Gillespie, C.S.C., Sister Angela and others, St. Mary's,, Notre Dame, Indiana, to Archbishop John Baptist Purcell of, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1863 January

Cardinal Alexander Barnabo wrote Bishop John H. Luers that the Holy See demanded a separation of the temporals of the Congregation of Holy Cross. The request was made under the impression that Father Edward Sorin, C.S.C. opposed such a separation. The Sisters deny emphatically that Sorin placed obstacles in the way. Sorin's administration is the only one in the entire Congregation of Holy Cross that ever gave the Sisters anything like a proportional share of the temporals. There was an amount of common debt that had been contracted in Sorin's name and it was deemed prudent to leave his administration the control of the bulk of the common property. It was subjects from France who complained to the Superior General that Sorin deprived them of their just rights. The Sisters testify that they gained more under Sorin's direction that they could have if left to their own resources. Sorin brought them to America to do the domestic work of the college, but from the first he desired them to develop their sphere. In the first years, they received no subjects except poor girls of the working class. Now, however the community has a different position. It is at the Mother House in France that the sisters have been deprived of their share of the temporals, being given only the right of possession of a house attached to the College of Holy Cross. They, in America, earnestly desire that Sorin be confirmed as their Ecclesiastical Superior. The Cardinal's letter further states that in the future the Sisters will be under the direction of the Ordinaries. They petition the Holy See through Purcell that all the branches be under the direction of St. Mary's as their motherhouse. If their was no connecting link among the various houses, the society would soon die. The vast majority of the Sisters wish to remain under the one government. There is a certain amount of common debts which cannot be left to the management of half-formed subjects in separate houses. Unless some principal house was recognized, the position of their sisters who are engaged in military hospitals would be very unpleasant. The Archbishop of Baltimore, Francis Patrick Kenrick and Bishop Luers agree that the Sisters must be under one government. This would end the unhappy state of affairs. :: II-5-b A.L.S. 15pp. 12mo.