thou art my mother. I feel in my
heart thy tender love. O holy Mother, thou hast beheld me! Bless me,
Virgin Mother of Jesus!"

________________________

CHAPTER XVIII

NEW INFLUENCES

BISHOP McCLOSKEY, afterwards the first American Cardinal, was
coadjutor to Bishop Hughes from 1844 to 1847. He was living at the
old Cathedral when Isaac Hecker first called upon him. He was still a
young man, less than ten years separating him from the youthful
catechumen. In temperament they were very different. The bishop, a
man of routine in method and of no original views of principles, was
so, nevertheless, by mental predisposition rather than by positive
choice. He was a man of finished education; a dignified speaker, whose
words read as impressively as they sounded. Although the two men were
so unlike, the bishop could, at least after brief hesitation, fully
appreciate Isaac Hecker; nay, could love him, could further his
plans, and stand by him in his difficulties. Before we are done with
this Life, the reader will see this more in detail.

Nor was Bishop McCloskey without light as a judge in spiritual
matters. By nature calm and self-poised, and readily obedient to
reason, the grace of his high office, his wide knowledge of men, his
extensive reading, were doubtless supplemented by a special infusion
of heavenly wisdom, due to his upright purpose and his spotless life.
Though not timid, he was not conspicuous for courage; his refuge in
difficulty was a high order of prudence, never cowardice; nor did he
err either by precipitancy, by cruelty, or by rigidity of adherence
to abstract rules of law. Father Hecker knew him thoroughly well, and
admired him; more, he profited by his guidance, and that not only at
this earliest period of their intercourse. It was by him that Isaac
Hecker's vocation was, though not revealed, yet most wisely directed.
Brownson told the young man that he ought to devote himself to the
Germans in this country; Bishop Hughes advised him to go to St.
Sulpice and study for the secular priesthood; Bishop McCloskey told
him to become a religious.

Hitherto Isaac Hecker's environment had been entirely non-Catholic;
the ebbing and flowing of a sea of doubt and inquiry upon which
floated small boats and rafts which had been cast off from the good
ship of Christ. Now that he was on board the ship itself, he found
its crew and passengers sailing straight on toward their destined
haven, paying small reg