Reliquary Chapel

In a tucked-away corner of Notre Dame, Indiana, a collection of sacred objects dating back thousands of years embodies the rich history and lineage of the Christian faith. A side chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart has been renovated to ennoble one of America’s largest collections of Catholic relics, paying homage to the saints of old and inspiring students and visitors alike in their prayer. Over the last 150 years, the University of Notre Dame and founder Father Edward Sorin, CSC have collected over 1,400 relics, which are fragments of holy objects or saints’ bodies. The architect was tasked with re-designing an existing side chapel to display these sacred objects in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, a deeply historic symbol of faith at the best-known Catholic university in America. The architect designed ten custom-carved African mahogany display cases arranged to bring symmetry to the irregular space. Each case features an upper cabinet with a pointed arch framed by Corinthian colonnettes and a lower cabinet with a quatrefoil opening and inverted tapered pilasters. The Palladian-inspired mouldings, capitals, and bases were carefully scribed to fit tightly to the existing walls and wood wainscot. The Gothic colonnettes are a conscious connection to the basilica’s namesake, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, with capitals inspired by Viollet-le-Duc’s drawings at the triforium level of the choir. In the center of the chapel, a tempietto tower houses relics of the twelve apostles, each in a custom bronze ostensorium designed by the architect with a gold-leaf inscription above. Below, a large opening displays a relic of the True Cross or a saint of special significance, for instance on their feast day. At the base of the shrine, a screened sepulchre houses an effigy of Saint Severa, an early Christian martyr whose relics are contained below. By placing carved wooden kneelers in front of the side shrines and central tempietto for the faithful to kneel in devotion, the new reliquary chapel combines museum-grade design features with prayerful reverence. The relics displayed in each case are set against a background of red velvet and illuminated with concealed light sources. A detailed plaster restoration was applied to the walls and ceiling, and a new decorative paint pattern stenciled on the walls features fleur-de-lis, a stylized lily symbolizing sainthood and the French origins of the University. The