He was a popular preacher in the best sense of the term, calm in demeanor and simple in language as he opened, but when at the point of fervor pouring forth his soul in a fiery torrent of oratory, whose only restraint was the inability of the human voice to express all that the heart contained.  In style impassioned, he yet often chose language bordering on the familiar, but was not vulgar.  He is an instance of the fallacy of the saying that the preacher must stoop to his auditory if he would be popular.  Father Bernard was ever true to himself, never appeared less than an educated priest and grave religious, and yet he was a most popular preacher.  The great truths of eternal life are a universal heritage, and the use of plain words is not getting down from good style even in the literary sense, and a familiar manner is a trait of affection.  We have stopped the reader for this moment with Father Bernard because he was Father Hecker’s teacher of mission preaching and instructing, and was ever beloved by him as an appreciative friend and a wise and indulgent preceptor.  He had made his first visit to America with Father de Held in 1845, but remained only a few months to acquire information and gain impressions for a report to the Rector Major.  He made a second voyage in January, 1849, acting as superior of the American houses, as Vice-provincial, and remained about eighteen months.  The United States now forming a separate province and Father Bernard made Provincial, he demanded Fathers Hecker and Walworth as his subjects, and they were given to him.

A letter from Father Hecker announces his departure for New York as fixed for some time in October, 1890; but delays occurred, and the following is an extract from one to his mother, dated January 17, 1851; it says that the departure is fixed for some day the same month: 

“Oh! may Almighty God prosper our voyage, and may His sweet and blessed Mother be our guide and protector on the stormy sea.  And may my arrival in America be for the good of many souls who are still wandering out of the one flock and away from the one shepherd!  I hope that to no one will it be of more consolation and benefit than to you, my dearest mother.”

The ship was named the Helvetia and sailed from Havre the 27th of January, the captain being a genuine down-east Yankee, and the crew a mixed assortment of English and American sailors.  Father Bernard’s party consisted of Fathers Walworth, Hecker, Landtsheer, Kittell, Dold, and Giesen, and the students Hellemans, Mueller, and Wirth, the American fathers having come to Havre from London by way of Dover, Calais, and Paris.  The weather was unfavorable during nearly the entire voyage, the ship being driven back into the English Channel and forced to anchor in the Downs.  They were beaten about for two weeks before they got fairly upon the Atlantic, and while crossing the Newfoundland banks were in danger from icebergs.  Nearly all the party were more or less sea-sick, including Father