Edward Sorin

The Very Rev. Edward Frederick Sorin, C.S.C. (1814–1893), a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, was the founder of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and of St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas.

Youth

Édouard Sorin was born February 6, 1814, at Ahuillé, near Laval, France. His early education was directed by his mother, known for her intelligence and virtue. After completing his classical studies, his vocation for the priesthood being marked, M. Sorin entered the diocesan seminary, where he was distinguished for superior ability and exemplary life. Among his fellow students was the future Cardinal Langénieux.

Missionary to America

At the time of Father Sorin's ordination, glowing reports of missionary enterprise in foreign lands had fired afresh the hearts of French clergy, and inspired numerous vocations, not a few of which were those of future martyrs, particularly in China and Japan. It was to the first of these countries that the Abbé Sorin felt attracted; and to the end of his long life accounts of the trials and triumphs of Chinese missionaries had for him a singular fascination. He was influenced by circumstances to enroll himself in the Congregation of Holy Cross, a community of priests, brothers, and sisters lately founded at Le Mans by the Blessed Basil Moreau. The need of missionaries in the United States, so earnestly represented in letters from bishops in this country and in addresses by others who had occasion to visit Europe, was not to be disregarded by the heads of religious orders; and although France had not as yet recovered from the effects of the Revolution, she generously contributed men and means for the support and spread of American missions. Father Sorin, but recently ordained, was selected by his superiors to establish the Congregation of Holy Cross in what was then considered a remote district of the United States.