uffragans. At Rome there was no hesitation in confirming the choice of
a clergyman whose merit was so well known, and on the 30th of September,
Cardinal Fransoni wrote announcing that the Rev. John McCloskey had been
elected by the Holy Father for the See of Axiere, and made coadjutor to
the Bishop of New York.

The consecration took place in old St. Patrick's Cathedral on the 10th
of March, 1844, and the scene was the grandest ever till then witnessed
in New York, The Rt. Rev. John Hughes, Bishop of New York, assisted by
Bishop Fenwick, of New York, once administrator of the diocese, and
Bishop Whelan, of Wheeling, consecrated three bishops, the Rt. Rev.
Andrew Byrne, Bishop of Little Rock, the Rt. Rev. William Quarter,
Bishop of Chicago, and the Rt. Rev. John McCloskey, Bishop of Axiere,
and coadjutor of New York.

From the pulpit of the Cathedral, the venerable Dr. Power, addressing
the newly consecrated coadjutor, said: "One of you I have known from his
boyhood. I have seen the youthful bud of genius unfold itself; and I
have seen it also in full expansion; and I thank God I have been spared
to behold it now blessing the house of the Lord. Rt. Rev. Dr. McCloskey!
it must be gratifying to you to know, that if the choice of a coadjutor
of this diocese had been given to your fellow-laborers in the vineyard,
it would certainly have fallen upon you."

It was surely no ordinary merit, that won the Rev. John McCloskey such
universal esteem. To have been chosen for the same responsible post by
men so different in mind and feelings as Bishops Du Bois and Hughes, to
be at once the choice of Bishop Hughes and a body of priests among whom
great divisions had existed, and great differences of nationality,
education and inclination prevailed, was something wonderful and
unparalleled.

His elevation to the episcopate did not withdraw Bishop McCloskey from
the church of his affection, that dedicated to the Spouse of Mary. Here
his throne was erected, and the congregation rejoiced in the honor and
dignity conferred upon him, and through him on their church. He then
began the discharge of the episcopal duties devolved upon him by the Rt.
Rev. Bishop of the See. The earliest was the dedication of the Church of
the Most Holy Redeemer in New York City. From that we can mark his
course confirming in all parts of the diocese, dedicating churches, and
ordaining to the priesthood, two of the six first ordained by him on the
feast of the