etter-writing for understanding the difficulties which
arose--became suspicious of the aims of the American Fathers and of
the spirit which actuated them. To establish their loyalty and to
explain the necessity for the new foundation, the missionary Fathers
believed that one of their number should go to Rome and lay the
matter in person before the General or Rector Major of the order. The
choice fell on Father Hecker, who sailed on August 5, 1857, arrived
in Rome the 26th, and was expelled from the Congregation of the Most
Holy Redeemer on Sunday, the 29th of the same month, the General
deeming his coming to Rome to be a violation of the vows of obedience
and poverty.

The grounds of his expulsion were then examined by the Propaganda,
from which the case passed to the Holy Father, who sought the
decision of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars. Pius IX. gave
his judgment as a result of the examination made by the last-named
Congregation; but he had made a personal study of all the evidence,
and had given private audiences to both the General and Father
Hecker. It was decided that all the American Fathers associated in
the missionary band should be dispensed from their vows as
Redemptorists, including Father Hecker, who was looked upon and
treated by the decree as if he were still as much a member of the
Congregation as the others, his expulsion being ignored. This
conclusion was arrived at only after seven months of deliberation,
and was dated the 6th of March, 1898. The decree, which will be given
entire in this chapter, contemplates the continued activity of the
Fathers as missionaries, subject to the authority of the American
bishops; their formation into a separate society was taken for
granted. Such is a brief statement of the entire case. If the reader
will allow it to stand as a summary, what follows will serve to fill
in the outline and complete a more detailed view.

And at the outset let it be fully understood that none of the Fathers
desired separation from the order or had the faintest notion of its
possibility as the outcome of the misunderstanding. One of the first
letters of Father Hecker from Rome utters the passionate cry, "They
have driven me out of the home of my heart and love." We have
repeatedly heard him affirm that he never had so much as a temptation
against his vows as a Redemptorist. But in saying this we do not mean
to lay blame on the Redemptorist superiors. In all that we have to
say