on this subject we must be understood as recognizing their purity
of intention. Their motives were love of discipline and obedience,
which they considered seriously endangered. They were persuaded that
their action, though severe, was necessary for the good of the entire
order. And this shows that the difficulty was a misunderstanding, for
there is conclusive evidence of the loyalty of the American
Fathers--of Father Hecker no less than the others; as also of their
fair fame as Redemptorists with both the superiors and brethren of
the community up to the date of their disagreement. When Father
Hecker left for Rome the Provincial gave him his written word that,
although he disapproved of his journey, he bore witness to him as a
good Redemptorist, full of zeal for souls; and he added that up to
that time his superiors had been entirely satisfied with him; and to
the paper containing this testimony the Provincial placed the
official seal of the order. On the other side, a repeated and careful
examination of Father Hecker's letters and memoranda reveals no
accusation by him of moral fault against his Redemptorist superiors,
but on the contrary many words of favorable explanation of their
conduct. When the Rector Major, in the midst of his council, began,
to Father Hecker's utter amazement, to read the sentence of
expulsion, he fell on his knees and received the blow with bowed head
as a visitation of God. And when, again, after prostrating himself
before the Blessed Sacrament and resigning himself to the Divine
Will, he returned to the council and begged the General on his knees
for a further consideration of his case, and was refused, he reports
that the General affirmed that his sense of duty would not allow him
to act otherwise than he had done, and that he by no means meant to
condemn Father Hecker in the court of conscience, but only to
exercise jurisdiction over his external conduct.

In truth the trouble arose mainly from the very great difference
between the character of the American Fathers and that of their
superiors in the order. It is nothing new or strange, to borrow
Father Hewit's thoughts as expressed in his memoir of Father Baker,
that men whose characters are cast in a different mould should have
different views, and should, with the most conscientious intentions,
be unable to coincide in judgment or act in concert:

"There is room in the Catholic Church for every kind of religious
organization, suiting