Saint Mary’s College Land Acknowledgement

“We wish to acknowledge and honor the Native people and their traditional homelands on which we stand. We particularly recognize the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi and the Miami, who have been utilizing this land and its resources for many years and continue to do so today.

With deep gratitude we acknowledge the Native people and their culture within our community as well as acknowledging the land upon which we gather, pray, learn and work” (“Saint Mary’s”).

The Arrival 

The relationship between the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College spans over 180 years. In order to accurately explain the origins of the union between both institutions, it is beneficial to set a historical foundation for the forces that compelled the Congregation of the Holy Cross to preach in South Bend. Founded in 1836, Blessed Brother Basil Moreau founded the Congregation of the Holy Cross in Le Mans, France (Hahn 19). After obtaining agency and influence as a Catholic missionary throughout France, Father Moreau and his counterpart, Father Sorin, set their sights on evangelizing in the newly pioneered wilderness of the United States, making South Bend, Indiana a prime location. This effort to evangelize was not short of its own problems, as the United States and its citizens were predominantly Protestant. Therefore, the congregation of the Holy Cross  “like their co-religionists elsewhere in the nation…. felt the need to prove their ability to be devout Catholics and good Americans” when they arrived in South Bend in 1843 (Hahn 8). This need to demonstrate that they were upstanding Catholics and Americans was partly spurred on by the fact that they were  “under suspicion and that there was great concern about what it was they were doing, as they attempted to create a Catholic college” (Hahn 8).  Thus, the Brothers and Sisters of the Holy Cross had to ensure that their actions were beyond reproach in order to secure the future of both their congregation and their new college.

In his efforts to recruit more lay people to operate the mission and teach at newly-founded boarding schools, Father Sorin commissioned four sisters of the Holy Cross, sparking what would be known as the union between Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College. On June 6, 1843, these sisters arrived at a second Holy Cross mission in Bertrand, Michigan and “immediately began the domestic work, which included overseeing the sacristy, the infirmary, the laundry, and the dairy. In addition they took on many other menial tasks that might be needed and also did some teaching to area children” (Hahn 29 and Sister Mary Immaculate 8-9). As time passed the Sister’s roles continued to expand and evolve with the role of teaching becoming increasingly important until eventually Saint Mary’s College was born. 

Establishing Saint Mary’s College 

In April 1855, Father Sorin acquired 275 acres across the road from Notre Dame and this land would become Saint Mary’s College (Sister Mary Immaculate 25). At the time of this purchase, the 275 acres cost $8,000 though Father Sorin was only required to pay $1,000 upfront (Sister Mary Immaculate 25). Four months after Father Sorin made the initial purchase of the Saint Mary’s College land, Mother Angela’s mother and stepfather, the Phelans, donated a gift of $90,000, including the Phelans’s existing property, with the stipulation that Father Sorin pay off the remaining mortgage on their property which was less than a third of the property’s value (Sister Mary Immaculate 25). Additionally, the Phelans required that they be allowed to stay on Saint Mary’s property rent-free (Sister Mary Immaculate 25). While it may be assumed that the Phelans’s gift be used toward the development of Saint Mary’s College, as that is where the Phelans and Mother Angela were to live and work, this was not the case, as Father Sorin instead added the funds provided by the Phelan family to the Notre Dame coffers (Sister Mary Immaculate 26). In addition to not giving any of the Phelan family gifts to Saint Mary’s or the Sisters of the Holy Cross, Father Sorin later charged the Sisters of the Holy Cross for Saint Mary’s property. On October 24, 1862, after having completed payments on the original $8,000 cost of the Saint Mary’s land, Father Sorin “filed a mortgage for $16,968.25 to be paid by the sister in five annual installments at 6%” interest” (Sister Mary Immaculate 25). Thus, through the formation of Saint Mary’s College, Father Sorin profited from the $90,000 gifted by the Phelan family and the $8,968.25 + interest that he charged the Sisters of The Holy Cross. All in all, it is clear by looking at what the Sisters of the Holy Cross were made to pay and what Sorin made in profit that the land Saint Mary’s is on was not gifted by Notre Dame, but rather purchased by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.

While Father Sorin undoubtedly benefited the most financially in the founding of Saint Mary’s College, the Sisters of the Holy Cross were eventually able to separate their finances from those of the University of Notre Dame and receive some of the money due to them. This financial freedom came in August 1892 when a Rome mandate requiring “a separation in government, spiritual and temporal matters'' lead to the priests of Notre Dame to vote and declare that “the dowries furnished by the sister and now in the treasury of Notre Dame shall be given entree to the admiration of Saint Mary’s within ninety days”(Sister Mary Immaculate 41).