Altars The basilica has three altars. The first is a high altar in Gothic Revival style, a graceful object in bronze built in shops of Froc-Robert in
Paris for the
Centennial Exposition in
Philadelphia, during which it won a design award. The ceilings are filled with a starry sky with angels, while the walls and transept are decorated with figures of saints. Each of the 12 bays of the vaulted veilinceuling is decorated with an angel, for a total of 96 painted angels. Gregori also painted the stations of the Cross that decorate the walls of the main nave. The neogothic style of the frescoes is similar to that of
Santa Maria sopra Minerva, which was done by Bernardino Riccardi,
Pietro Gagliardi, Tommaso Greggia, and
Raffaele Casnedi in the mid-1800s. This style was inspired by Italian gothic decorations, such as the
Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi or the
Scrovegni Chapel. The saints depicted on the left side of the nave:
Apollonia,
Anthony,
Bernard of Clairvaux,
Dominic,
Francis,
Stanislaus Kostka,
Aloysius Gonzaga,
Rose of Lima,
Agnes. On the right side of the nave:
John the Baptist,
John the Evangelist,
Mary Magdalene,
Saint Alexius,
Benedict Joseph Labre,
Thomas Aquinas,
Saint Jerome,
Saint Lucy,
Saint Cecilia. On the left side of the choir the paintings of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus,
Gregory the Great,
Ignatius of Loyola and on the right side of the choir:
Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Augustine of Hippo,
Benedict of Nursia. At the crossing, the ceiling is gold instead of blue, marking the sanctuary of the church, and is adorned with the figures of the four evangelists and Old testament prophets:
Isaiah holding a scroll,
David with a
harp,
Jeremiah with a scroll, and
Moses with the tablet of the law, plus the evangelists Matthew (angel), John (eagle), Luke (ox), and Mark (lion) from the New Testament. The frescoes in the transept episodes of the life of Mary, such as the
Nativity of Mary,
Presentation of Mary, the
Annunciation,
Marriage of the Virgin, the
Visitation,
Nativity of Jesus, Mary
Queen of Heaven. At the end of apse, on the left wall, there is a mural depicting apparition of
Our Lady of Lourdes to
Saint Bernadette in 1858 and on the right one a mural depicting the death of
Saint Joseph. In the Lady Chapel, Gregori painted the luminous exaltation of the Cross, where the True Cross is exalted under the motto,
Spes Unica. At the center of the fresco is the cross, supported by angels. A holy host carrying the instruments of Christ's passion surrounds the cross. Saints and prophets are arranged all around:
St. Patrick is depicted behind St. Mark, holding a clover, and was added by Gregori after requests from the student body to honor its Irish heritage. In the foreground there are the figures of
Saint Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor
Constantine, and
Saint Macarius, the bishop of
Jerusalem, who are said to have found the Cross in 325 AD.
Windows The 116 stained glass windows consist of more than 1,200 individual panels and were designed and made by the Carmel du Mans Glassworks, owned first the
Carmelite nuns in
Le Mans,
France and then by Eugène Hucher and associates. The 44 large windows depict 114 life-size scenes and 106 smaller scenes. They were installed beginning in 1873, over a period of 15 years. The subjects of the windows were carefully chosen by Fr. Sorin with a pedagogic purpose, and the choice and positioning of the depicted figures is intentional and highly symbolic. Following Northern French custom, windows are read left to right, first the lower panel and then the upper. The windows in the Lady Chapel depict stories for Christ's Life and each side chapel has its own theme that is depicted in its windows. The East and West transepts feature two large windows: the eastern window depicts the
Pentecost, and its positioned towards the rising sun to symbolize rebirth, while the western transept depict the
Dormition of Mary, and it is positioned towards the setting sun to symbolize the end of earthly life.), and the translation of Saint Eutropius's Relics in 1843. A bronze copy of it is held at the
Vatican Museums and a gesso copy to the
Ivan Meštrović Gallery in Split. The windows of the chapel depict stories of the Holy Family and the Nativity, with stories centered around Saint Joseph taken from
apocrypha. They depict:the Selection of Joseph as Mary's husband (from the
Protoevangelium of James), the
wedding of Joseph and Mary, the
presentation of Jesus at the temple, Joseph Is warned by an angel to flee to Egypt, the
Flight into Egypt, and the Death of Joseph. In late 2006, Campus Ministry formed a committee to consider replacement of the basilica organ, headed by Dr. Gail Walton, the basilica's director of music since 1988. The committee performed a nationwide search, and in December 2006 it traveled to Columbus, Ohio, for the dedication of the new
Paul Fritts organ in
Saint Joseph Cathedral and decided to commission the new organ to Fritts, which became Fritt's second commission from Notre Dame. Previously, Paul Fritts and Company Organ Builders of Tacoma, Washington, had finished a 35-stop organ, also an O’Malley gift, designed in the northern German tradition, for the Reyes Organ and Choral Hall of the new DeBartolo Performing Arts Center in 2004. The
Great Recession halted the project by taking a hit on the university endowment and benefactions, and the idea of replacing the basilica organ was tabled indefinitely. The project was further dealt a blow by the death of its foremost champion Gail Walton in February 2010. Yet, in the fall of 2010, the university approved a plan to commission a new organ for the basilica and started the search for a donor. As decided previously, organ maker Paul Fritts was commissioned for the project, and initial design work began in 2012 with work on the case in
Tacoma beginning in 2013. The project called for a four-manual instrument with 70 stops, 5,164 pipes and a case inspired by Dutch masterpieces, and it was to become Fritts’
magnum opus. The basilica closed in Christmas 2013 for the first phase of the organ project, which included a 44-day replacement of the church carpeting with 25,000 slate-colored porcelain tiles to improve acoustics. Meanwhile, a third Fritts commission, sponsored by Denis ’67 and Susan McCusker, saw a studio organ designed in 2014 for the Walton Choir Rehearsal Hall in Coleman-Morse Center. On 28 December 2015 the Holtkamp organs played its last song,
Silent Night, before its dismantling started the next morning. The organ pipes were donated to the reconstruction of a local parish, Saint Pius X in Granger, Indiana. In October 2015, Fritts loaned the church a temporary organ once the Holtkamp was removed. Work commenced on reinforcing the
choir loft's concrete and adding steel support structures to the foundation. During the installation of the new organ, the basilica choirs sang next to the interim organ in the west transept. Bishop Daniel Jenky returned to campus to dedicate the instrument on 20 January 2017 which featured a recital by university professor and organist Craig Cramer.
Basilica museums The basilica's museum, located behind the sacristy, displays artifacts from the history of the university and the Congregation of Holy Cross. Many items belonged to Fr. Edward Sorin, founder of the university. Items on display also include liturgical vessels and chalices, personal effects of Luigi Gregori, a cassock that belonged to
Pope Paul VI, chalices and cassock of
Pope Pius IX, and a six-foot- high
processional cross presented to Notre Dame by
Napoleon III and
Empress Eugenie. Of particular significance, a
papal tiara from the 1850s donated to Edward Sorin by Pope Pius IX. It is only one of two in existence outside the Vatican, and of these two the only traditional one, the other being the modernist
tiara of Paul VI. The basement holds the Bishop's Museum, which contains pontificalia of various American bishops, dating from the 19th century. It hosts ornate and embroidered
vestments,
mitres, shoes, caps, sandals, sashes, gloves, Cardinals’
galeros, chalices, vestments embroidered by the daughter of the Empress of Austria. These include Rev. Alexis Granger's sick-call satchel, containing oils to
anoint the sick;
crosier and
pectoral cross of the Reverend John Carroll (first Catholic bishop of the United States); a gold screen from the sanctuary of
Santa Brigida through which
St. Bridget of Sweden used to hear Mass;
mitre of bishop
Michael Francis Egan (first bishop of Philadelphia); crosier, mitre, and rabbi used by cardinal
John McCloskey, first bishop of Albany;
maniple from 1840 of the first bishop of California,
Francisco García Diego y Moreno; cassock and books written by and about Archbishop Marcos G. McGrath, CSC. ==Liturgies==