FAIRFIELD—Sacred Heart University is announcing the names of the new twin residence halls on its Upper Quad as well as the new building that now houses the facilities management team. In keeping with its tradition of naming residence halls after people who exemplify the university’s mission and vision, the residence halls will be Teresa of Calcutta Hall and Frances Xavier Cabrini Hall, and the facilities building is called the St. Joseph Center. Students will move in at the end of January for the start of the spring semester.
SHU’s two newest residence halls mark the next step in the development of the residential village on the University’s Upper Quad that will eventually house more than 900 students. The new additions include apartments and mini-suites for four to five students totaling 357 beds. Apartments and mini-suites feature several bedrooms and bathrooms, and each floor has its own study room with integrated technology and dedicated access to laundry services. Large and small common areas are located throughout the halls and include places to study or gather to catch up with friends. In addition to the bedrooms, the halls are characterized by welcoming architectural features, such as grand entrances, spacious outdoor seating areas, large living rooms and an archway mirroring the current iconic bridge connecting the third floors of Wiesel and Frassati halls that open to the amphitheater and Chapel of the Holy Spirit (lower) quad.
The Upper Quad construction will conclude in July 2021, with the completion of a final residence hall for 122 students and a new dining facility that will seat 240.
The St. Joseph Center opened at the beginning of this academic year and houses campus operations management team. They oversee residence halls facilities, custodial services, tech services (electrical, HVAC, plumbing, carpentry, painting), general maintenance, landscape services and infrastructure management.
Because of the hard work of the campus operations team to manage SHU’s facilities growth while keeping everything running and beautiful, it seemed fitting to name their building after St. Joseph the Worker. Saint Joseph was the husband of Mary, mother of Jesus and is considered Jesus’ lawful father. He is regarded as the patron saint of workers, and the month of March is dedicated to him in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis has just declared that 2021 will be dedicated to St. Joseph to commemorate 150 years since St. Joseph was named patron saint of the universal Church in 1870.
Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, also known as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, was born in Skopje, which is now the capital of North Macedonia. She lived there for 18 years before moving to Ireland and then India, where she spent the bulk of her life serving the people of Calcutta. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950, and as of 2020, the group had 5,167 nuns serving in countries all over the world. Members take vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, and also vow to “give wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor.” This is accomplished by providing homes for people dying of HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis; soup kitchens, dispensaries, mobile clinics, orphanages and schools. Among the many honors she received in her lifetime are the 1962 Ramon Magsaysay Peace Prize and the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. She was canonized in 2016, and the anniversary of her death on September 5 is her feast day.
Frances Xavier Cabrini, also called Mother Cabrini, was an Italian-American nun, who founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Born near Milan, Italy, in 1850, the youngest of 13 children, she attended a school run by the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, graduating cum laude with a teaching certificate at age 13. In 1889, Frances founded the Sacred Heart Orphan Asylum in West Park, N.Y., later renamed in her honor. She became a U.S. citizen in 1909 and went on to establish 67 schools, orphanages and hospitals. She died in 1918 and was canonized on July 7, 1946, by Pope Pius XII, the first US citizen to be canonized a saint. She was named the patron saint of immigrants in 1950.
(To download an image, visit SHU’s Photoshelter archive at: sacredheart.photoshelter.com.)
