Page 177 - March On! God will Provide by Brother Aubert

156 BROOKLYN AND BOSTON
assigned to the Holy Trinity Parish, probably from visit-
ing with the Sisters of Notre Dame of Namur who had
pioneered in Cincinnati.
Boston, Massachusetts, a capital city and a thriving
seaport, had in recent years developed into the manufac-
turing center of the United States. Immigration had
sent its population soaring. As the nearest port to
Europe and hence the easiest to reach-with the Cunard
Steamship Line providing regular service since 1840-
Boston had more than a hundred thousand people.
Conspicuous among the newly-arrived were the Irish,
famine refugees, herded together by choice in the North
End of Boston along the waterfront. Living conditions
among them were appalling as these poor people
made-do any sort of habitation, cellar or garret, often
a family to a room.
ln 1847, Bishop Fitzpatrick had invited the
Jesuits
to take charge of St. Mary's parish in the North End
and he had asked that, if it were humanly possible,
Father John McElroy should be the first Rector. His
wish was granted, and Irish-born Father McElroy came
on to Boston. He r,vas among the best known priests
in the United States, one of the rwo Catholic chaplains
approved by President Polk to serve with .the troops in
the Mexican War. Bishop Flaget had been very anxious
to have him named his auxiliary in Bardstown.
In bringing the Jesuits to Boston, Bishop Fitzpatrick
hoped that they would start a school for boys and gradu-
ally develop it into a college. Father McElroy approved
the idea wholeheartedly, but the Society of could
Jesus
not provide the personnel.
Biding the da, when the Society could staff a school
in Boston, the Rector tried to secure a suitable site only
to be blocked by the anti-Catholic opposition. Ir was
a humiliating situation and also a very dangerous one,