Edward Frederick Sorin

Edward Frederick Sorin (born Feb. 6, 1814, Ahuillé, Fr.—died Oct. 31, 1893, South Bend, Ind., U.S.) was a Roman Catholic priest and educator, founder and first president of the University of Notre Dame.

Sorin was ordained a priest in 1838, and two years later he joined the Congregation of Holy Cross, a group of priests and brothers organized at Le Mans, Fr. Sorin and six brothers went to Vincennes, Ind., in 1841 at the invitation of Bishop Célestine Hailandière. Offered land near South Bend by the bishop, Sorin in 1843 established a community of French Sisters of Holy Cross at nearby Bertrand, Mich. The following year he obtained a charter for the University of Notre Dame, an institution of higher learning for men, where he served as president until 1865. Sorin acquired a site adjacent to Notre Dame in 1854 for the French sisters, who founded St. Mary’s College there, a small liberal arts college for women and the motherhouse of the Sisters of Holy Cross. He began publishing Ave Maria magazine in 1865 and served as provincial superior of the Congregation of Holy Cross in the United States until 1868, after which he was superior general until his death.