Cemetery association and orphanage support

448  THE   CATHOLIC  CHURCH  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.
of  its  children.  Other  means  of  support  are  derived  from  the  school  sisters'  sal-
aries, from  the  annual  appropriation  of  $2,000  from  the  city  of  New  Haven,  in
return  for  the  good  work  done  by  the  orphanage,  which  cares  for  a  number  of
children  committed  to  it  by  the  city  authorities,  from  the  income  of  its  invested
funds  received  from  time  to  time  in  the  ff)rmof  bequests',  from  occasional  legacies,
from  the  surplus  cemetery  moneys  of  tlie  St.  Bernard  and  St.  Lawrence  Cemetery
Association  of  New  Haven,  and  from  its  yearly  "  donation  day"  subscriptions  of
cash  and  contributions  of  generous  gifts.
History.
The  institution  whose  property,  objects,  officers,  work,  etc.,  are  thus  narrated
had  its  beginning  on  Friday,  May  12,  1852.  On  that  day,  four  Sisters  of  Mercy
from  Providence,  R.  I.,  arrived  at  New  Haven.  The  Rev.  Edward  J.  O'Brien,
pastor  of  old  St.  Marj^'s  parish,  New  Haven,  had  concluded  arrangements  with
the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  O'Reillj'  and  Rev.  Mother  Xavier  Warde,  Superior  of  the
Convent  of  Mercy,  Providence,  to  establish  a  convent  of  the  order  in  his  parish,
and  having  accompanied  the  Sisters  from  Providence  to  New  Haven,  conducted
them  to  their  new  home.
The  building  first  occupied  hy  the  Sisters  of  Mercy,  who  were  the  first  of
any  religious  sisterhood  to  settle  in  the  Elm  City,  was  a  handsome  brick  private
residence,  with  brownstone  trimmings  and  imposing  entrance,  situated  near  Broad
street,  on  George,  convenient  to  St.  Mary's  church  and  school.  It  was  in  this
temporary  convent  that  on  May  12,  1852,  the  verj-  day  of  the  arrival  of  the  Sisters
of  Mercy  in  New  Haven,  two  little  orphan  girls  put  in  an  appearance.  They  had
come  to  live  in  this  new  convent  home,  where  they  were  kindly  welcomed,  as  the
Sisters  themselves  had  been  welcomed  but  a  short  hour  before.
The  nucleus  of  the  first  Catholic  orphan  asylum  in  the  City  of  Elms  thus
formed,  the  Catholic  orphan  children,  pending  the  erection  of  St.  Mary's  new  con-
vent, directly  north  of  and  adjoining  old  St.  Mary's  church,  on  Church  street,
were,  for  about  two  years,  cared  for,  under  the  direction  of  Father  O'Brien,  by  the
Sisters  of  Mercy,  till  they  and  their  little  charges,  in  1854,  vacated  the  George
street  house,  and  removed  into  the  new  St.  Mary's  Orphan  Asylum,  on  Church
street,  the  convent  and  the  asylum  both  being  in  the  one  new  brick  building.
There,  in  the  heart  of  the  cit^',  the  asylum  existed  as  a  private  parochial
institution  until  the  year  1864.
The  location  of  the  convent  and  asylum  on  Church  street,  a  very  busy  portion
of  the  city,  though  the  best  that  could  then  be  selected,  was  found  in  the  course
of  time  to  be  ill-adapted  to  the  purposes  of  a  growing  institution.  The  Sisters'
work  becoming  daily  more  extensive,  they  needed  the  spacious  rooms  of  the  con-
vent ;  the  number  of  orphan  girls  was  steadily  increasing,  and  the  accommodations
grew  so  limited  that  a  new  site  for  the  a.sylum  became  a  pressing  necessity.
Accordingly,  on  the  6th  of  April,  1S64,  the  land  together  with  all  the  build-
ings thereon,  on  which  the  asylum  now  stands,  running  300  feet  ea.st  on  Whitney
avenue,  300  feet  west  on  Prospect  street,  and  1,900  feet  south  on  Highland  street,
was  purchased  from  the  Hon.  Thomas  H.  Bond,  by  Rev.  E.  J.  O'Brien  and  Rev.
Matthew  Hart,  for  the  sum  of  $19,500.  The  cottage  which  stood  on  the  grouuds
was  enlarged,  and  the  building  made  ready  for  the  use  of  the  orphans.  The  in-
stitution was  now  called.  "The  St.  Francis  Orphan  Asylum  of  New  Haven,"  in
honor  of  Rt.  Rev.  Francis  P.  McFarland,  D.D.     In  the  adniini.stration  of  Bishop