In the early 1800s, Boston’s Catholic leadership decided to build a convent on the Ploughed Hill of Charlestown (now Somerville). Starting in 1820, Ursuline sisters ran the convent and its school for girls on the summit, which they renamed Mount Benedict. In a predominantly Protestant environment, rumors started about mysterious and devious activities in the convent, including forced conversions, kidnapping, and torture. Incited by preachers, a mob of few dozen assembled on August 11, 1834, and set the convent on fire. The nuns and their students fled, but the building was…
