University of Notre Dame

Basilica of the Sacred Heart

The founder and first president of the University of Notre Dame, Edward Sorin, bought the first bell for the campus that rang out on Christmas 1843.  The bell was transferred to a new church, but in 1851 the belfry was toppled by a strong wind and the bell was given to St. Mary's College.  A 3,000 pound replacement bell cast in Cincinnati cracked in 1866 and was melted down for the bell metal.  An even larger bell weighing 15,400 pounds was purchased from M Bollée.

Mr. l'Abbe Joseph Biemans, an ecclesiastical novice of the society, offered to pay for a carillon of 43 bells, provided the cost did not exceed 15,000 francs (about $3,000) and they were duly ordered from M. Bollée of Mans, France.  Biemans left Notre Dame before the bells arrived, however, and when they were delivered in September 1856 Sorin had to scramble to pay the debt, but was successful.

The new bells were installed in the existing church and were solemnly blessed on November 12, 1856, by Archbishop Purcell of Cincinnati.  Each bell is named for a different title accorded the Virgin Mary.  The bells were moved to the new Sacred Heart church in 1875.

This was the largest and only carillon in the United States until Bishop John Timon installed a larger carillon of 43 bells at St. Joseph's Cathedral in Buffalo in 1869.  Timon had attended the blessing of the Statue of Notre Dame in October 1866 and upon hearing the carillon decided to order a larger one for his cathedral.  Timon's carillon has not survived, but the University of Notre Dame carillon continues to ring out its message.

References
1869 Silver Jubilee of the University of Notre Dame, June 23rd, 1869
Pages 31-33:  Bells have always been a favorite mode of making a noise at Notre Dame. In these primitive days--we continually revert to the year 1844--the reader must consider that we have our head-quarters in the College in that year, and that we have not commenced the regular march of our history down to the present time ; the brief notice we occasionally make of the present time, may be likened to speedy excursions on a bycycle--we make only one track and that a narrow one. In these primitive days there was a fine toned bell in the college steeple where it did service, especially on two occasions, when it alarmed the neighborhood and woke up the sleeping community to extinguish the flames in which, without the bell, the College would have been enveloped.  When the Church was built, Mr. Gregory Campau constructed a beautiful belfry on it, over the Sanctuary, and put this bell in the belfry. There it rang out as merry as any marriage bell until one stormy day in March, it may have been April-for the winds get very much mixed up in this region of country and are no respecters of months ; it has all along, since the flood at least, been a matter of grievance that it is not known whence they come or whither they go; but here is added the further grievance that it isn't known when they are going to come. On this day of March, or April, the wind blew the belfry down, and the bell came along with it, and now rings in the belfry of the Convent of St. Mary's. Talking of bells, we will exhaust the subject, as far as Notre Dame is concerned, by briefly stating that the original bell, just mentioned, was succeeded by a large one of 2400 pounds, which hung high up in the steeple, solitary and alone, making deliciously loud solos, until 1856, at which memorable epoch it was enlivened by the arrival of the peal of twenty-three bells, which will play you any air you want, or at least any tune you will go to the trouble of putting on the cylinder. The big bell not liking, perhaps, the continual clatter of so many smaller ones, or else because it was knocked around too roughly, cracked in disgust, and was sold for bell metal. The legitimate successor of that bell--the third, consequently, of the family of bells--is the one which sounds forth from the tower in front of the church--a tower that has gained the admiration of the beholder, rather by its sturdy solidity than by its pretentions to architectural beauty. This bell, with the yoke, weighs over seven tons, and is larger than any other bell--whether church bell or any other kind of bell, in the United States. It was cast by the celebrated bell-founder, Mr Bollée, of Mans, France.
Page 42:  In 1856, the celebrated chimes were put up in the belfry of the church, and were solemnly  blessed in November before a large concourse of friends. Archbishop Purcell and Bishop Henni were present. The Most Rev. Archbishop delivered an eloquent discourse, that is still remembered with admiration by the many who heard him that day. The sermon of Bishop Henni was also remarkable for its eloquence.

1879 Bells at Notre Dame, by Edward Sorin, C.S.C.| also here | also here |

1893 Rev Edward Frederick Sorin (6 Feb 1814 - 31 Oct 1893) grave

1895 Chronicles of Notre Dame du Lac, by Edward Sorin, CSC; Translated by John M. Toohey, CSC.
Page 301-302:  About four years ago a set of chimes had been ordered of Mr. Bollée of le Mans, in virtue of a promise made by Mr. l'Abbe Joseph Biemans, an ecclesiastical novice of the society, to pay all the expenses, provided the cost did not exceed 15,000fr. and that a clock accompanied it.  Mr. Bollée having long delayed the manufacture of the chimes, and Mr. Biemans having left the society two years after giving his note for the 15,000fr., it was seriously thought to stop the work, but it was too late.  The founder had gone to considerable expense, and it seemed contrary to all principles of justice to leave all his preparations on his hands.  The chimes were completed at the expense of the house, and they reached Notre Dame in good shape in September 1856, at a cost of 18,000fr.
The blessing was fixed for November 12th following.  Archbishop Purcell himself performed the ceremony, assisted by Mgr. Henni, Bishop of Milwaukee, and attended by a numerous concourse of priests and visitors.  The ceremony could not have been more impressive, and it would have been a perfect success had not a deplorable accident happened on the previous evening during the manifestations of joy caused by the presence of the Archbishop.
One of the best students of the college, Mr. P. Hoye, a youth of twenty who was the leader in all the sports of the campus, lost his right arm whilst too hastily loading the cannon, which went off of itself, and which might have caused a still greater misfortune had not Providence kept special watch.
There is no doubt but that the effect of this magnificent chime, the first of its kind in the United States, is a most  favorable one for Notre Dame.

1895 A Brief History of the University of Notre Dame Du Lac, Indiana, from 1842 to 1892 prepared for the Golden Jubilee to be celebrated June 11, 12 and 13, 1895.  
Pages 33-34:  From the first there have been bells at Notre Dame, but it was not until 1856 that the famous chime of twenty-three bells arrived from France and were put up in the belfry of the church and attached to the musical cylinder, where they have since given forth the sweetest melodies of Christian music. In November of that year the bells were solemnly blessed in the presence of a large concourse of people. Eloquent sermons were delivered on the occasion by Atchbishop Purcell of Cincinnati and Bishop Henni of Milwaukee.
From 1856 until the erection of the grand chimes in St. Joseph's Cathedral, Buffalo, New York, these chimes at Notre Dame, ranging in weight from 14 to 1,400 lbs., and rung by clock work, were the finest in America. The ornamentation on the bells is very elaborate, and finely executed. No music in the world, as we believe, is more pleasing than on a sweet summer evening, after all the world is hushed to rest, to listen to the melody of some holy song, as the Ave Maria's Stella, borne from these bells and floating over the surface of the two beautiful lakes that rest almost beneath the walls of the church, the sound thence taken up in echoes by the forests fringing their borders, and carried for miles in waves of harmony.
The position of the the chimes in the new Church of the Sacred Heart is now over a hundred feet above the surface of the earth.  Beneath it, in the same tower, swings the greatest, as it is the deepest, strongest and sweetest church bell in the United States, tuned to sound in harmony with, and as a part of the sweet chimes above. This glorious bell weighs 15,400 pounds, and its sonorous voice has been heard at a distance of twenty-five miles; yet its sound, even under the church, tower, is most musical to the ear, sublime though it be as the artillery of heaven.

1948 Notre Dame--One Hundred Years, by Arthur Hope, C.S.C.
Pages 75-76:   Despite this struggle with poverty, there were, however, some simple luxuries. It is incredible what little things, in the midst of want, will bring pleasure to men. It seems wonderful that such a thing as a bell could make the priests and students so happy. Yet, on Christmas night, 1843, the joy of the mid-night Mass was complete. They had a bell. It had been brought over from France the previous month by Brother John. It weighed six hundred and sixty pounds, was hoisted to the college tower, and was blessed by Father Sorin on Christmas eve.
When the new church was built, the bell was transferred to the belfry above the sanctuary. One night, in the spring of 1851, a howling wind swept belfry and bell to the ground. This, the first of Notre Dame's bells, was then given to St. Mary's College, as there was a prospect of Notre Dame's obtaining even a larger one. To be sure, Notre Dame purchased a great bell that summer in Cincinnati. It weighed three thousand, two hundred and twenty pounds. After being blessed on the feast of the Assumption, it was elevated to one of the towers that had been built at the front of the church.
In 1856, the chimes were added. As these things go now, the chimes are nothing much. But in that day there was nothing so fine this side of the Alleghenies. They consisted of twenty-three bells, tuned in chromatic scale, and so arranged that a revolving drum, with pegs at suitable places, tripped a hammer against the lip of each bell. A student of those days wrote: "No music in the world, as we believe, is more pleasing than on a sweet summer evening, after all the world is hushed to rest, to listen to the melody of some holy song . . . borne from these bells over the surface of the lakes."
Still later, a booming bourdon, weighing 15,400 pounds, was hung beneath the chimes. In those far away student days the ringing of this great bell signified not only solemn Mass and great ceremony, but also chicken fricassee and oblong pies such as only the Sisters could make. Its ringing produced a nervous expectancy among the students that lasted until noon. When they were well glutted, and the bell rang again for vespers, it can be doubted that there was any alacrity in the response. I have often wondered what would have been the reaction of the student body, if, after the ringing of this great bell, they had trooped into the dining hall to find only round-steak and jello. It would have been as though the University authorities had played on them all morning the cruelest sort of trick.

1956 "The Oldest Carillon in America,"  by James E. Murphy, Notre Dame 9(4):12 (Winter 1956)
The carillon was a personal project of Rev. Edward F. Sorin, C.S.C., founder and first president of the university.  He ordered the bells, which range in weight from fifteen to nearly eleven-hundred pounds, from the Bollee and Sons foundry at LeMans, France. They were solemnly blessed on November 12, 1856, by Archbishop Purcell of Cincinnati and placed in the church which preceded the present structure. Each bell is named for a different title accorded the Virgin Mary.
When Sacred Heart church was completed in 1875, the carillon was installed in the spire approximately one hundred feet above the ground. Played manually originally, the carillon later was operated somewhat similar to a player piano with a revolving drum mechanism tripping the hammers of the various bells to play a melody. This mechanism was synchronized with the clock in the spire to play hymns at specific times during the day. In 1953 a new clavier or keyboard was installed and the bells were re-hung. Since that time it has been possible to play the instrument manually or by remote control electrically from the sacristy.

1967 The University of Notre Dame du Lac: Foundations, 1842-1857. by  John Theodore Wack, PhD Dissertation, University of Notre Dame
Pages 317-320:  In the fall of 1856, however, there was no unusual concern with the unpaid bills of the students, but instead there was considerable concern for unpaid bells. In September, 1I856, a carillon of twenty-three bells arrived at Notre Dame du Lac. These bells had been cast in the foundry of Ernest Bollée at LeMans in France at a cost of well over $3000 (18,000 francs). The bells were another example of Sorin's audacious brand of college-building.
This is what those outside of the college (and, perhaps, many of those within) must have concluded, but the real truth was that the purchase of the bells, while perhaps a masterstroke of public relations, was also a dangerous financial risk. The chimes were not ordered as an outcome of the relative affluence of the college in 1855-1856; they had been ordered in 1852, at a time when the college was in a poor financial condition, and when those at the college were deeply embroiled in the Gouesse affair. The money for the chimes was not on hand then, but it was to come from a large sum which had  been promised to Notre Dame ny a seminarian, the same sum of money which Sorin had intended to use to finance the buildings which he erected in 1853/ The departure of this seminarian from the community left the college in debt. Sorin planned to halt the casting of the bells, but, he reasoned, while Bollée had made only a little progress on the order, some work had been done and some expense was involved. Sorin concluded that "in justice" he must allow the work to continue. The carillon-however, was not fully completed until over three years had passed. Now the bells had arrived at Notre Dame du Lac and Bollée awaited payment; three thousand dollars must go to him from the hard-pressed treasury. It was Sorin's good fortune that the Phelan donation gave the college the wherewithal to pay for the carillon ; had it been completed a year earlier or a year later it could have rung out the ruin of the college.
The chime was installed in the bell towers which had been built as early as 1851 in front of the church; there were two towers, each twelve feet square and one hundred-twenty feet high, standing independent of the church so that one former student commented, on hearing of the plans for the towers, that they would look like "two barber's poles" and he recommended that they be greased on exhibition days when the slippery towers would "afford a wide field for gymnastic
demonstrations & feats." On November 12, there was a convocation for the blessing of the bells. Archbishop Purcell, who of all of the hierarchy was the most friendly toward Sorin was there to invoke the blessing, and he was joined by Bishop Henni of Milwaukee and many other guests.

1976 That Vanishing Sound, by L. Elsinore Springer | also here |
Page 182:  The Carillon in America

1986 "North America's First Carillon," by James R. Lawson, Bulletin of the Guild of Carillonneurs of North America 35:19-22 (January 1986)

2001 Edward Sorin, by Marvin Richard O'Connell
Page 276:  Carillon

2020 The University of Notre Dame: A History, by Thomas E. Blantz C.S.C.
Pages 45-46:  A few years ago, Father Sorin, on a visit to France, purchased a magnificent carillon to enhance religious worship and call the community together for prayer, but the spires proved too weak to bear the carillon's weight and a two-story bell tower was built in front of the church in 1852.
Page 102:  Another impetus came from Father Sorin himself.  He was in Europe at the time and had been in serious discussions with Bollée et Fils of France about purchasing a new and larger carillon for Notre Dame.  But the present carillon was already too heavy for the church and a two-story bell tower had been built in front of the church to house it.  A new church would obviously be needed to support an ever heavier carillon.  It was noted in early 1869 that the "project of building a church and getting a new chime was brought before the Council, and a letter of Rev. Father General who originated the idea was read. It was proposed to sell the old chime by lottery and realize is possible $10,000."  No action was taken at this time, however, since no one had show interest in purchasing the old carillon and it was difficult to borrow money during the period of Reconstruction after the Civil War.

© 2022 Morris A. Pierce