^2 Life of The 



CHAPTER IV. 



FROM HIS CONSECRATION FOR THE SEE OF CHICAGO UNTIL THE 

 END OF THE FIRST YEAR OF HIS EPISCOPAL LABOURS, 



1844 — 1845. 



The Provincial Council that assembled in 

 Baltimore in May, 1843, finding that from the very 

 great spread of the Catholic Church several addi- 

 tional Bishops were necessary, passed a decree 

 recommending the formation of the New Sees of 

 Chicago, Illinois; Little Rock, Arkansas; Hartford, 

 Connecticut; and Milwaukie, Wisconsin; and the 

 Apostolic Vicarate of Oregon Territory. The recom- 

 mendation of this Council was immediately acted 

 upon by the court of Rome : and accordingly, in the 

 February of the following year ( 1 844) , the Apostolic 

 letters for the consecration of the three new Bishops, 

 who were to be taken from New York, arrived in 

 that city; and on the loth of March, 1844, these 

 gentlemen were consecrated in St. Patrick's Cathe- 

 dral, by the Rt. Rev. Dr. John Hughes, Bishop of 

 New York, assisted by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Fenwick, 

 Bishop of Boston, and Rt. Rev. Dr. Whelan, Bishop 

 of Richmond. The new Bishops were: Rt. Rev. 

 Wm. Quarter, for the Diocese of Chicago; Rt. Rev. 

 Andrew Byrne, for the Diocese of Little Rock; and 

 Rt. Rev. John McCloskey, now Bishop of Albany, 

 Coadjutor Bishop of New York. The ceremony of 

 the consecration was probably one of the most 

 magnificant spectacles ever witnessed by the 



