Chattanooga’s oldest private school celebrates 150 years
Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / Bishop James Mark Beckman of the Diocese of Knoxville leads the Jubilee Mass at Notre Dame High School for the school's 150th anniversary. Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / Bishop James Mark Beckman of the Diocese of Knoxville leads the Jubilee Mass at Notre Dame High School for the school's 150th anniversary.
Notre Dame High School, Chattanooga’s oldest private school, launched its 150th anniversary Jubilee celebration on Tuesday with a Founders’ Day Mass.
Bishop Mark Beckman of the Diocese of Knoxville visited the school for the Mass celebrated in commemoration of the day in 1876 when the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville gained the charter to start a Catholic high school for girls in Chattanooga.
George Valadie, superintendent of the Catholic schools within the Diocese of Knoxville, gave an address to the students, alumni and guests gathered in the Michael and Eleanor Miller Theater ahead of Mass.
“No matter how hard you try, it’s virtually impossible to imagine life in 1876,” Valadie said. “There were no Band-Aids, no paper towels. Cheeseburgers didn’t even exist. None of these things existed in 1876. UTC didn’t exist, Erlanger didn’t exist, neither did Baylor or McCallie, but we did.”
Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / Deacon Hicks Armor holds up the Bible as Bishop James Mark Beckman of the Diocese of Knoxville reads from it during the Jubilee Mass at Notre Dame High School for the school’s 150th anniversary.Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / Bishop James Mark Beckman of the Diocese of Knoxville holds up the blood and body of Christ during the Jubilee Mass at Notre Dame High School for the school’s 150th anniversary.Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / Bishop James Mark Beckman of the Diocese of Knoxville swings the thurible in the thurification during the Jubilee Mass at Notre Dame High School for the school’s 150th anniversary.Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / Deacon Hicks Armor swings the thurible in the thurification during the Jubilee Mass at Notre Dame High School for the school’s 150th anniversary.Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / Bishop James Mark Beckman of the Diocese of Knoxville leads the Jubilee Mass at Notre Dame High School for the school’s 150th anniversary.Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / Bishop James Mark Beckman of the Diocese of Knoxville gives communion to Catholic Chattanoogans following Jubilee Mass at Notre Dame High School for the school’s 150th anniversary.Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / Bishop James Mark Beckman of the Diocese of Knoxville leads the Jubilee Mass at Notre Dame High School for the school’s 150th anniversary.Staff Photo by Seth Carpenter / Knights of Columbus District Marshal Raleigh Cooper holds up his ceremonial sword during the Jubilee Mass at Notre Dame High School for the school’s 150th anniversary.
That last statement elicited hoots and hollers from the crowd of students. Valadie detailed the storied history of the school, including the period of time that the school closed and became an orphanage during the yellow fever epidemic shortly after its creation.
