Notre Dame's Grotto / by Dorothy V. Corson
The Ave Maria
After the Civil War was over in 1865, Father Sorin, ever open to new ways to honor our Lady, decided to establish a printing shop so that a devotional periodical could be printed. He appealed to Alfred Talley, a printer from Chicago, to help him establish it.
On the 1st of May, [Mary's month] 1865, in collaboration with the Sisters of the Holy Cross, Sorin launched the national magazine to promote devotion to our Lady. He called it, Ave Maria, which means "Hail, Mary," and referred to it as "Our Blessed Virgin's Journal."
Volume One, Number One of Ave Maria was printed and circulated with the aid of the Sisters. Under Mother Ascension's direction, they set type, read proof, folded and sewed by hand the Ave Maria (and later the Notre Dame Scholastic ) (18) Talley conducted the publication of the first volume from his home on Juniper Road. It was printed by hand press. By the time Volume Two went to press Notre Dame had purchased a steam power press. The Ave Maria magazine, which was published until 1970, carried regular notices of numerous cures both physical and spiritual through a regular column under the title of The Association of Our Lady of Sacred Heart, a devotion promoted for years by the Holy Cross fathers through the Ave Maria. The Ave Maria Press has been in continuous operation ever since. In 1962-63, they began publishing books and other devotional materials.
Alfred Talley continued as foreman of the Ave Maria office until his health failed. He resided at the Juniper Road farm until his death in 1870. The handsome house he built within a mile of Notre Dame is still there. It was awarded landmark status in 1975. Boulders from the land on which it was built were later used in the building of the 1896 Grotto.