Father General Wlodimir Ledochowski had followed the tradition of leaving a letter naming a vicar general to govern the Society until a general congregation could be convoked. On the night after the general's death it was read to the staff of the Curia assembled in the chapel. To their consternation they learned that he had not chosen Father Schurmans whom he had made vicar general four years previously but Alessio Magni, the Italian Assistant. Father Magni was almost as old as Father Ledochowski himself and he was to govern the Society for only 16 months. It is to him, however, that Jesuits owe the decree creating the present New York Province on the Feast of the Sacred Heart in 1943. Father Magni died on April 12, 1944, two months before the liberation of Rome.