sorin the appearance of a single larger lake, hence why named the fledgling mission "Notre Dame du Lac" (Our Lady of the Lake).[10][8] The most immediate concern were suitable and warm lodgings for the Sorin and the seven brothers present and for those in St. Peter's who were yet to come north.[8] To build a second log cabin, and lacking the funds, they appealed to the people of South Bend to donate funds or their time. Thanks to the help from the locals, they were able to assemble the timber and erect the walls, and the Sorin and the brothers erected the roof when the men returned to town. The cabin was completed on March 19, 1843, in time to accommodate the additional brothers and novices who has arrived from St. Peter's the month before.[10]

Next, Sorin dedicated himself to building a college proper, since the foundation of such within two years was the condition on which he had been given the land by bishop Hailandière. While in Vincennes, Sorin had made plans with a local architect, Mr. Marsile, to have him come to South Bend in the summer and start construction of a main building, but the architect did not show up. Hence, he and the brothers constructed Old College, a two-story brick building that served as dormitory, bakery, and classrooms. With the Old College building ready by the fall, the college officially opened to its first few students.[2] The first residents to receive an education at Notre Dame were orphans from a home established by the Brothers of Saint Joseph to educate children beyond the ages of 12 and 13.[11] When Marsile finally arrived in August, Sorin proceeded to erect the first Main Building (at the location of the third and present Main Building). The building, completed in 1844 and enlarged in 1853, constituted the entire college until the construction of the second and larger Main Building in 1865.[12]

Following Moreau's example, Sorin sent out priests and brothers to found other schools and parishes throughout the United States and Canada. On January 15, 1844, the Indiana legislature officially chartered the University of Notre Dame.[13]

From the French seminary system, Sorin was by temperament more of an administrator than an academic or intellectual.[14] He ran Notre Dame on the model of a French boarding school, which included elementary (the "minims"), preparatory, and collegiate programs, as well as a manual training school. Over the years, he accepted the recommendations of others, including Fr. John A. Zahm, C.S.C., to strengthen Notre Dame's academic curriculum.[15]

Statue of Sorin on the Campus of the University of Notre Dame[16]

In 1850 Sorin asked the federal government to establish a post office at Notre Dame. His request was granted, and in 1851 First Assistant Postmaster General Fitz Henry Warren notified congressman Graham N. Fitch of the establishment of the Notre Dame post office and the appointment of Edward Sorin as its postmaster. While the income from the post office was negligible, its major advantage was to increase the visibility of Notre Dame and incentivize better roads and communications to the campus.[17]

In 1865 he became the first American Provincial Superior of the Congregation and was succeeded as president by Patrick Dillon. As provincial superior, he was still actively involved with the running of the university and resided on campus.

Far from Indiana to India, the flourishing mission in Eastern Bengal, headed by the Congregation of Holy Cross, owes much of its success to Father Sorin's active co-operation and zeal. He sent its former bishop and other priests together with a band of sisters, described as a worthy group. The founding of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross in the United States is regarded as one of Sorin's most important services to religion. Under his administration and care, this community grew from small to possessing flourishing establishments in a dozen states. During the American Civil War, under Sorin's forethought, this sisterhood was able to furnish nearly eighty nurses for sick and wounded soldiers on transports and in hospitals. A number of priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross, among them Fr. William Corby, C.S.C., served as chaplains at the front. Sorin also established Ave Maria Press in 1865.[5]

Sorin's strength was demonstrated on April 23, 1879, when a fire destroyed the Main Building, which housed virtually the entire university.[18] Following the pledge made by the university's president, William Corby, C.S.C., Notre Dame reopened for the fall term.[19] Sorin also willed Notre Dame to rebuild and continue its growth. As recounted in Notre Dame: 100 Years (1942):

"The sixty-five year old man walked around the ruins, and those who followed him were confounded by his attitude. Instead of bending, he stiffened. There was on his face a look of grim determination. He signaled all of them to go into the church with him." [20]

Timothy Edward Howard provided a first-person account of what Sorin said inside Sacred Heart Church:

"I was then present when Father Sorin, after looking over the destruction of his life-work, stood at the altar steps of the only building left and spoke to the community what I have always felt to be the most sublime words I ever listened to. There was absolute faith, confidence, resolution in his very look and pose. 'If it were ALL gone, I should not give up!' were his words in closing. The effect was electric. It was the crowning moment of his life. A sad company had gone into the church that day. They were all simple Christian heroes as they came out. There was never more a shadow of a doubt as to the future of Notre Dame."[20]

An alternative version of Sorin's post-fire address has increased in popularity. It argues that Our Lady (the Virgin Mary) burned down the Main Building because he built it too small, and that he would now rebuild it "bigger and better than ever".[21] This version seems apocryphal as it was not included in any contemporaneous accounts of the event or in Sorin's own writings. Sorin believed a divine hand was involved in the fire's origins, but ascribed it directly to God, whom Sorin suspected of being angry over "infidelity" and "neglect," not the dimensions of the building.[22]

Sorin had an ambitious goal for the new Administration Building, constructed over the summer of 1879. He wanted it to be nothing less than a "monument to Catholicism."[23] Having stood for some 135 years, the Administration Building with its Golden Dome served as a monument. Catholicism generally and millions of working-class first- and second-generation American Catholics were inspired to see their sons (and eventually daughters) pursue higher education. It allowed them to gain entry into the mainstream of American social, economic, and political life.

Sorin also founded St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas. Bishop Claude Marie Dubuis of the Diocese of Galveston learned of Mrs. Mary Doyle's intention to leave her large South Austin farm to the Catholic Church. The purpose was to establish an "education institution" and he invited Father Sorin to Texas in 1872. Answering the bishop's invitation, Sorin traveled to Austin and surveyed the beauty of the surrounding hills and lakes. A year later, following Mrs. Doyle's death, he founded a Catholic school called St. Edward's Academy in honor of his patron saint, Edward the Confessor and King. In the fledgling institution's first year, 1878, three farm boys made up the student body and met for classes in a makeshift building on the old Doyle homestead. In 1885, the academy secured its charter as a college. Sorin Hall and nearby Sorin Oak — the largest oak tree in Austin — are also named after him.[25]