1 Francis P. Cassidy, Catholic College Foundations and Development in the United States, 1677-1850 (Washington, D.C.: 1924), pp. 1-53. The other colleges were: Georgetown University, Mount St. Marys College in Maryland, St. Josephs College (closed 1890) and St. Marys College (now a seminary) in Kentucky, Charleston Seminary (closed 1851) in South Carolina, St. Louis University, Spring Hill College in Alabama, and Xavier University in Cincinnati.
2 See the listings of colleges in Tewksbury, op. cit., pp. 31-54.
3 The University of Our Lady of the Lake was founded in Chicago in 1844 and opened in 1846, but it had little success and offered no competition to Notre Dame du Lac. Cassidy, op. cit., pp. 50-51.
4 C. of Prof., 1844-46, entry of August 31, 1844, UNDA. Two of the bishops to whom Sorin wrote early in 1844 concerning the question (among others) of Protestant students, replied advising strongly against the admission of non-Catholics. Cf. Francis P. Kenrick, Bishop of Philadelphia, to Sorin, March 18, 1844, and Richard V. Whelan, Bishop of Richmond, to Sorin, April 2, 1844, both letters in UNDA.
5 Boarders' Ledger No. 2, 1849-1852, UNDA.
6 C. of Prof., 1844-46, September 1, 1844, UNDA. There are no extant copies of replies sent to Notre Dame from other Catholic colleges, although letters of inquiry concerning college curricula were sent out by Notre Dame. See, for example, C. of Prof., 1844-46, entry of March 16, 1844, UNDA, and Samuel Byerley to the Rev. John McCaffrey, President, Mount St. Marys College, Emmitsburg, November 6, 1843, photostat in UNDA.
7 Brother Gatian' s "Journal," 1847-1849, entry of July 4, 1848, PAHC. Hereafter cited: Gatian's Journal.
8 C. of Prof., 1844-46, entry of September 1, 1844, UNDA.
9 Ibid., entry of June 5, 1845, UNDA.
12 Comparison of Boarders' Ledger No. 2, 1849-1852 with the minutes of the C. of Prof. for September 1, 1844, UNDA.
13 C. of Prof., 1844-46, entry of November 2, 1844, UNDA.
14 Ibid., entry of June 5, 1845, UNDA.
15 Boarders' Ledger No. 2, 1849-1852, UNDA.
16 C. of Prof., 1844-46, entry of November 10, 1844, UNDA.
17 Ibid., entries of November 10, 1844, and April 5, 1845.
18 Gatian's Journal, entry of June 24, 1847, PAHC.
19 See the letter of Moses Letourneau to his family in Detroit, Notre Dame du Lac, September 7, 1845, UNDA, and Gatian's Journal, entry of May 21, 1847, PAHC.
20 C. of Prof., 1844-46, UNDA.
21 There was a separate administrative group which was formed to enforce discipline in the college, the "Council of the Prefect of Discipline," but it was superceded in almost every case by the Council of Professors, which carried more authority because of the presence of Father Cointet or of Father Sorin. The Council of the Prefect of Discipline was abolished in 1847, but its brief existence is a proof of the importance with which discipline was view at the time. See the Register of the Council of the Prefect of Discipline, UNDA.
22 Boarders' Ledger No. 2, 1849-1852, UNDA.
23 Father Cointet, "Report on Students, 1844-45," UNDA.
24 Some typical comments on young Louis: "Sits in an unbecoming manner, grins, laughs & plays during class." "Always talkative and turbulent." "Goes out too often during study-time and at the beginning of Mass without permission. Ibid. , entries for December 14, 1844, and January 11, 1845, UNDA.
25 C. of Prof., 1844-46, UNDA.
26 Ibid., entry of March 7, 1845, UNDA.
27 Boarders' Ledger No. 2, 1849-1852, UNDA.
28 The complete Lafontaine accounts are in UNDA.
29 The punishments employed by the Brothers were relatively mild; the student might be required to do school work during his recreation, to kneel in the dining hall for five minutes, to stand during dinner, or to stand at a mark during recreation. The Brothers who were proctors seem to have been often so strongly tempted to administer more stringent punishments that they not infrequently gave into their temptations. Register of the Prefect of Discipline, 1844-47, UNDA.
30 A proctor was a Brother who oversaw some phase of the student's life -- study, recreation, dormitory life, or meals.
31 For an example: "Bro. Gatian, seconded by Mr. Gouesse & supported by the other counsellors [sic], observed that, unless F. Superior took the Boarders' interests more to heart, the University would never prosper; that if the overseer & teachers had been reduced to such extremes of severity, it was chiefly because the overseers' remarks & the prefect's remonstrances had not been attended to, because the pupils had not been timely checked & punished by the higher authorities." C. of Prof., 1844-46, entry of February 21, 1845, UNDA.
33 Ibid., p. 91. Two Brothers had died in 1844, Joachim and Paul; Anselm drowned while swimming in 1845. Cf. Granger, "Obituary of . . . the Province," UNDA.
36 Cointet, "Report on Students, 1844-45," UNDA.
37 C. of Prof., 1844-46, entry of March 8, 1844, UNDA.
38 MS in UNDA. Unfortunately, the custom of making such a report lasted only one year. It was an invaluable insight into the life of the school.
39 Sometime early in 1845 there were seven students in the Latin Course out of a total student body of thirty-one. See the extract from the deliberations of the General Chapter at Notre Dame de Ste. Croix, August 27, 1845, UNDA.
40 Cointet, "Report on Students, 1844-45," UNDA.
41 C. of Prof., 1844-46, entry of June 20, 1845, UNDA.
42 One invitation still exists; handwritten on a formal note sheet: "The Revd E. Sorin presents his respects to Mr. Miller and would be pleased to receive him and his family at Notre Dame du Lac on Friday July 4th at 1/2 past 7 o Clock P.M. to participate in the celebration of the Anniversary of American Independence. July 3rd, 1845." UNDA.
43 Sorin to Moreau, July 6, 1845, as quoted in Catta, op. cit., I, 568.
45 There had been a brief and private ceremony in the summer of 1844. Cf. Timothy Howard, A Brief History of the University of Notre Dame du Lac, Indiana, from 1842 to 1892. Prepared for the Golden Jubilee (Chicago: 1895), p. 58. Hereafter cited: Golden Jubilee.
46 Rev. Edward S. Shea, C.S.C., "French Influences on the Educational Policies of Holy Cross in the United States," Bulletin of the Educational Conference of the Priests of Holy Cross, XXIV (December, 1956, 7-18.
47 C. of Prof., 182+4-46, entries of June 5, 1845, and July 21, 1845, UNDA.
48 Letter of M. R. Keegan of Bertrand, Michigan, August 7, 1845, in the Philadelphia Catholic Herald of August 28, 1845, as quoted in Golden Jubilee.
49 See the collection of Cavalli Letters in UNDA.
50 Letter of M. R. Keegan as quoted in Golden Jubilee, pp. 64-67.
52 Ray Allen Billington, The Protestant Crusade, p. 237.
55 See the Sorin-Badin correspondence in UNDA.
56 "Chronicles," p. 85. This 200 acres was probably the Rush farm which will figure in the later history of the college.
58 The last portion of the extract from the deliberations of the General Council at Notre Dame de Ste. Croix, August 27, 1845 (UNDA) expresses the concern of the Council with the state of finances at Notre Dame du Lac and particularly questions the accounting procedures employed.