ISLAND, ST. MARY'S
" . . . on the little mound between the two lakelets, which was once upon a time a real island" SILVER JUBILEE, p.23 (Footnote: It has always been known familiarly as "The Island"; and in the Annals of Notre Dame is named St. Mary's in honor of the Blessed Virgin.
"Father Sorin selected a charming little island in the larger lake as the site of 2 novitiates -- one for the priests he hoped to train for the new misison, and the other for the Brothers. A beautiful site was also chosen, on the banks of the Lake, for the future College.
"Then he spent the winter in collecting the scattered Catholics of the neighborhood into a regular congregation, in forming his novitiate of the Brothers, and attending the temporal wants of the colony" LIFE OF COINTET, p. 32 (See "Novitiate proposed for Cincinnati, 1845)
STATUE FOR ISLAND --"Letters which have come since the snow melted announce that the beautiful statue of the Blessed Virgin which the zeal of the boarders of Ste. Croix and several other charitble persons have made possible, will be erected on St. Mary's Island. Here they plan to cultivate grapes for altar wine. Around the island will be the Way of the Cross.
"Already foundations for a brick building, on the plan of that of Ste. Croix, for a boarding school, have been made. The school will have a large enrollment, judging by the number fo requests for admission. To run this house, already composed of 14 Brothers, all ofthis country except the six sent from france in 1841. Three other ecclesiastics, with a Brother and 5 Sisters left France in June and September, 1844".
(Provincial) "We may never meet again, but it is doubtful, nevertheless, my thoughts are ontinually concentrated on that sweet isle between those two silvery lakes, where I spent so many happy days which I will never see again -- an Ex 1858
"Two lakes separated by a stretch of low ground in the middle of a small gravel island rising to a level with the uplands surrounding the Lakes. In the past the lowland was coverd with water and there was but one lake with the island in the middle." Howard, 18-19
"Sorin mentions having talked with the Bishop of Detroit 'on the causeway between the two lakes'"-- lately. April 10, 1854