State. His diocese contained forty-four churches,
and about as many clergymen, with but few institutions of education or
charity. Its progress was steady, solid and effectual. He added new
priests, well chosen and trained, introduced the Fathers of the Society
of Jesus, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the Christian Brothers, the
Ladies of the Sacred Heart. His Cathedral was completed and was
recognized as one of the greatest ornaments of the city; but all
extravagance was avoided and discouraged. Churches were reared suited to
the means of the flock, and the tepid, careless and indifferent were
recalled to their Christian duties, till the diocese assumed a new
spirit. None but those who lived there, and witnessed the progress, can
form a conception of what Bishop McCloskey accomplished while he gave
the best period of his life to the diocese of Albany.

More than a hundred churches, and nearly a hundred priests, with
schools, academies, hospitals, asylums, were the fruits of the Catholic
life aroused by his zeal.

As Bishop of Albany he took part in the Seventh Provincial Council of
Baltimore in 1849; the first Plenary Council, in 1852; and the first of
New York, 1854. In all these his prudence and wisdom deeply impressed
his associates, as many of them have testified. In his diocese his
relations to his clergy in his Synod, and in occasional directions,
showed a gentle consideration for others, which overcame all obstacles.

On the death of Archbishop Hughes, to whom he had long since been named
successor, the voice of the bishops of the Province, as well as the
desire of the clergy and people of the diocese, solicited from the Holy
See the promotion of Bishop McCloskey, and the successor of St. Peter
soon pronounced the definitive word. He returned to New York just as the
terrible civil war came to a close; and the paralyzed country could look
to its future. Under his impulse the new Cathedral was completed and
dedicated with a pomp never yet witnessed in the Western World. The
State of New York for some years had suffered from a want of churches;
but amid a war draining the wealth and blood of the country, it would
have been rash to attempt to erect them when all value were fictitious.
Now, under the impulse of the quiet and retiring Archbishop, old
churches were enlarged; new parishes were formed and endowed with
churches; schools increased in number and efficacy. While increasing the
number of his parochial clerg