Thousands of members of the tri-campus and South Bend community braved 19-degree weather gathered for Candlemas Mass at an unexpected location: an ice chapel.
At 10 p.m. Monday, the newly-consecrated St. Olaf’s Ice Chapel glowed with candlelight on the University’s North Quad. Altar servers processed an icicle cross and processional candles with stems of ice through a sea of people standing and kneeling in the snow. A conjoined choir, conducted by Kaleb Reil, sang “Lift High the Cross.”
The sacrament of Communion took over 30 minutes, and co-celebrants Fr. Greg Haake and Fr. Pete McCormick ran out of Consecrated Hosts even after dividing wafers into shards. McCormick later announced 1,600 Consecrated Hosts had been distributed, though the actual number was at least 2,000 — 1,500 consecrated at St. Olaf’s and an additional 500 previously Consecrated Hosts from the Saint Albert the Great Chapel in Zahm Hall.
Sophomore James Burke received the very last Consecrated Host, followed by hundreds of students who missed out. Total attendance was unclear but likely numbered around 2,500. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the largest chapel at Notre Dame, seats 800.
“I’m super glad I went,” Burke said. “I was inspired both by the work that had been done building it and the University’s decision to embrace that creativity by holding Mass there tonight.”
Junior John Geitner arrived 40 minutes early, calling it a “once in a lifetime experience.” Before the Mass, some students could even be seen climbing trees for a better view, reminiscent of the biblical Zacchaeus.
The idea originated with seniors Wesley Buonerba and Martin Soros, both residential assistants in Coyle Hall, decided to try their hands at building with snow and ice after seeing the success of another Coyle resident, sophomore Liam Devine, who built an igloo.
Soros is a civil engineering major while Buonerba is an architecture student and a sacristan in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Both are students of theology.
Soros estimates they spent well over 50 hours building the chapel. They began by making bricks by layering snow and water in recycling bins. Then, they used a car hood from Coyle’s signature car smash fundraiser to form arches with the bricks.
“A lot of it has been very experimental,” Soros said, explaining they tried many methods to create the chapel’s colorful stained-glass windows and icicle cross adornments. Students across the tri-campus community joined them nightly to support the building process. They kept their hands warm by alternating latex gloves and waterproof gloves, though Buonerba reported reaching what he called “a state of equilibrium with nature” after a while.
Soros and Buonerba decided to organize a Mass in the chapel as an evangelization opportunity.
Buonerba was inspired after attending Mass in a field during World Youth Day Lisbon 2023, where he said, “It felt like it was you and Christ alone, even though you’re surrounded by one and a half million other young people from around the world.”
“The mission is just to bring people together,” Soros said. “I think a big idea for us too is to bring people to mass who don’t usually go, which for us is super important, you know, reaching out and spreading the love and mercy of Jesus.”
McCormick, director of Campus Ministry and Haake, a priest-in-residence for Coyle Hall, were both invited to celebrate the Mass.
“We checked with the diocesan regulations to make sure everything was appropriate and in keeping with Church guidelines, and there were no issues,” McCormick said. “The Church has a long history of celebrating the sacraments in a wide range of settings, as long as the essential elements are respected.”
Prior to the ice chapel, McCormick once celebrated Mass on the hood of a Jeep in East Africa, which he said was “unforgettable and warmer.”
During the Homily, McCormick said, “After I’ve given this homily espousing the greatness of the faithfulness of Mary, the only fitting conclusion is that we sing “Notre Dame, Our Mother.” The crowd locked arms to sway and sing Notre Dame’s alma mater. The Mass concluded with the song, “O God Beyond all Praising.”
When asked about his feelings about the ice chapel melting as temperatures warm, Buonerba did not think negatively about it.
“Memento mori. This too shall pass, and that's okay,” he said.
But those sad to see the chapel go need not worry. Sophomore Jonah Blay, who assisted Devine in building the igloo’s roof, shared that Coyle is considering adding an ice village commissioner to its hall leadership team.
“The world we’re in right now is becoming really cold, and we’ve experienced that a lot in a very intimate way this past week, on some of these mornings. But I think we should learn to change our focus,” Buonerba said. “You can focus on the biting wind, the piercing cold, the frostbite, the wet hands, or you can focus on what you can do with the snow, what you can do with the water, what you can have fun with in your community, and what you can build out of that coldness and what joy that can bring.”
