The Story behind Notre Dame's Alma Mater

What puts the “fight” in the Fighting Irish? Hope—it is hope that makes this University resilient in adversity. It is a hope that gives this University the courage to work for the common good, especially for those who have no hope.

This kind of hope stands fast especially when faced with a challenge. There is a long campus tradition that was born in such a moment of adversity, and it continues to inspire today: the Alma Mater song, “Notre Dame, Our Mother.”

In 1931, a disaster shook the Notre Dame family to its core—coaching legend Knute Rockne died suddenly when his plane crashed in a wheat field in Kansas. Almost 100 years later, Rockne still remains the winningest coach in football history, and his statue stands in front of the football stadium gate that faces the library.

Rockne took poor, immigrant students and shaped them into a team that competed with Americas’s elite. His teams proclaimed to the nation that Catholics had heart, faith, and determination.

News of his plane crash captivated the country. The funeral was broadcasted on radio nationwide and loudspeakers were attached to Sacred Heart Church for the thousands who gathered outside. The entire city came to a standstill.

The student body was shocked—they had lost a pillar of life at Notre Dame, and were overwhelmed with sorrow and grief. Students packed hall chapels and organized campus-wide prayer services.

It was precisely at this moment of disaster and despair that the Notre Dame family stood fast with hope. The Alma Mater song “Notre Dame, Our Mother” was composed as a response to the tragedy of Rockne’s death. Since then, it has been used to accompany the fight song to end all football games and other University events.

Notre Dame turned to Mary in this moment of tragedy not to ask for protection or help, but simply to praise her when everything suddenly seemed to be upside down. The campus community responded to violence and death by praising Mary, our mother in faith who brings us life in Christ and continues to watch over us with her intercession.

The words to the song speak of Notre Dame in a way that simultaneously honors both the University and Our Lady, Mary. It is, at the same time, a school song that moves the hearts of alumni, and a hymn that prayerfully honors our patron and our mother. In this way, it captures the University’s ultimate ambition: to imitate Mary’s faithfulness to bear Christ to the world and bring hope.

When the Alma Mater is sung on campus today, everyone puts their arms over each others’ shoulders and slowly sways. It is almost as if, in holding one another, we give each other the strength and resilience of Sorin—almost as if we give each other the vision and compassion of Hesburgh. This is the hope that we learn from Jesus, our Teacher, and from his mother, Mary—Our Lady of the Lake.

Notre Dame, our mother,
tender, strong and true,
proudly in the heavens
gleams thy gold and blue.
Glory’s mantle cloaks thee,
golden is thy fame,
and our hearts forever
praise thee, Notre Dame;
and our hearts forever
love thee Notre Dame.

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To conclude the tour, listen to the final segment as you walk from the Library towards the football stadium, behind you. After you reach the stadium, feel free to return to the Eck Center or wherever else you might be headed.