FAIRFIELD, Conn.— Sacred Heart University students will have a new residence hall in winter 2018, named after Pierre Toussaint, a freed slave who became a noted philanthropist.
Construction crews have been working at the former Jewish Senior Services site for the past several months to turn the land—now called SHU’s Upper Quad—into a residential village. The Jewish Home’s Bennett building will be renovated first and will become the University’s newest residence hall.
“This year, the hall will house primarily juniors and seniors, a mix of sophomores and transfer students of all ages on the top four floors,” said Joel Quintong, director of Residential Life. “Most rooms in the hall will be doubles, but there also will be single rooms. The hall’s ground floor will be used for common spaces and staff offices. Students will have use of an arcade-style game room and a large, common lounge area with a fish tank,” Quintong added.
While crews work on renovations for the new hall, they also are creating open outdoor spaces and terraced steps in amphitheater style to walk up and down between the Upper and Lower quads. The Upper Quad also will feature a ’50s-themed diner.
“Students, staff and faculty will be amazed at the finished project. It will expand the campus and provide another place for students to live and enjoy their college career,” Quintong said.
Naming the hall after Toussaint reflects on the University’s mission. “Pierre Toussaint’s selfless commitment to the underprivileged speaks eloquently to SHU’s mission of hospitality, a key feature of the Catholic intellectual tradition that defines us. Such hospitality consists of a welcome attitude to the stranger and a nonjudgmental approach to diverse ways of being and thinking,” said Michael W. Higgins, distinguished professor of Catholic thought. “Toussaint crossed racial and social-economic boundaries in his ministry of love. Sacred Heart strives to do likewise.”
Within a few years, Toussaint married and became a well-known philanthropist, having earned a good living and developed valuable connections as a hairdresser to the city’s elite. He and his wife Juliette, also a former slave, turned their home into an orphanage and established a credit bureau, employment agency and a refuge for priests and poor travelers. He contributed money and helped raise more for the Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Mulberry Street in New York City. In the late 1900s, Archbishop Terence Cooke proposed Toussaint for sainthood, at which point his remains were brought to St. Patrick’s Cathedral on 5th Avenue to be interred below the main altar among New York City’s bishops. Pope John Paul II beatified Toussaint in 1996, and the process for possible canonization continues.