6.    Tierney to Scalabrini⁷

         Hartford, January 22, 1904

My Dear Bishop:

Many thanks for your very kind letter.

            I congratulate our young men Berny, Carey and McCauliffe on their approaching ordination and I thank you very much for your kind attention to our students. I am sorry Nolan is not well. Do as seems best to Your Lordship regarding him. I am enclosing a draft of L. 4,008 for January, the amount for the bill for our students. I hope that we will be able to send you some others next September or October. I sincerely hope we will have the pleasure of seeing you in America again very soon.

            We have lost by fire our beautiful Church of St. Michael’s in New Haven and we have been obliged to reopen the old one for the present. We will begin rebuilding immediately. The second Italian church in New Haven will soon be ready for dedication – also a temporary church in Bridgeport will also be ready. The new church in Waterbury will accommodate

1,200 persons. Fr. Duncan, former chancellor, is taking good care of the Italians in Middleton and Fr. Coleman, recently home from Rome, cares for those in Danbury. When our three young priests from Piacenza return, we will be well able to look after places where the Italians are numerous. We now have ten priests looking after their interests. Many of our priests understand Italian and are always ready to attend to their calls. Let us hope that you, my Lord, have been able to awaken the other Bishops of Italy to the necessity of giving these people instruction.⁸ You know that most of our Italians come from Naples, Calabria and Sicily. These people, I am sorry to say, have received little instruction and hence think lightly of missing Holy Mass.

            Praying God to grant you health and strength and a Holy & Happy New Year, I remain,

Yours very sincerely in XT,

M. Tierney, Bishop of Hartford