Career
He became the first President of Boston College. He was ordained priest, 31 December 1846, after the usual course of studies and teaching. He arrived in New York in 1848 and, ignorant of English, was sent to minister to the Native Americans at Old Town, Maine.
They had been without a priest for twenty years.
He founded several temperance societies in Maine. In 1850 he left Old Town for Eastport.
His work immediately began to attract attention, both for its results among Catholics and the number of converts who were brought into the Church. As his missions covered a large extent of territory, he became generally known through the State.
When the Know-Nothing excitement broke out he was at Ellsworth.
He moved to Bangor. The Ellsworth town meeting passed a resolution threatening him bodily if he returned. He did return on a brief visit in October 1854 and was attacked by ruffians, tarred and feathered, and ridden on a rail to the woods outside the town.
The outrage at Ellsworth met with general condemnation across Maine and New England.
