Whatever may have been the misgivings of some, the opposition of the Paulists to the liquor-traffic was approved by the most enlightened and influential prelates and priests of the country, as is shown by the number of cathedrals and other prominent churches in which the missions were preached.  It should be added that this antagonism to drunkenness, to convivial drinking, and to saloon-keeping, not only received the unanimous applause of the Catholic laity, but edified the non-Catholic public, and brought out many commendations from the secular press as well as from the police authorities of our crowded cities.  A mission is a terror to obstinate evil-doers of all kinds, but to habitual drunkards and saloon-keepers it is especially so.  The attitude of the Church in America on this entire subject, as officially expressed by the decrees of the Third Plenary Council and by its pastoral letter, fully justifies the action of Father Hecker and his companions.

As soon as the church in Fifty-ninth Street was opened the community exerted itself to make the surroundings attractive.  The building occupied but a small part of the property, the rest of which was laid out in grass-plats and gravel walks; many shade-trees and some fruit-trees were set out, and a flower and vegetable garden planted.  It was Father Hecker’s delight to superintend this work, and to participate actively in it when his duties allowed.  The grounds soon became an attractive spot, to which in a few years church-goers from all parts of the city began to make Sunday pilgrimages.  They came in considerable numbers every Sunday to assist at Mass or Vespers in St. Paul’s quiet, country-like church.  Meantime the residents of the parish, not very numerous and nearly all of the laboring class, formed deep attachments for their pastors, and an almost ideal state of unity and affection bound priests and people together.

Nearly the entire region was covered with market gardens, varied with huge masses of rock, and groups of shanties.  Very many of the parishioners of that early period lived in these nondescript dwellings, of which they were themselves both the architects and builders, a fact which added not a little to their quaint and picturesque appearance.  The sites upon which these “squatters’” homes were placed, and over which roamed and sported their mingled goats, dogs, and children, are now occupied in great part by blocks of stately residences and apartment houses; but we know not whether the grace of God abounds more plentifully now than it did then.  At any rate, whoever heard Father Hecker in those primitive days call his parish “Shantyopolis,” could see no sign of regret on his part that he had a poor and simple people as the bulk of his parishioners.