How the Notre Dame's Fighting Irish Earned their Name

January 15th marks the 175th anniversary of the official state chartering of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Whether or not you follow college-level athletics, there is little chance you wouldn't recognize the iconic Fighting Irish mascot. But why does a Catholic school founded by French priests use an Irish-themed caricature as its mascot? To date, there is actually no definitive answer to this question, but if we take a brief look at the school's origins and follow its history up to the early 20th century, a few ideas come to light that help answer at least some questions about the Fighting Irish's origins. Regardless of the mascot's beginnings, and the French origin of the school's founding, Notre Dame's ties to Irish culture are deep and the school maintains a strong connection with the Emerald Isle to this day.

The University of Notre Dame was chartered 175 years ago January 15. (Wikimedia Commons)

Notre Dame was founded by a 28 year-old French priest, Rev. Edward Frederick Sorin, CSC, who along with seven other priests of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, began building the school on November 26, 1842. The intrepid group was given 524 acres by the Bishop of Vincennes to extend the CHC's mission field into remote American outposts. Father Sorin named the school "L’Université de Notre Dame du Lac" in his native French tongue, in honor of "Our Lady of the Lake." The university was officially chartered by the Indiana legislature on January 15, 1844 and it soon became a launchpad for training more Catholic priests who carried on Sorin's work. Notre Dame is home to the first Catholic law school, founded in 1869. By the early 20th century, Notre Dame gained international recognition due in part to the success of its football team, which still stands as one of the most successful athletic programs in the world, with a 73.6% winning percentage, eight Heisman Trophies, and eleven football championships acknowledged by the NCAA.

There are a few prevailing theories as to how the school ended up with an Irish caricature as its official mascot. Broadly speaking, it is commonly believed that the mass influx of Irish Catholic immigrants to the United States in the 19th century played an important role. By the 1920s, Irish Catholics were arriving at Ellis Island by the millions, and they were widely stereotyped for their brutishness, violence, and drunkenness. A young Theodore Roosevelt observed in the 1880s observed "The average Catholic Irishman of the first generation, as represented in the [New York State] Assembly … [is a] low, venal, corrupt, and unintelligent brute.” Regardless of how true or fair these harsh judgments were, there is no doubt the sheer volume of Irish communities proliferating throughout the country had a general effect on the nation's culture as a whole. This was especially true for Notre Dame, a Catholic institution with a swelling Irish population of its own. And as Notre Dame's athletic teams began rising to national prominence in the late teens and early 1920s, Catholic households around the nation eagerly poured over the sports section to read how the school competed. Many of them began adopting the team as their own, never mind if they attended the university or not. In a way, Notre Dame became a source of national and religious identity for those who were otherwise shunned or looked down on by society.

The founder of the University of Notre Dame, Rev. Edward Sorin, CSC, c. 1880s. (Public Domain)

During this time sportswriters began assigning nicknames to teams, mostly as a way to just give them catchy descriptors in their work. However, some of these nicknames caught on with readers and players and were sometimes formally adopted as an official team name. Prior to being given the Fighting Irish moniker, Notre Dame players went through a variety of names including the Terriers, the Catholics, Horrible Hibernians, Gold and Blue, Warriors, the Blue Comets, and Ramblers. In 1909, a sportswriter for the Detroit Free Press actually referred to Notre Dame as the Fighting Irish (the term had been used as a nickname for Irish immigrant soldiers who fought for the Union in the Civil War), however, the name wouldn't see regular use until after 1919, when the school was visited by an Irish freedom fighter named Éamon de Valera in a bid to secure support for his revolutionary causes back home. He had just made a daring escape from Lincoln Prison in England after the failure of the Easter Rebellion, in which many of his compatriots were executed. To avoid recapture and continue to build momentum for the revolution, de Valera was dispatched by the Irish Republican Army to the United States.

De Valera was raised primarily by his grandmother, Elizabeth Coll, and grew up in County Limerick. After primary school, he attended Blackrock College in Dublin where we made a name for himself as a brilliant student, and began teaching mathematics there in 1903. Now in his early twenties, de Valera began to become more involved in Irish nationalist movements, becoming deeply involved in the Gaelic Revival, and eventually joining the Irish Volunteers in November 1913. Created in response to the Ulster Volunteers, a Protestant militia dedicated to upholding the Third Home Rule Act, the Irish Volunteers were a counter-movement that helped organize and carry out armed revolt against the British government. It wasn't long after de Valera joined the Volunteers that World War I broke out, and he soon found himself called up for service. His bravery, coupled with a strong ability to lead propelled him to the rank of commandant of the Third Battalion and adjutant of the Dublin Brigade.

Eamon de Valera, 1918, as an M.P. for East County Clare. (National Library of Ireland / Flickr)

De Valera's visit to Notre Dame electrified the campus. A committee established by the university worked with the local chapter of the Friends of Irish Freedom organization to help welcome him, and University President Rev. James Burns invited him to address the student body, which he did. He also planted a "Tree of Liberty" at the school, but it was supposedly ripped up by a Unionist-leaning student a week later.

His journey proved to be a major success. De Valera brought home $6 million for the IRA, and his visit deeply resonated with Irish-American Catholics who sympathized for their brothers and sisters across the Atlantic. It seemed as if de Valera perfectly embodied the underdog spirit of the Irish and their unbreakable will to fight. De Valera returned to Ireland in December 1920 and went on to establish the Fianna Fáil, the Irish republican party, write Ireland's constitution in 1937, and serve as president of Ireland in two terms from 1959 to 1973.

In spite of the overwhelming support the university gave to de Valera, the Fighting Irish moniker was still met with hesitancy by school officials. The term evoked those age-old stereotypes of the violent, drunken brute trapped in a life of crime, corruption and poverty. But at some point, Notre Dame's president Rev. Matthew Walsh, who was at first opposed to the name, relented and explained his change of heart to a reporter with the New York World in 1927:

The University authorities are in no way averse to the name ‘Fighting Irish’ as applied to our athletic teams… It seems to embody the kind of spirit that we like to see carried into effect by the various organizations that represent us on the athletic field. I sincerely hope that we may always be worthy of the ideals embodied in the term "Fighting Irish."

Since that time, the squat, angry-looking cartoon has evolved from a derogatory stereotype to a badge of honor. In a way, it represents the struggle and determination of the Irish facing religious and political persecution over the decades, and it represents an enduring tradition that is still carried forward by the university today.

Among the university's 50 study abroad programs, the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies stands apart. Through its mission to "bring Ireland to the world," the KNI is responsible for one of the most prolific Irish-American student exchange programs on the planet. It connects students and faculty who share a strong desire to further their spiritual, intellectual, and cultural pursuits in Ireland. Since the late 1990s, the university has sought to deepen the meaningfulness of its Irish-American heritage, and has thus built and maintained close relationships with numerous Irish institutions for decades. These include the National University of Galway, University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, and others. Additionally, Notre Dame represents the largest center for the study of the Irish language outside Dublin.

Since 2004, Notre Dame's Irish headquarters has been at the historic O'Connell House in Merrion Square, Dublin. The building was once home to Daniel O'Connell (1828-1830), a major Irish Catholic political figure who fought for the rights of Catholics to participate in the Westminster Parliament. Often referred to as The Liberator, O'Donnell served as an example for political activists who would come after him, as he was committed to religious tolerance and equal rights for all of those living within the United Kingdom. During his days as a law student, England and France were at war, and when the French invasion fleet entered Bantry Bay in 1797, he gladly joined volunteer units in the military, even though it was primarily viewed as a tool of Irish Catholic oppression. He believed strongly in avoiding violence at all costs, instead putting faith in change through non-violent politics. He stood in opposition to Robert Emmet's Rebellion of 1803, writing "A man who could coolly prepare so much bloodshed, so many murders—and such horrors of every kind has ceased to be an object of compassion."

The University of Notre Dame's Dublin satellite at O'Connell House in Merrion Square. (Robert Linsdell / Flickr)

Aside from its relationships with its numerous sister universities, Notre Dame also maintains satellite locations at the O'Connell House in Dublin and the Kylemore Abbey Global Center in Pollacappul, Connemara, County Galway. The latter is an idyllic castle-turned-abbey built in the 1860s. An active Benedictine monastery, up to 16 students and faculty get to live and work in a faith-based environment for true immersion into Ireland's history and culture. For decades the 80,000 square foot structure served as the home of wealthy London doctor Henry Mitchell and his family from 1867 to 1903. In 1920, Benedictine nuns escaping the horror of World War in Ypres, Belgium, purchased the estate from the Duke and Duchess of Manchester (they purchased it in 1903), who were eager to settle some gambling debts. Today the abbey hosts a variety of lectures, workshops, courses, and public speaking events throughout the academic year and is an important site for both Irish and American scholars.

Observing the rich history of Notre Dame's Irish connections, it is interesting to wonder if Father Sorin ever imagined his school growing to the sheer size and scope it encompasses today. He likely never imagined his school becoming a major source of Irish nationalism, but regardless of what he might have wondered, there is no question he would be proud of his Fighting Irish and the traditions they carry on.