The University of Notre Dame and the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris may share nothing more than French roots and a name, but the northern Indiana university is showing its support by donating $100,000 to aid in the rebuilding of the historic house of worship.

“We are deeply saddened to see the damage to the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, a church whose exquisite Gothic architecture has for centuries raised hearts and minds to God," University of Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins said in a statement. "We join in prayer with the faithful of the cathedral and all of France as they begin the work of rebuilding."

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Jenkins said he was reminded of the words of the university's founder, Holy Cross Father Edward Sorin, a French immigrant, after a fire destroyed the university's campus in 1879:

"Tomorrow we will begin again and build it bigger, and when it is built, we will put a gold dome on top with a golden statue of the Mother of God so that everyone who comes this way will know to whom we owe whatever great future this place has," Jenkins quoted Sorin.

According to a news release, the $100,000 donation is being made at the direction Father Jenkins. In addition, the bells of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the Notre Dame campus will toll 50 times at 6 p.m. Tuesday to mark the start of the rebuilding process for the cathedral.

As the more than 850-year-old Notre Dame Cathedral burned in Paris Monday, university officials had to field a number of calls from members of the media looking for a story.

Not because they thought the home of the Fighting Irish was burning. But because they thought that the University of Notre Dame and the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris shared a direct connection.

"So we clarified that, and no, there isn't really any direct connection," explained Dennis Brown, assistant vice president for news and media relations at University of Notre Dame. "Our founder, Father Edward Sorin, was a French priest who came to Indiana in the early 1840s and founded Notre Dame in 1842, and named it in his native tongue, which was formally l'Université de Notre Dame du Lac. University of Our Lady of the Lake.

"So there was some, I think, natural thought that there might have been some direct connection."

The university also took to Twitter to issue a clarification as the news broke and the term "Notre Dame" began trending to state that the campus was not in any danger, and that the campus community was praying for those in Paris.

Brown said university officials did not hear from any concerned students, parents of alums during the fire.

On Tuesday, firefighters in Paris declared victory and reported that the fire was officially out at the cathedral.

The Paris Fire Service announced on Twitter that firefighters "came to grips with" the blaze at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, more than 12 hours after nearly 400 firefighters had battled the blaze. Two policemen and one firefighter had been slightly injured, according to the fire service.

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Paris firefighters spokesman Gabriel Plus said "the entire fire is out" and that emergency personnel were "surveying the movement of the structures and extinguishing smoldering residues."

The cathedral's twin bell towers were visibly intact. The 18th century organ that boasts 8,000 pipes also appeared to have survived, along with other treasures inside the structure, officials said.

Notre Dame, the most famous of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages, was built over a nearly 200-year span beginning in 1163 under King Louis VII. It has survived the French Revolution, World World I and the Nazi occupation of France during World War II.

USA Today contributed to this story. Call IndyStar reporter Justin L. Mack at 317-444-6138. Follow him on Twitter: @justinlmack.