Submitted by: Dan Rich

Rev. Louis J. Thornton CSC

Nov. 26, 1905 – Aug. 5, 1983

South Bend Tribune 8/5/1983

Rev. Louis J. Thornton CSC, 77, a longtime University of Notre Dame official died today. A resident of Holy Cross House, Notre Dame, he died at 7 a.m. after a brief illness. He served as registrar at Notre Dame from 1945 to 1957, and was then named director of Placement Bureau at Notre where he served until 1962. He was chaplain of the Student Health Center at Notre Dame from 1982 to 1983 and had moved into Holy Cross House shortly before his death. Born on Nov. 26, 1905 in Birmingham, Ala.. he attended St. Paul’s School there and St. Bernard’s College in Cullman, Ala. A 1929 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, he was employed by the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company in New York City before entering St. Joseph Novitiate in Rolling Prairie in 1939.

His made his first professional vows in the Congregation of Holy Cross on Aug. 16, 1940, and after theological studies at Holy Cross College in Washington DC, he was ordained to the priesthood on June 24, 1944 at Sacred Heart Church, Notre Dame. Following ordination in 1944 he served as secretary to the late John Cardinal O’Hara CSC in the Military Ordinariate in New York City. He served at Sacred Heart Parish in New Orleans before being appointed Notre Dame registrar. Surviving are a sister, Patricia Thornton Fenn of Lakeland, Fla., and a brother William of Birmingham.

South Bend Tribune 8/6/1983 (Excerpts)

Services for Rev. Louis J. Thornton CSC, 77, of Holy Cross House, who died there Friday morning will be at 10 a.m. Monday in Sacred Heart Church, Notre Dame. Rev. John L. Reedy CSC, will officiate and burial will be in the Community Cemetery, Notre Dame. Friends may call after 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Moreau Seminary Chapel, Notre Dame, where a wake service will be at 7:30 p.m.