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Founding period, 1830–1843
The College of the Holy Cross was established on June 18, 1843, as the first Catholic college, and the first Jesuit college, in New England. The college's founder, Boston bishop Benedict Joseph Fenwick, laid its first cornerstone on June 21, 1843, with twelve priests, "a large concourse of the citizens of Boston and several distinguished strangers," and parishioners from the Diocese of Worcester in attendance. Fenwick gave the college the name of his cathedral church in Boston's South End, the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, and modeled it after the English division of the Colleges of St Omer, Bruges and Liège, founded in 1593 as an seminary for Catholic youth in the Society of Jesus wanting "to escape heretical education in England." On the day of the cornerstone ceremony, Fenwick delivered an opening prayer in Latin:In the faith of Jesus Christ we lay this first stone on this foundation in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, that true faith may flourish here,
and the fear of God, and fraternal affection; and may this place be devoted to invoking and praising the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, forever and ever.Holy Cross was founded partially as a response to growing nativist sentiment against Catholic immigrants to Boston which had culminated in the Ursuline Convent riots, in which a convent of Ursuline nuns was burned down by an anti-Catholic mob. By 1830, the founding of a college and seminary became Fenwick's highest priority to satisfy the need for an educational institution to serve Catholic immigrant youth. A new influx of immigrants after 1830, consisting mostly of Catholic Irish Americans, intensified the need for a Jesuit educational institution. In April of 1831, Fenwick purchased property adjacent to his Boston cathedral for "a College in miniature" and, in 1833, said that he intended to open a college the following year, though local Jesuits refused to sponsor the school in 1835, after which Fenwick considered moving the college to Benedicta, Maine, but later abandoned the idea.
In the fall of 1842, Fenwick chose Worcester, Massachusetts, as the ideal location. The site Fenwick desired, Mount Saint James, was originally occupied by a Catholic boarding school run by Fr. James Fitton, so he purchased the school and 22 acres of land adjacent to the site. In October 1842, he wrote to his brother, George Fenwick: Next May I shall lay the foundation of a splendid College in Worcester. I have bought 50 acres of land for that purpose. It is to be modelled after your new college [building] in Geo-Town, but prodigiously improved.... Will not this be a bold undertaking? Nevertheless I will try it.In March of 1843, Fenwick petitioned the Society of Jesus for their approval in establishing an institution in Worcester, and they sent Fr. Thomas F. Mulledy to prepare a report regarding Fenwick's proposal. Mulledy's favorable report secured the Society's approval, which finally arrived in August of that year. With construction already having begun, Holy Cross became the third college sponsored by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus, after Georgetown College and the St. John's Literary Institution.
Beginnings, 1843–1900
Holy Cross opened enrollment on November 1, 1843, with Mulledy, who formerly served as president of Georgetown University, as the college's first rector and president. By January 1844, the college consisted of eighteen students, four priests, three lay teachers, three Jesuit brothers, two Jesuit candidates, and five lay employees, with enrollment increasing to 26 at the end of the first academic year. The college's main building, later named Fenwick Hall, was completed on January 13, 1844. An early financial crisis was averted when the Boston philanthropist Andrew Carney provided the college's first major donation of $1,000 (equivalent to $34,553 in 2025) in the hopes of promoting "pure and undefiled religion."
By the spring of 1846, enrollment reached 94 students. Because the college had yet to be granted a charter from the state, Fenwick signed the property of the college to the Presidents and Directors of Georgetown on August 6, 1846. The signing was his last public act; Fenwick died the next day on August 7 and was buried in Holy Cross' cemetery.
In 1845, Mulledy was succeeded as president by James A. Ryder, the rector of Georgetown College, whose administration was marked by tension with Jesuit authorities in Rome over the discipline of its religious faculty. Ryder was succeeded by John Early in 1848, after which tensions with Rome were mended, and the faculty began to gradually diversify with "scholastics"—unordained teachers—after 1846. They included Pennsylvania representative Samuel Lilly, who taught classics, arithmetic, and French at Holy Cross from 1845 to 1849; Joseph O'Callaghan, who joined in 1847 as a scholastic mathematics and French teacher, later becoming head of the library and a prefect; and Peter J. Blenkinsop, who worked as the college's treasurer before later assuming the presidency in 1854.
The college's early curriculum was organized into three courses—commercial, professional, and ecclesiastical—which all focused on the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum and had increasing degrees of Latin, Greek, philosophy, mathematics, science, and modern languages. From 1843 to 1861, the average age of students fluctuated from 14 to 16 years old. About 13 percent, or 523, of the college's students from 1843 and 1900 entered the priesthood. The first class baccalaureate class graduated in 1849, led by the valedictorian James Augustine Healy, who was of mixed-race descent. But because the college had not yet obtained a state charter, degrees were conferred in Georgetown's name. Two efforts to petition the Massachusetts House of Representatives for a charter in 1849 failed, largely due to the prevalence of anti-Catholic bias among state legislators.
Fenwick Hall, the school's main building, was completely destroyed by fire in 1852. Funds were raised to rebuild the college, and in 1853 it opened for the second time.
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After repeated denials, a charter was finally granted on March 24, 1865, by Governor John Albion Andrew.
Modern history
During World War II, College of the Holy Cross was one of 131 colleges and universities that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission.
In 1998, Holy Cross initiated an eight-year capital campaign, "Lift High the Cross", with a three-year quiet period. The campaign for Holy Cross ended in fiscal 2006 with $216.3 million raised, surpassing its original goal of $175 million. The funds allowed Holy Cross to establish an additional 12 new faculty positions, along with more than 75 newly endowed scholarships for students. During the campaign, the college's endowment grew to more than $544 million.
On July 1, 2000, Michael C. McFarland became the president of the college. In 2011, Philip L. Boroughs, the Vice President for Mission and Ministry at Georgetown University, was named McFarland's successor. In 2021, he was succeeded by Vincent D. Rougeau, dean of the Boston College Law School. Rougeau is the first lay and first black president in the history of the college.
In early 2018, the college began publicly exploring the possibility of changing its "Crusader" mascot and associated imagery. The college's leadership ultimately decided to keep the mascot, distinguishing its use of the nickname from the historical associations with the Crusades.
In 2019, the college ended its need-blind admissions policy.
From Wikipedia’s article on College of the Holy Cross, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5