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

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1859

pg 361            But it is time to speak of Chicago, since the entire was 
             occupied with this establishment.  It is a whole history in 
             itself.

                               The Congregation Leaves Chicago

                                Home sic, Deus aliter cogitat

                  To understand fully this withdrawal, it is almost 
             indispensable to go back and briefly to retrace the history of the 
             foundation in Chicago during the three years of its existence.  In 
             the year 1851 Mgr. Van de Velde, S.J., then Bishop of Chicago, the 
             protector and devoted friend of the Congregation of Holy Cross in 
             the United States, invited the society to his diocese, and as an 
             inducement he purchased a magnificent piece of ground near the 
             city of Chicago, which he offered to the Brothers; the following 
             year he offered F. Sorin his St. Mary's University, on the sole 
             condition of doing there all the good he could.  The lack of 
             subjects caused the executing of the project to be delayed.
                  Like his illustrious predecessor, Mgr. O'Regan visited Notre