an institution in Worcester, and they sent Thomas F. Mulledy to prepare a report regarding Fenwick's proposal. Mulledy's favorable report secured the Society's approval in August 1843.
Relations with Boston's civic leaders worsened such that, when a Jesuit faculty was finally secured in 1843, Fenwick decided to leave the Boston school and instead opened the College of the Holy Cross 45 miles (72 km) west of the city in central Massachusetts, where he felt the Jesuits could operate with greater autonomy. The bishop's letters record his enthusiasm for the project as well as for its location:
Next May I shall lay the foundation of a splendid College in Worcester ... It is calculated to contain 100 boys and I shall take them for $125 per an. & supply them with everything but clothes. Will not this be a bold undertaking? Nevertheless I will try it. It will stand on a beautiful eminence & will command the view of the whole town of Worcester.
The site of the college, Mount Saint James, was originally occupied by a …
