Mount Saint Mary's was founded by French émigré John DuBois, a French-born Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of New York from 1826 until his death in 1842.

[9] Then, in 1808, the Society of St. Sulpice closed Pigeon Hill, its preparatory seminary in Pennsylvania, and transferred all the seminarians to Emmitsburg.

Simon Bruté, whom President John Quincy Adams called "the most learned man of his day in America,"[12][13] joined Mount St. Mary's as teacher and vice-president in 1812.

Elizabeth Ann Seton, founder of the Sisters of Charity and the first native born United States citizen to be canonized as a saint,[17] came to Emmitsburg in 1809.

[20][21][22] Seton wrote classroom textbooks and trained her Catholic sisters to become teachers,[23] and accepted all students regardless of ability to pay.

[24] And, since the campuses of the all-female Saint Joseph College and the all-male Mount St. Mary's were just a couple of miles apart, the schools historically depended on each other for social life.

[25] In 1973, with declining enrollment numbers and rising operating costs, Saint Joseph College closed its doors and merged with Mount St. Mary's, which has been fully co-educational since then.

[31][32] Newman was quoted as saying, in response to criticism and questions from colleagues, "...you think of the students as cuddly bunnies, but you can't.

[32] One, Ed Egan, was the faculty adviser of The Mountain Echo, while the other, Thane Naberhaus, was a tenured professor who had publicly questioned the president's actions.

[36] Over 8,000 scholars digitally signed a petition for them to be reinstated,[37][38] while organizations such as the American Association of University Professors,[39] Student Press Law Center,[39] and Foundation for Individual Rights in Education[40][41] issued statements condemning Newman's actions.

[43][44] In a statement, Newman said that he cared deeply about the university, and that the recent publicity regarding his leadership became "too great of a distraction to our mission of educating students.

"[45] French missionary Simon Bruté spent two decades as teacher and pastor in the formative years of Mount St. Mary's.

[48] Bruté visited the South Bend property and described it as "a most desirable spot, and one soon I hope to be occupied by some prosperous institution.

[50][51] After Bruté's death in 1839, his successor, Bishop Hailandière, offered the 524 acre South Bend property to Sorin for the purpose of starting a college.

The school was founded in 1842 as "L'Université de Notre Dame du Lac" (The University of Our Lady of the Lake).

On October 4, 2015, President Barack Obama spoke at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service at the Knott Arena.

Emmitsburg.net describes the grotto as "a place of pastoral beauty and spiritual inspiration ... situated high on the mountainside where nature displays itself in all its wild and picturesque glory.

John Watterson had the stone grotto cave built in 1875 as a replica of the miraculous Our Lady of Lourdes in France.

According to legend, DuBois was attracted to a light on the mountain and found a blessed spot and sat down at the foot of a large oak tree beside a stream.

The 1911 book The Story of the Mountain tells how Mother Seton would sit on her favorite rock at the Grotto and "invoke the divine blessing by reciting the Canticle of the Three Children, and none that heard her could ever forget the tones of that voice and the fervor of that heart, which in the midst of the wild scenery of nature called upon all creatures to bless and magnify their Creator.

According to a 1993 article by William Lawbaugh in The Mountain Briefing, the first issues were printed on a hand-operated press by Professor Ernest Lagarde from his home.

Early issues of the newspaper were four pages long and reported on education, sports, and significant campus events.

The issues also included articles on the history of Mount St. Mary's, poetry and literary works, death notices, alumni news, and personal and other advertisements.

The Mountain Echo ceased publication after several years, but was revived on October 28, 1923, when Volume I, Number 1 was published.

The editorial board makes the final selections, and then the staff spends the spring semester editing and putting the magazine together.

In 2017, Lighted Corners received a gold medal and All-Columbian honors from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.

According to the CSPA, “All-Columbian honors have been given only when the publication has achieved the 95th percentile or higher in one or more of the three categories.” Moorings, the Mount's undergraduate critical humanities journal, published its first issue in 2016.

Moorings accepts essay submissions primarily in History, English, Communications, Art, Music, and Theater.

The journal attempts to maintain a balance in subjects while remaining dedicated to a high quality of academic work.

The Mount competes in 22 intercollegiate sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and water polo; while women's sports include basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and water polo.