This historically significant novel of love and betrayal led to a renewed interest in preserving the grand architecture of Paris. Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame was written in 1831, at a time when the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was falling into disrepair. This epic novel helped spark a preservationist movement that led to the cathedral being restored to its full glory. Set in 1482, the story tells of how four men—the hunchbacked bell-ringer, Quasimodo; the archdeacon of Notre Dame, Claude Frollo; the dashing soldier Phoebus de Chateaupers; and the poet Pierre Gringoire—vie for the love of Esmeralda, a young Romani woman. As the story unfolds, readers come to realize that the focus of the story is not only on the human characters but on the grand cathedral itself.

I have traveled far and wide, far beyond the simple parish I envisioned as a young man. My obligation of service has led me into diverse yet interrelated roles: college teacher, theologian, president of a great university, counselor to four popes and six presidents. Excuse the list, but once called to public service, I have held fourteen presidential appointments over the years, dealing with the social issues of our times, including civil rights, peaceful uses of atomic energy, campus unrest, amnesty for Vietnam offenders, Third World development, and immigration reform. But deep beneath it all, wherever I have been, whatever I have done, I have always and everywhere considered myself essentially a priest. —from the Preface

Thomas Blantz's monumental The University of Notre Dame: A History tells the story of the renowned Catholic university's growth and development from a primitive grade school and high school founded in 1842 by the Congregation of Holy Cross in the wilds of northern Indiana to the acclaimed undergraduate and research institution it became by the early twenty-first century. It's growth was not always smooth--slowed at times by wars, financial challenges, fires, and illnesses. It is the story both of a successful institution and the men and women who made it so: Father Edward Sorin, C.S.C., the twenty-eight-year-old French priest and visionary founder; Father William Corby, C.S.C., later two-term Notre Dame president, who gave absolution to the soldiers of the Irish Brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg; the hundreds of Holy Cross brothers, sisters, and priests whose faithful service in classrooms, student residence halls, and across campus kept the university progressing through difficult years; a dedicated lay faculty teaching too many classes for too few dollars to assure the University would survive; Knute Rockne, a successful chemistry teacher but an even more successful football coach, elevating Notre Dame to national athletic prominence; Father Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., president for thirty-five years; and 325 undergraduate young women who were first to enter Notre Dame in 1972, among thousands of others. Blantz captures the strong connections that exist between Notre Dame's founding and early life and today's University. Alumni, faculty, students, friends of the University, and fans of the Fighting Irish will want to own this indispensable, definitive history of one of America's leading universities. Simultaneously detailed and documented yet lively and interesting, The University of Notre Dame: A History is the most complete and up-to-date history of the University available.

‘Two days after Notre Dame burned, I flew to Paris to appear on the TV programme La Grande Librairie for a discussion about cathedrals. The following morning I had breakfast at the Hotel Bristol with my French publisher and she asked me to write a short book about Notre Dame and what it means to all of us. She said she would donate the publisher’s profits to the rebuilding fund and, if I wished, I could do the same with my royalties. Yes, I said; of course, I’d love to.’ Ken Follett In aid of the crucial restoration work to restore Paris’s great cathedral, Notre-Dame: A Short History of the Meaning of Cathedrals is a moving, short piece of non-fiction celebrating the stunning history of this beloved building, from Ken Follett, author of the multi-million copy selling Kingsbridge series. This edition contains an exclusive extract from The Evening and the Morning, a prequel to The Pillars of the Earth, publishing Autumn 2020. A minimum of 50p per copy on each sale of this book will go to the charity La Fondation du Patrimoine.

WINNER OF THE 2022 FRENCH HERITAGE SOCIETY BOOK AWARD The profound emotion felt around the world upon seeing images of Notre-Dame in flames opens up a series of questions: Why was everyone so deeply moved? Why does Notre-Dame so clearly crystallise what our civilisation is about? What makes ‘Our Lady of Paris’ the soul of a nation and a symbol of human achievement? What is it that speaks so directly to us today? In answer, Agnès Poirier turns to the defining moments in Notre-Dame’s history. Beginning with the laying of the corner stone in 1163, she recounts the conversion of Henri IV to Catholicism, the coronation of Napoleon, Victor Hugo’s nineteenth-century campaign to preserve the cathedral, Baron Haussmann’s clearing of the streets in front of it, the Liberation in 1944, the 1950s film of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, starring Gina Lollobrigida and Anthony Quinn, and the state funeral of Charles de Gaulle, before returning to the present. The conflict over Notre-Dame’s reconstruction promises to be fierce. Nothing short of a cultural war is already brewing between the wise and the daring, the sincere and the opportunist, historians and militants, the devout and secularists. It is here that Poirier reveals the deep malaise – gilet jaunes and all – at the heart of the France.

BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY

The Notre Dame Book of Prayer is the collection of prayers and reflections for alumni, parents, and friends of the university. First published in 2010 and now updated with dozens of new prayers, this book shares the vibrant Catholic spiritual life of the University of Notre Dame. This bestselling book is arranged around twelve stunning, full-color photos of sacred and beloved sites on campus—including the Grotto, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, St. Joseph and St. Mary’s lakes, Touchdown Jesus, and Notre Dame Stadium. These beautiful photos were taken by Matt Cashore, the university’s award-winning senior photographer. This book contains hundreds of traditional and contemporary prayers written by faculty, staff, alumni, and members of the founding Congregation of Holy Cross. There are prayers for every occasion and season of life, including: morning and evening; meal times; an engagement; the birth of a child; anxiety and depression; birthdays; graduations; and liturgical seasons. You’ll also find guidance on how to pray and inspiring testimonies on the power of prayer. Contributors include President Emeritus Fr. Edward “Monk” Malloy, CSC; former head football coach Lou Holtz; writer Brian Doyle; Fr. Ted Hesburgh, CSC; and Lisa M. Hendey, founder of CatholicMom.com.