Notre Dame to receive Bible of pioneer priest

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The University of Notre Dame has acquired a Bible once owned by the first Roman Catholic priest ordained in the United States who built a log chapel on land that is now the school's campus.

A delegation from the Sisters of Loretto of Nerinx, Kentucky, is scheduled to be on campus Monday to deliver the Bible of the Rev. Stephen Badin. Notre Dame's founder, the Rev. Edward Sorin, began building the university 172 years ago on land where Badin built the Log Chapel for his mission headquarters.

The chapel burned down in 1858, but a replica still stands on campus.

The Badin Bible is a three-volume edition published in 1790 and given to Badin at his ordination in 1793, by Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore, the nation's first Catholic bishop.