ing, experience, the firmness with which he held the
opinion he mildly but conclusively advanced. In the committee on
discipline his wisdom excited the highest admiration of the presiding
cardinal.

When the impious seizure of Rome made the sovereign Pontiff a prisoner
in the Vatican, the proceedings of the council were deferred to better
days, which the Church still prayfully awaits. Archbishop McCloskey
returned to his diocese; but the malaria of the Campagna had affected
his health, never rugged, and shattered some years previously by a
railroad accident, on a journey required by his high office. But he
resumed his accustomed duties, inspiring good works, or guiding and
supporting them like the Catholic Protectory, the Catholic Union of New
York, and its branch since developed to such wide-reaching influence,
the Xavier Union.

The impression which he had produced at Rome, from his early visit as a
young priest to his dignified course in age as a Father of the Council
of the Vatican, led to a new and singular honor, in which the whole
country shared his honor. In the consistory held March 15, 1875, Pope
Pius IX. created Archbishop McCloskey a Cardinal Priest of the Holy
Roman Church, his title being that of Sancta Maria supra Minervam, the
very church from which Rt. Rev. Dr. Concanen was taken to preside over
the diocese of New York as its first bishop. The insignia of the high
dignity soon reached the city borne by a member of the Pope's noble
guard and a Papal Ablegate. The berretta was formerly presented to him
in St. Patrick's Cathedral, April 22, 1875. According to usage he soon
after visited Rome and took possession of the church from which he
derived his title. He was summoned to the conclave held on the death of
Pope Pius IX., but arrived only after the election of Pope Leo XIII., to
whom he paid homage, receiving from his hands the Cardinal's hat, the
last ceremonial connected with his appointment.

After his return he resumed his usual duties, but they soon required the
aid of a younger prelate, though all his suffragans were ever ready to
relieve their venerated Metropolitan by officiating for him. He finally
solicited the appointment of the young but tried Bishop of Newark as his
coadjutor, and Bishop Michael Augustine Corrigan was promoted to the
titular See of Petra, October 1, 1880. Gradually his health declined and
for a time he was dangerously ill; but retirement to Mount St.
Vincent's, where in t