Chronicles of Notre Dame du Lac
Edward Sorin, CSC -- Translated by John M. Toohey, CSC, 1895

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1853

pg 171            People were so harrassed that a change was desired at any 
             price.  Convinced that heaven could not approve of dispositions so 
Talk of a    contrary to the religious spirit, which is essentially a spirit of 
separation   peace and of charity, the Chapters of the Lake and of Bertrand had 
from Mother  given F. Sorin all power on his departure for France, even to 
House        break off from Sainte Croix if he saw no other means of securing 
             peace to the establishment.
                  Arrived at Sainte Croix this Father soon found, in the bundle 
             of letters against him of F. Gouesse, which were placed in his 
             hands; in the long debates of the first council which assembled 
             soon after his arrival; in the refusal of F. Rector to give him 
             any subject from the Mother House, as well as in all that he saw 
             and heard for himself, that he had little to expect for his 
             mission from that quarter.  In a word, the dispositions of Sainte 
             Croix towards the Lake were, in his eyes, very far from friendly.
                  Nevertheless, the fear of going from Charybdis into Scylla by 
             attempting to enlarge his proper sphere and secure the 
             independence of his mission; on the other hand, the daily and 
             general expectation of the approbation of Sainte Croix by the Holy