The Story of the Mountain
Mount Saint Mary's College and Seminary

St. Mary's was the name given by the Catholic Lord Baltimore's colony to the first settlement made in Mary's Land (1633), and at that "humble village," says Bancroft, "religious liberty obtained a home, the only home in the wide world." (History of the U. S., Vol. 1, c. 7-19th ed., Boston, 1862, p. 247, 256, 261). But, as the same historian goes on to say, those who fled from religious persecution to the Land of Sanctuary, " had neither the gratitude to respect the right of the government by which they had been received and fostered, nor magnanimity to continue the toleration, to which alone they were indebted for their residence in the colony." In 1692 Catholics were disfranchised and forbidden public worship, and many of them began to move westward and northward along the northern bank of the Potomac, or into the hospitable territory of William Penn; others struck for the " dark and bloody ground " of Kentucky, and one small band pushed into the interior of their own state until their course was barred by the towering heights of the Blue Ridge at that point known as the Catoctin Spur, to the eastern prominence of which "they gave the name of St. Mary's Mount, and there they rested in a valley of surpassing beauty, watered by the winding Monocacy and its purling mountain tributaries. The leader of the party was William Elder who moved hither about 1728 from St. Mary's County, where his ancestors had been located for three generations. He was the great grand father of William Henry Elder, Archbishop of Cincinnati (+1904) and his six stalwart brothers and their sister Helen.

William Elder seems to have settled first at Zentz's Mills three miles south of the college, and there probably the first Mass in his neighborhood was celebrated by some itinerant missionary. When his first wife died there in 1739, he hollowed her coffin one of those grand old chestnut trees, a few of which grace the landscape, and years later transferred her remains to the burying-ground laid out on his farm near Clairvaux, half a mile from the college. Here he built a more permanent home with a " house-chapel" attached, which stood until 1862, when it fell into ruin and was removed from the face of the earth. The spot in this consecrated ground where the house-altar stood is marked by a simple stone surmounted by a cross and bearing this inscription: "Here was erected by William Elder, Sr. The first altar to the Living God. In what is now known as Mt. St. Mary's Emmitsburg and Mechanicstown congregations. About the year 1745. This stone was erected by his descendants 103 years after his death."

In William Elder's time, and for a century or so after his death (I775), things were quite primitive in Maryland. Cloth was made by local weavers, underwear and house-linen at home. Men wore breech-clouts and deerskin jackets, caps and moccasins. People lived well, but simply, hunting and dressing their meets, making their own bread, corncakes, sorghum, etc., and of course were almost unacquainted with tea and coffee. About the middle of the 18th century the older Americans had to retreat before the Europeans and abandon this lovely valley and the graves of their fathers. Their last campfire, tradition tells us, was on a bluff to the east of the Sisterhood. When they departed, says Helman in his History of Emmitsburg, "they had a blind and sick chief too infirm to go with the tribe. A young buck was deputed to remain to care for him till he died and bury him. After the rest had gone he killed the old man, buried him and followed the trail of his people." We read, however, in Scharfs History that certain Indians in the summer of 1756 made a raid near Emmitsburg, killing Alexander McKeasey and carrying off his son. This was the last ripple of the stormy wave of the French and Indian war which caused much woe west of the Blue Ridge. On the 17th of May, 1757, Samuel Emmitt took out a patent for 2250 acres. Associated with him was another Irishman, grandfather of Francis Scott Key, author of the Star Spangled Banner, whose ancestral home lies in this same Monocacy Valley.

The house chapel at "Elder Station," as it was called, was for a long time rarely visited by a priest, Baltimore itself in 1774 having Mass but once a month. When the Revolution made her enemies feel the need of giving the Church freedom, or made them ashamed of persecuting those who made up a great part of the patriot army and whose religion was the same as that of the nation without whose help the struggle had been vain, things rapidly improved, and John Carroll, a native of Maryland, an ex-Jesuit, a priest of the most extraordinary courage and independence of character to be found in history, one who had actually given active, close and personal help to the "rebels," was appointed by Homo first bishop of the nation he had aided in founding.

Bishop Carroll wrote to Paris for Sulpicians and the very year, I791, that saw them come in the same vessel with Chateaubriand, witnessed the arrival at Norfolk, Virginia, of father John Dubois. They founded St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore; he, with them, was destined to found Mount St. Mary's College. So close have been the relations between the "Gentlemen of Saint Sulpice" and out house that a few notes about their beginnings have a natural place in this work, and if the chronicler at times stops on the road to pick a historic flower here and there, we hope it will be pardoned him, nor weary the reader.

For instance: In 1791, as we read in Bishop Fenwick's new paper The Jesuit, May 17, 1834, the French regiments on their return from the capture of Cornwallis at Yorktown, encamped on a field where the Baltimore Cathedral now stands. Count Dillon was one of their officers, and the courtesy of the French and Irish charmed the Baltimoreans, themselves noted for "manly deeds and gentle words."

In 1785 there were about 25,000 Catholics in New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland, Of these 12,000 Whites in Maryland, 3,000 Negroes; 7,000 Whites in Pennsylvania, few Negroes; 1,500 Whites in New York; 19 priests in Maryland, 5 in Pennsylvania, 1 in New York. These were all the Catholics in the Colonies that Father John Carroll had certain information about.

In 1790, August 31, Father Carroll, being then in London, writes to an English nobleman, Lord Petre, on a subject that a Marylander could claim to treat, but which had hardly begun to be comprehended outside of the new republic:

[We compiled this letter from the original at Baltimore Cathedral.]

I am anxious to lay open to a Nobleman who interests himself so warmly in the cause of Religion, its present state in a country which was once intimately connected with and still retains a great attachment to this. Your Lordship is solicitous to see Catholics emancipated from the cruel bondage under which they have been held here; and no equitable government, I may add, no Government which has risen superior to the mean and despicable prejudices of a narrow and interested education, will support the policy of that bondage, after they know the justice and political advantages of not only a free toleration, but of extending equal rights to the professors of all religions. The daily advantages arising to America from this policy should be a lesson to Britain, which in other instances of law, government, trade, etc., furnishes so many useful instructions to us. I beg your Lordship to excuse the freedom and length of this, which has been extracted from me by the importance of the subject, as well as by its dwelling almost continually on my mind.

The Sulpicians located, where they are still, one mile west of Bishop Carroll's cathedral, and had to trudge half a mile through the woods on their way thither. Their subsequent history will be touched upon in the course of this work. To return to John Dubois. This man was born in Paris, August 24, 1764. In the "History of the Semi-Centennial" appears the address delivered in his honor by Rev. John McCaffrey, D. D., when the college celebrated his obsequies, and that address contains all the points of his biography.

On the 22d of September, 1787, though still under the canonical age, John Dubois was ordained priest. His first appointment was as assistant at St. Sulpice, the vastest parish in Paris. In view of his future connection with Mrs. Seton and her sisterhood, it seems providential that he was also appointed to be one of the chaplains of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, at the institution for orphans and insane patients, the Hospice des Petites Maisons. Busy with his pastoral duties, the years passed over the head of our young priest until the French Revolution broke upon the world. Although many of his friends fled the country, M. Dubois continued his ministry until some circumstance in the performance of duty drew upon him the attention of the wretches in power, and he, too, was forced to fly. He changed his priestly robe for the dress of a lay citizen, and, armed with a passport and a letter from Lafayette, obtained through the family of De Noailles, fled to Havre, thence taking passage for the United States. How much we Catholics of the United States owe to that upheaval in France! Indeed, we might say of Saint Mary's, Baltimore, as well as of our own college, and many another foundation, what Dr. Hudson, C. S. C., says of Notre Dame, "It was a by-product of the French Revolution." Leaving Dr. McCaffrey to tell how the exile fared on this side of the ocean, we shall quote one of his own letters to show the spirit of the man. It is addressed to a Colonel Fitzgerald, of Alexandria, Va.

The first November, 1791.

I have just learned, Sir, that there are at Alexandria several respectable Catholics, among whom I do not fear to count yourself, who are continually deprived of the consolations of their religion. I hold myself subject to the direction of the Bishop of Baltimore, whether I will settle for a while at Richmond. If my ministry would be agreeable in your city, it will be a pleasure and an honor to go there from time to time to exercise its functions; I do not ask any contribution for this; I wish but the consolation of being of use. Only, if it will be necessary for me to go there frequently I will ask that a horse be furnished me upon which I may make the trip. It is to Mr. William Hunter that I am indebted for this good news and for the honor of assuring you of my profound respect. Although a Frenchman I begin to speak several words of your English and I hope to speak it perfectly in time

Dubois, at Capt. Coleman's Richmond.

While the visits of Father Frambach (or it may be, Walton), the priest then stationed at Frederick, Maryland, to his scattered flock on each side of the upper Potomac, partook of the nature of the game of hide-and-seek, though lacking the innocent animus usual to such amusements, Father Dubois was received with marked kindness both in Virginia and in Maryland. He said Mass in the Capitol and Patrick Henry gave him lessons in English. As soon as he was qualified for the work Bishop Carroll transferred him to Frederick, the ex-Jesuit missionary having grown too aged and infirm for the arduous duties. Here the Catholics were more numerous, and in addition he had under his charge the settlements of Emmitsburg and Hagerstown, the wide stretch of Montgomery and Washington Counties, and across the river the towns of Martinsburg and Winchester. For a long time he was, excepting Father Badin in Kentucky, the only priest (south of Prince Galitzin's settlement in Cambria County, Pa.), between Baltimore and St. Louis. The transfer to Frederick was made in 1794. Father Dubois was then just thirty years of age, entering the prime of a robust manhood and eager with the fervor of his young priesthood to be about his Master's work. His labors were immense. Endowed with a constitution of iron, and a resolution equally unyielding, he knew not an idle moment, nor rest, even after fatigues which a strong man might well regard as exhausting. But he had many consolations in his work among the scattered people, finding in most cases a warm response to his efforts.

The fulfillment of the precept to hear Mass on Sundays and holydays was in those days not by any means easy; families were obliged to walk or ride twenty, thirty, and even forty miles to enjoy that happiness, and in cases where the walks and rides were taken fasting, the fact that the room of the private house in which services were held was uncomfortably crowed, may well put us to the blush who, with churches almost next door, take note of wind and weather. Laborious indeed was the life led by Father Dubois from 1794 to 1808. He visited Emmitsburg once a month, celebrating Mass alternately in the village and at the base of the mountain, down at Chinquapin on the Hayland farm, etc., etc. On sweeping into St. Joseph's Valley, as it is now called, upon the railroad which bridges the classic waters of "Indian Tom's" creek, the visitor cannot but be struck by its beauty and by the evidences of high cultivation which greet him from all sides in the farmhouses and their surroundings, as well as the picturesque mills which utilize the watercourses. And it will be difficult for him to realize the condition of things one hundred years ago as, turning from the stately group of buildings which shelters Mother Seton’s daughters and dedicates the broad lowlands to the Foster Father of our Saviour, he sees far off there, among close-circling forest trees, two cross-tipped cupolas, surmounting respectively a white-walled church midway up the mountain and a grey stone building below it, the two consecrating the spot to our Saviour's Mother. [This was written in 1887.]

A highway connects the convent and college now, whereas then the only path through the jungle of undergrowth and dense forests was the trail of the Indian, who yet lingered on his ancient hunting grounds, or of the brute denizens of the leafy coverts. William Elder, of whom we speak, had given his farm near Mt. St. Mary's the name of Pleasant Level, and had, as we intimated, shaped part of his house into an apartment that served as a chapel for his family and his neighbors. The chapel had a false chimney, in order to comply with the statute which forbade any approach to the appearance of a church, and in this room or chapel the neighboring Catholics assembled for Mass as often as the presence of a priest was known, who came from St. Mary's County, from Frederick, and sometimes from Conewago or Path Valley, Pa. This arrangement continued until the present Mountain church was built. As bells were not allowed, a boatman's shell, brought from the Chesapeake, was used to call the people to Mass. It is preserved in the college cabinet and bears date 1734.

The village of Emmitsburg dates back to 1788, but the first dwelling was built two years previously. The first settlers were James Hughes and his wife, Catholics. Father Brute makes a note of a conversation with the latter on the 24th of June, 1821, in which she told him of the early circumstances. The spot was then a complete wood, a part of Carroll Tract, belonging to Charles Carroll of Carrollton. James Hughes cleared some ground and built his log house on the lot where Bartholomew McCaffrey's house still stands on the Square, at the southeast corner. There was no street, no road to Frederick or any other place, a mere wood. "I see yet, as it were," she said, "all the big trees that stood here all around that small house." There is (1900) a log building to the right as one leaves the town of Emmitsburg by the Frederick pike, the last, except the blacksmith's shop and the express office, which is pointed out as the Hughes' house, perhaps removed from its original position and which the present owner, all honor to him, has refused to sell or alter, on account of this tradition.

The church in Emmitsburg was built in 1793-4 on land given by James and Joseph Hughes, an influx of Catholic Irish settlers requiring it. Those who attended the Elder chapel were mostly English, the Livers, Brawners, Brookes, Neales, Ogles, et al., and a part of the Elder farm is now the Clairvaux property, on which is the old graveyard. The white marble cross marking the spot where the altar in the house chapel stood, was erected mainly through the devotion of the Most Rev. Archbishop of Cincinnati, William Henry Elder, a great grandson of the first William, and was authenticated by him on the 19th of November, 1903, in the presence of Dr. Edward McSweeny and John T. Cretin. The Elder house stood for a long time surrounded by a dense forest of oak, chestnut, poplar, ash and pine. The country around was beautiful, but wild as beautiful. The early settlers owning large tracts of land had not attempted to cultivate all, and the forests were extensive and thick. Foxes, bears and wolves abounded and a few Indians, as we have said, lingered upon their ancient hunting-grounds. To eyes accustomed to the highly cultivated surroundings of his own fair France how hopeless must have seemed the task to which the exiled priest had devoted himself! But his heart never faltered; with John Dubois there was no such word as fail.

Tradition, legend, song and story have made this portion of beautiful Maryland very classic ground. Among this "folklore" is one tale to the effect that in one of his pilgrimages of duty, Father Dubois was attracted by a light on the mountain side which he thought was in a settler's cottage. Night was falling; he had had a long tramp and was hungry; he hurried towards it. But it seemed to be the same distance before him. Tired, at last he sat down at the foot of a large tree which grew beside a mountain brook; he let his thoughts wander far afield while his hands were employed in shaping a couple of twigs into a cross. The twilight settling into darkness and the light having disappeared, he presently bestirred himself to find temporary shelter, but before leaving the spot he placed the cross he had made in the crotch of the lowest limb of the tree, fixing it securely so that he would know the exact one. This tree in its decadence was the original " Grotto "the result of his meditation beneath it was Mount Saint Mary's College. Of this story we may say: "Se non vero, é ben trovato," and pass on to reliable history.

Father Dubois' visits to this locality had endeared him to its people, and seeing his attraction towards the place they decided to petition for his permanent settlement among them. Permission being obtained, the two congregations of Emmitsburg and Elder's station, as the house chapel was called, united in 1805 in clearing a spot upon a projecting shoulder of the mountain side half way up between the college and the old church (as these stood in 1908), and erected of the logs then and there cut and hewn a house one story high containing two rooms; this was Father Dubois' first house on the mountain, and stood for many years, being known as Mr. Duhamel's house in later times. When his log-house was completed, Father Dubois assembled his friends on another plateau higher up the mountain commanding a magnificent view to the north, east and south, and informed them that he had chosen that spot for his church. He had been confirmed in his choice during a walk over the ground with Father Flaget, afterwards Bishop, and Mrs. Ignatius Elder. They scrambled up to the spot where the church now stands and the old lady exclaimed: "What a glorious place for a church, on which the blessed cross can be seen for so many miles!"

And here a legend comes in to the effect that a holy priest, passing on a journey in the fore part of the previous century, foretold of the erection on that very place of a church, " which would become famous." Indeed, Arnold Elder's father had said thirty years before: "That's the place for a church," and on October 24, 1793, Alexius Elder had deeded a piece of land in the vicinity for a church, but Dubois preferred the higher site. Of course Father Dubois met with remonstrances as to his choice of a site, but he put them all aside, and this gentleman of France went about among the farmers with a pleasant word and encouraging smile, meeting all opposition with a courage that insured success, and finally with his own hands cutting down the first tree of the clearing and afterwards presiding with courtly grace over the merrymaking of the barbecue. Thomas Jenkins, who lived in Baltimore, was present at this ceremony; and gave Father Brute a graphic account of it. Some fifty or sixty men of the neighborhood were present women and children, white and black, on that 19 day of November, 1805, many Protestants also, among them Mr. Hoover, a Mennonite preacher, conspicuous by his long beard. All worked together. Father Dubois himself took an axe and standing on one side of a tree, with Mr. Jenkins on the other, gave the first blow, and down went the trees on all sides. One fell upon a dog and crushed him. Father Dubois lamented the death of the poor animal, but the owner took it very coolly "I didn't tell him to come" was his indifferent remark; but "love me love my dog" is verified intensely among the mountaineers, and the man must have felt the loss of his hunting companion.

There were few but were eager to have a hand in the work, and one lady in the neighborhood, Mrs. Brawner, gathered her children and slaves, ten or twelve of them armed with baskets, and, leading them to the spot chosen for the church, directed them in gathering the loose stones lying about and carrying them away. It was another Brawner who made the north road up to the mountain, using the large rocks removed, to build the stone causeway just above the dam called Plunket's Folly. His grandson, Dr. J. B. Brawner, is now (1908) the attending physician at the College and Sisterhood. A good old-fashioned barbecue with an ox roasted whole closed the happy day's proceedings and the Catholic Church on the hill was assured. Father Brute in relating the dog episode thinks the clearing took place in 1807, and quotes excellent authority, but it is impossible to get exact dates when newspapers were so rare. The following item, however, is vouched for: The Taneys and Keys lived near the Monocacy not far from the College, and, on January 6, 1806, Father Dubois, their pastor, married Roger Brooke Taney, afterwards Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, to Anna, sister of Francis Scott Key, author of the "Star Spangled Banner," at the lady's residence. The judge and the poet are both buried at Frederick. The Brooke family mentioned in this history claimed kindred with Robert called in English "The Bruce," king of Scotland. They used as a motto "Fuimus," and Bruceville, ten miles from the college, is on their plantation.

The church on the Hill, subsequently enlarged, still stands (1908; its white facade and cross can be seen from every point in the broad valley for twenty miles around. Here each generation, of pupils has worshiped. Differing in country, characteristics and temperament, if not always united in one faith, they have ever been one in love for the old mountain. Here the walls have echoed to words of stirring eloquence, of polished oratory, of earnest, inspired instruction, from lips upon which Death's silencing finger has since been laid, from tongues which still bear the "good tidings unto all peoples," of north and south and east and west. Here, swelling out upon the clear mountain air, have melodious voices given praise to God in music's entrancing strains, with all the fervor of young hearts unsullied by the world. From the terrace in front bright eyes, that are now closed to all earth's charms or are dimmed by the mists of time, have drunk in the beauty of the mountain and valley. The springing footsteps which made so light of the steep ascent are lagging wearily along life's pathway, or have passed through the valley of the shadow into the silent land.

The new church was dedicated August 15, 1806 (or 1807 most probably), and at length the time had come when Father Dubois could carry out the intention which had been in his mind ever since he first stood beneath the shadow of this mountain. With him, as with all priests, after the church, the building in which to worship God with all possible decency and solemnity, comes the school where young hearts are trained to be faithful children of the Spouse of Christ and useful members of society. He had already a school of seven or eight pupils on another farm not far away from "Elder Station," belonging to another of the same family, Mr. Joseph Elder, and adjoining the property long years subsequently the home of Mr. William Miles, the father of the "Poet of the Mountain," George H. Miles, and by the latter called "Hayland."

A ruinous building at Chinquapin is shown there still (1908) in which Mass was long ago said and Father Dubois lived; and a house erected for the school still stands by the roadside. It is occupied by the farm hands of Professor Jourdan, of Pleasant Level. The names of these pioneer students of Mount Saint Mary's are John F. Elder, John Burke, Charles Murphy, John McManus, Henry Byrne, Henry Beelen, Martin Kerney and Emil Morancy. Some of these shared for a time Father Dubois' log house on the hill and others boarded in the neighborhood. But this was most inconvenient, and therefore the reverend gentleman decided upon building a house to shelter them all.

The first land for his school was purchased by Father Dubois on the 9th of April, 1805. He bought slaves also, paying for Clara, Monica and Kitty four hundred dollars; for Joe five hundred, and for a boy of twelve three hundred. It is said that the first intention of the founder was to locate his school at the same altitude as the church, and that he had a space cleared in front of it for the building. In view of Father Dubois' well known practical sense, we are inclined to think that it did not require the suggestion of M. Dubourg, the Superior of the Baltimore Sulpicians, to induce him to regard more favorably the base of the hill, where the wonderful spring gushed so abundantly from the rock, and where he would be sheltered from the north and west winds. For north of the college buildings the mountain stretches eastward and a broad belt of trees encircles them, while to the south the range trends westward, leaving a broad plateau basking in the sun. It is as if a mother gathered her child to her bosom with one arm to protect it from the cold while she drew her drapery aside with the other to permit the warmth and brightness to reach it. On the 24th of September, 1808, a further purchase was made by Father Dubois of sixty-four and three-quarter acres for 75 pounds, and on a lovely day, the sixth of October of that same year, a busy crowd was collected around the spring on the margin of the swampy land which extended to what is now the pike. Some one has said that the Indian summer makes an Eden of our clime; and nowhere is that season more beautiful and poetic than here, where the rich tints of autumn's palette are subdued by the blue haze thrown over all by the mountains.

On that charming day of October, then, the ground was cleared for a log-house, and the spring the Greenbriar Spring, as it was called, we are told by Mr. Abraham Roddy cleaned out, the tangled growth of briers and wild bushes cut away, and the foundations of Mt. St. Mary's College were laid. We cannot do better than give the words of one of the actors in the scene, Thomas Harris, written in 1848: "I was an active young man at the time. My father was a Protestant, my mother a devout member of your church. She would often bring me with her to Mass, and the Reverend (Father Dubois) seemed to take an interest in me. He would come to the house and ask me to do little jobs for him from time to time. Father would never tell me to do them, but would offer no opposition; whenever the Reverend would ask for me, he would leave it to myself, which was all the Reverend required I couldn't refuse. The first logs of your college were taken from an old house on the plantation. I was in Baltimore on the day of the hauling, and when I reached home I learned that the hauling was a failure, the wagon having broken down and the roads being bad. Mother asked me to go and see if I could not mend matters, so next day the Reverend came for me. I took our own team, and with much labor accomplished the task. The next job was hauling logs from near the top of Karrick's Knob. The Reverend announced from the altar that after Mass he would ask some of the congregation to help. Knowing the difficulty of the work, I had no desire to be of the number, so I got away before he had time to get around to the front of the church. Early the next morning, however, he was at the house. Father left me to my own desire in the matter. I looked at mother; she seemed to nod assent, so that fixed it; I had to go. The Reverend then got down from his horse and took breakfast with us, after which we started for the top of the mountain. And, indeed, if I had seen the place before, I would not have gone; besides, when we had got to the top, we found that none of the others had come. There was no backing out; the three colored men and myself set to the work, the Reverend himself, with his coat off, doing his share, and all of us wet through with the rain, so that it was quite a cheerless task. We succeeded in loading the first log, and were on the point of starting with it when the holdings gave way and it rolled down the hillside for a considerable distance, we having barely escaped being crushed. The second was more successful, and so on to the end until the whole number (twenty-two in all) were hauled. The next important work given me to do was the bringing of the sisters from Baltimore; and that would have been a failure, as to time, were it not for those angels themselves.

"It makes humanity shudder within me, when I think of their sufferings yet. In many other ways was I instrumental in the founding of both institutions, but these are the ones I feel to be the greatest acts of my life" This "breakfast" circumstance goes far to explain the influence of the early missionaries. Father Brute' counts the beginning of the Seminary from 1807. He says: "The 28th of April, 3807, is the commencement of Mt. St. Mary's Seminary, by the acquisition of a small estate by M. Dubois who then wished and had wished since 1805, to be admitted into the company of St. Sulpice. He applied again in 1807 and on April 18th of this year it was agreed to admit him. He offered as an inducement this spot where he designed establishing a church and a small house to be used as a retreat for the infirm of the society, in a very salubrious situation.

"But his intention was to build upon a plan which would admit of an enlargement, if it were found desirable, to establish a petit Seminaire, as at Pigeon Hill. The plantation was bought of Arnold Elder in August, 1808. M. Dubourg, S. S. (Bishop afterwards), with M. M. Nagot, S. S. and Flaget, S. S. (afterwards Bishop), were on the spot at the time. The brother and sister of M. Dubois assisted him in the purchase, and the neighbors promised the carriage of the materials for building. M. Dubois was formally received into the Society of St. Sulpice on the 8th of December, 1808, and it was expected that in the coming spring he would set about building a regular seminary." (On April 30, 1906, Father Boyer, S. S., visited the college and confirmed these statements.)

Chapter Index | Chapter 2

Historical Society Note: In honor of the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Grotto of Lourdes we'll be posting at least 2 new chapter every week.