SNIPPET: One of the earliest incidents of rising anti-Catholicism in America was the burning of the Ursuline convent in Charlestown, MA, just outside of Boston. Rumors were that Protestant girls were being held against their will inside the convent, which also served as a school to many children of wealthy Protestant families. Other rumors told of a secret plot by Irish Catholics to overthrow by force of arms the American republic and turn it over to the pope. A working-class mob of native-born Americans attacked the convent and school the night of August 11, 1834. No one was killed in the incident and wealthy Bostonians rushed to condemn it as the work of delinquent workers and ruffians. In the trials that followed, however, all accused rioters were eventually acquitted and Bishop Benedict FENWICK's efforts to recover damages was also unsuccessful. Fenwick and his successors left the burned remains of the convent untouched for 40 years as a grim reminder of the nativist intolerance. When Bishop Fenwick decided to establish a Catholic college a few years later, he built the College of the Holy Cross (1843) in Worcester, MA, 40 miles away - just to be on the safe side. -- Excerpts, "1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Irish American History," Edward T. O'Donnell.