rk, and has been so
far conducted with commendable diligence and with notable success, we
therefore consider it to be entirely worthy of the favor and
assistance of prelates and priests, as well as of the Catholic people
in general. That the whole country may the better and more certainly
share in its advantages, we advise and exhort the bishops to
establish branches of this Society in their dioceses, by means of
whose officers the publications of the Society may be distributed.
But as without great expenditure of money these societies cannot be
kept up and must fail of success, the bishops shall therefore appoint
a yearly collection for their support, to be taken up in all the
principal churches, or shall make other provision for the same
purpose according to their best judgment" (Con. Plen. Balt., Sec. 500).

From the Pastoral Letter of the same Council we extract the following:

"In connection with this matter [the Catholic Press] we earnestly
recommend to the faithful of our charge The Catholic Publication
Society, lately established in the city of New York by a zealous and
devoted clergyman. Besides the issuing of short tracts with which
this Society has begun, and which may be usefully employed to arrest
the attention of many whom neither inclination nor leisure will allow
to read larger works, this Society contemplates the publication of
Catholic books, according as circumstances may permit and the
interests of religion appear to require. From the judgment and good
taste evinced in the composition and selection of such tracts and
books as have already been issued by this Society, we are encouraged
to hope that it will be eminently effective in making known the
truths of our holy religion, and dispelling the prejudices which are
mainly owing to want of information on the part of so many of our
fellow-citizens. For this it is necessary that a generous
co-operation be given both by clergy and laity to the undertaking,
which is second to none in importance among the subsidiary aids which
the inventions of modern times supply to our ministry for the
diffusion of Catholic truth."

How elated Father Hecker was by this action of the Council, and how
over-sanguine, as the event proved, of the future of the Society, is
shown by the following extracts from letters to a friend:

"My efforts in the recent Council were completely successful, owing
to the many prayers offered to God--yours not the least. Could you
have see