OF ARTS AND SCIENCES : MAY 29, 1866. 117 



and in 1844, at thirty-two years of age, he received the appointment 

 of Coadjutor to the Bishop of Boston, — the health of Bishop Fen- 

 wick requiring him to rehnquish in part the care of the Diocese. 

 He was consecrated Coadjutor in March, 1844, and on the death 

 of Bishop Fenwick, a little more than two years afterwards, he suc- 

 ceeded to the full duties and dignities of Roman Catholic Bishop of 

 Boston. 



It was no light responsibility for any one to succeed to an office 

 which had been held before only by the excellent Fenwick and the 

 sainted Cheverus. Of the latter, at least, it may safely be said, that no 

 ecclesiastic of any sect or denomination who ever lived in Boston has 

 left behind him a more enviable memory. The charm of his conversa- 

 tion, the humility of his manners, the simplicity of his life, the untiring 

 benevolence and beneficence which he exhibited towards the suffering 

 poor, endeared him to the whole community ; and his departure for 

 France in 1823, to become the Bishop of Montauban, and afterwards 

 Archbishop of Bordeaux and a Cardinal, while all acknowledged the 

 justice of the promotion, was the subject of deep and wide-spread 

 regret. It is enough to say of Bishop Fitzpatrick, that he proved a 

 worthy successor to the eminent prelates who preceded him. He was 

 a man of an excellent spirit, of a genial temper, of peculiar tact and 

 sterling common-sense, of rare accomplishments, of a noble presence ; 

 without anything of presumption or ostentation, yet of striking dignity ; 

 shrinking from all display, except such as was inseparable from the 

 ceremonies of the Church over which he presided, and devoting his 

 whole time and thoughts and strength to the care of his diocese. He 

 had, indeed, too little self-appreciation for his own worldly fame, and 

 has left no record of his learning and acquirements except in the mem- 

 ory of those who knew him. He seldom delivered formal discourses. 

 He engaged in no doctrinal controversies. He wrote no theological 

 essays. He committed absolutely nothing to the press. Not a sino-le 

 pamphlet, hardly a single printed page, is left to preserve his name 

 in our libraries. But his memory will be cherished in the hearts of 

 the whole religious denomination to which he belonged, and in those of 

 a large circle of personal friends of all denominations. 



His devoted labors in the Episcopacy for twenty years proved too 

 much for his strength and health. He sought relief and restoration in 

 foreign travel, but returned after an absence of two or three years 

 without permanent benefit, and died in Boston on the 13th of February 

 1866, universally respected and lamented. 



