“But whom do you think I met in his antechamber?  The General [of the Redemptorists].  When he came in and got seated I immediately went across the room and reached out my hand to him, and we shook hands and sat down beside each other. . . .  In the course of the conversation he inquired what we intended to do in the future.  My reply was that we had been guided by God’s providence in the past and we looked to Him for guidance in our future. . . .  As to my return [home], the cardinal says I must not think of departing till after Easter.  Indeed, I see that before I can obtain an audience to thank the Holy Father it will be hard on to Easter.  If there be a few days intervening I will go to Our Lady of Loretto to invoke her aid in our behalf and for her protection over us as a body and over each one in particular.  In May, earlier or later in the month, with God’s blessing and your prayers, I hope to be with you.

“The decree, which places us, according to the Canons, under the authority of the Bishops, you will, of course, understand, does not in any way make us parish priests.  The Pope could not tell us in it to commence another congregation, although this is what he, and Cardinal Barnabo, and Archbishop Bedini, and others, expect from us.  He [the Pope] said that for him to tell us so [officially] would be putting the cart before the horse.  These are his words.”

On March 18:  “It is customary here, before giving dispensation of vows to religious, to require them to show their admission into a diocese.  As this was not required in our case, we are consequently at liberty now to choose any bishop we please who will receive us.  ’Choose your bishop, inform him of your intentions, and if he approves, arrange your conditions with him.’  These are the cardinal’s words, and both he and Archbishop Bedini suggested New York. . . .  My trip to Loretto has come to naught, as I can find no one to accompany me, and then my health, I fear, will not bear so much fatigue, I shall come back with some gray hairs; I thought to pull them all out before my return, but on looking this morning with that intention I found them too many. However, that is only on the outside; within all is right—­young, fresh, and full of courage, and ready to fight the good fight.”

The following is a memorandum of his second audience with Pius IX.: 

“Yesterday, the 16th of March, the Pope accorded me an audience, and on my entering his room he repeated my name, gave me his blessing, and after I had kissed his ring he told me to rise, and said:  ’At length your affairs are determined.  We have many causes to decide, and each must have its turn; yours came finally, and now you have our decision.’  ‘True,’ I replied, ’and your decision gives me great satisfaction, and it appears to me that it should be satisfactory to all concerned.’  ‘I found you,’ he rejoined, ’like Abraham and Lot, and (making a motion with his hand) I told one to take this, the other that direction.’