was not slight, for the Pope had conceived a great friendship for him, and heaped all sorts of honors on him.  Well, he had a regular tussle with his Holiness about us and our cause, and when the Holy Father repeated some things said of me—­against me, of course—­he replied:  ’Your Holiness, I should not be at all surprised if some fine day you yourself would have to canonize one of these Yankee fellows.’  In one word, he left nothing unsaid or undone with the Pope in our favor; and the Pope suggested to him obtaining dispensation of our vows and forming a new company.  ‘They cannot expect me,’ he said, ’to take the initiatory step; this would be putting the cart before the horse.  Let them do this, and present their plan to me, and if I find it good, it shall have my consent.’ . . .  The bishop has also seen and won over to our favor Monsignor Talbot, who said to him:  ’The only way now of settling the difficulties is to give the American Fathers the liberty to form a new company for the American missions.’  In addition, the bishop wrote a strong document in favor of our missions and of us, and presented it to Cardinal Barnabo, which will be handed in to the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, who have our affairs in hand. . . .  If this good bishop should come in your way, whether by writing or otherwise, you cannot be too grateful for what he has done for us.  After Cardinal Barnabo and Archbishop Bedini we owe more to him than to any one else.

“Wind and tide are now in our favor, and my plan is to keep quiet and stick close to the rudder to see that the ship keeps right.”

On his way home from Rome Bishop Connolly wrote the following letter to Father Hecker, dated at Marseilles, January 20, 1858: 

“From the deep interest I feel in your concerns you will pardon my curiosity in wishing to have the earliest intelligence of your fate in the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars.  I could wish I were near you all the time, and have nothing else to attend to; but you have got One more powerful than I at your right hand.  Fix your hopes in Him and you will not be confounded.  After having done everything on your part that unsleeping energy as well as prudence could suggest, you must take the issue, however unpalatable it may be, as the undoubted expression of God’s will, and act (as I am sure you will act) accordingly. . . .  You must keep steadily in view the glorious principle for which you came to Rome, and which I am convinced is for the greater glory of God and the greater good of religion in America.  If you can start as a religious body with the approbation of Rome, this would be the holiest and most auspicious consummation. . . .  Be guided at every step by the holy and enlightened men whose sympathies you have won and in whose hands you will be always safe:  Cardinal Barnabo in primis, and after him Monsignor Bedini and Doctors Kirby and Smith.  United with them at every step, failure is impossible—­you