 Happening to be at Hartford one Sunday he learned that owing to the bigotry and Know Nothing sentiment in the town, it was impossible for the parishioners to obtain a certain piece of property for their church, as they were too few and too poor to provide the ready cash demanded.Devereux, though a stranger, did not need to be appealed to, he immediately advanced the required sum of $10,000, without asking or receiving any assurance that the money would ever be returned to him, though the grateful pioneer Catholics did in fact repay him later.He founded St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, New York on 200 acres of land that he had himself donated.