During his tenure as the second Bishop of Boston, Benedict Joseph Fenwick of the Society of Jesus longed to establish a Catholic college within the boundaries of his all-New England diocese. In 1836, he arranged to purchase 52 acres of land with Father James Fitton and began a college. After Father Fitton moved on from running the college, it was officially converted and rebranded as the College of the Holy Cross in 1843. It now boasts a full time faculty of 306 and 654,000 holdings within its grand library halls.