A group of six brothers from the Archdiocese of Tuam in Ireland requested permission from the bishop of the Pittsburgh diocese to bring their dream, rooted in Saint Francis of Assisi's vision, to fruition in the Americas. Arriving in this country in 1847, they were eventually to establish a house of their order "near the town of Loretto." In doing this, they were fulfilling the dream of Demetrius Gallitzin, recorded in a letter to Archbishop Marechal almost twenty-five years earlier, that "...a college, seminary, and all that is required for an episcopal establishment" one day be built on the land where Saint Francis University now stands.