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

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1855

pg 245       their use by the administration, and the year 1854 beheld another 
             twice as large going up for the orphans.
                  In 1851 the Sisters of Holy Cross added their work in the 
             asylum a new establishment for young girls without means of 
             subsistence who were old enough to learn a trade.  It was called 
             l'Ouvroir Ste. Marie, and it caught the approbation of the public.
             But amidst the dissensions that continued to agitate the Society 
             until 1856, little could be done towards its development, and up 
             to that time it continued to be rather an excellent project 
             awaiting its execution, than a real creation.  There were never 
             more than forty children, usually only twenty-five or thirty.
                  From the beginning of 1852 the dream was entertained of 
             opening a novitiate for the Sisters in the city and another at the 
             asylum for the Brothers.  To make the success more assured, 
             petitions were sent over and over again to Ste. Croix, until the 
             erection of this establishment into a Province had been secured, 
             and the letters patent reached the asylum on the very day of F. 
             Guesdon's death.