University Of Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame is a Catholic institution located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated section of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, immediately northeast of the city of South Bend. Notre Dame, meaning "Our Lady" in French, refers to the Virgin Mary. The original and official name of the school is the University of Notre Dame du Lac (Our Lady of the Lake). Notre Dame's campus sits on 1,250 acres (5 km) containing two lakes and 136 buildings.
The school was founded on November 26, 1842, by a 28-year-old priest, the Reverend Edward Sorin, CSC, and six Holy Cross Brothers who were members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, founded in Le Mans, France, in 1837. Recent historical study has shown that the Potawatomi Indians, partly because of the strong faith of Leopold Pokagon, also played an integral role in the founding of Notre Dame, both before and during Sorin's presence in Northern Indiana. Originally Sorin planned to wait out the winter at the South Bend site, notorious for its fierce winter months, and the standing joke is that the Congregation is still waiting for winter to pass.
The University's Catholic character is physically manifest throughout the Notre Dame campus. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart is centrally located on campus. A statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary stands atop the Main Building's dome, there are chapels in every residence hall, and crucifixes in most classrooms on campus. 82% of the student body self-identifies as Catholic.
The Indiana General Assembly granted the school its charter on January 15, 1844, under the name University of Notre Dame du Lac. Though the word Lac is singular, the university's campus actually contains two lakes. According to legend, when Father Sorin arrived to found the school, it was November and everything was frozen. He thought there was only one lake and named the university accordingly.