ntry, in
Belgium and England, he yet showed no signs of these labors; he
continued them for fourteen years longer, for the most of the time in
the Netherlands, his death resulting from accident in 1865. By common
consent he is ranked in the highest order of popular preachers. He
had entered the community from the secular priesthood shortly after
his ordination; he had made a brilliant course of studies at Rome,
which was crowned by the doctorate of the Roman College. He was
physically a tall, powerful man, and of majestic bearing. His
features were full of intelligence, his glance penetrating, his voice
clear, sympathetic, and vibrating, his gestures expressive. If half
that is handed down of Father Bernard be true, he was a wonderful
preacher of penance and of hope, his high gifts of natural eloquence
served by a perfect education and inspired by a most enthusiastic
love of the people.

[* The reader is referred to his life by Canon Claessens (Catholic
Publication Society Co.) It is all too brief, yet is a good summary
of the career of the great Redemptorist missionary, one of St.
Alphonsus' noblest sons.]

He was a popular preacher in the best sense of the term, calm in
demeanor and simple in language as he opened, but when at the point
of fervor pouring forth his soul in a fiery torrent of oratory, whose
only restraint was the inability of the human voice to express all
that the heart contained. In style impassioned, he yet often chose
language bordering on the familiar, but was not vulgar. He is an
instance of the fallacy of the saying that the preacher must stoop to
his auditory if he would be popular. Father Bernard was ever true to
himself, never appeared less than an educated priest and grave
religious, and yet he was a most popular preacher. The great truths
of eternal life are a universal heritage, and the use of plain words
is not getting down from good style even in the literary sense, and a
familiar manner is a trait of affection. We have stopped the reader
for this moment with Father Bernard because he was Father Hecker's
teacher of mission preaching and instructing, and was ever beloved by
him as an appreciative friend and a wise and indulgent preceptor. He
had made his first visit to America with Father de Held in 1845, but
remained only a few months to acquire information and gain
impressions for a report to the Rector Major. He made a second voyage
in January, 1849, acting as superior of the America