The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1958-08-29

corner. He Joined The Equal
Rights Party, an outgrowsh
of the Democratic orssnixs-
fion in New York City. The
firsthand knowledge he gath
cred Of politics and IFS inner
workings convinced him that
mere political effort was not
enough. Below the political
question was the social issue.
Then before the close of the
year 1841, he met Orestes.
Brownson. This man, more than
any other. was destined to exer-
else tremendous influence over
Hecker, particularly in the next
three years of his life.
In him Hecker found a kin
bred soul. Because of him Heck
err began to investigate the Ger.
man philosophers. From him
Hecker received a new under
standing of Christ.
Months later he was plunged
into the spiritual struggle that
tormented his soul r~elentlessly
for the next two years. From
1842 until 1874, the social prob
lens that had consumed his in
terest were suddenly and alb
ruptly absorbed by this interior
personal struggle.
1t was decidedly a religious
one, but what it was or why it
was frankly puzzled and mysti-
fled him.
With the advice of Brownson
and the permission of his fam
lily. Isaac Hecker went to Brook
Farm, a sociological experiment
at West Roxbury, eight miles
from Boston, undertaken by
;IGeorge Ripley and his wife to-
gether with others. Hecker stud
led, worked. entered into the
. discussions and prayed. After
almost eight months here, out
side of a brief two weeks in
Fruitlands, another such exper
|. iment sponsored by Bronson AL
,cott, he returned to New York
in August of 1843.
4 While Brook Farm did no
! bring about a solution for him, j
Ibid give Hecker opportunity fol
: organized study as well as facil
J ity to express his thoughts more
: clearly and forcibly. His ascetic
ism deepened so that now HI
-lived almost exclusively on I;
I diet of grains, fruits, nuts ant
, water.
In April Of 1914 he return
cd again TO solitude and stud.
les but this time with . def.
inifs aim ahead Of him. Al.
: ready convinced that the
> Church was The only orgsni-
zstion capable Of directing him
toward whatever he was be-
: ing drawn TO, he must decide
which one II would be and
Then prepare for ministry In
II. Avoiding ths Trsnsesndenf.
alists with whom he had lived
The previous year. he boarded
in The house Of Thoreavs At
Concord and began his Stud
!, les under George Bradford.
On June 10, after a long in
terview with Bishop John Fit
patrick in Boston, he made hi
decision to enter the Catholi
, Church. He came back to New
York the end of that month, an,
!. within four days he had tn
first of his four stimulatin
sessions of discussion with Bisf
Top McCloskey. Then on Angus
IL, 1874, Isaac Hecker was receiv
ed into the Catholic Church j
old st. Patrick's Cathedral.
Two years later in the RI
demptorist novitiate at st. Iron
in Belgium, Hecker, now prepal
ing for the priesthood, was abb
to write to his mother an e,
Iplanation of the mental strui
gle-for at last he understood
The road God had made hir
travel was no ordinary roat
Reading his description of II
one recognizes something of tn
mystic's language in it. Infu.
ing into his heart a consumin
love, God kept it hidden from hi
knowledge so that while thi
love was at work despoiling hi
heart of everything that was nc
God, Hecker was conscious onl
of the change being wrough
In him without understandin
, its cause.
81 With his novitiate completed
|. Hecker was sent by his supel
Tors for his clerical studies. fir.
: Ito Wittem, Holland, for tw
. years, and then for one year j
= Chaplain, outside London, En-
land.
n This period of time is anoths
=. amazing revelation of Gods a
tivity in the soul of Hecker. S
|. completely dominated and Al
sorbed were his mental facu
I ties by the spiritual experience
.she underwent, he found stud
B. impossible. His fellow student
Df at times, treated him as a fo'
II and ridiculed him. His superio,
10 sympathetically recognized h
!, intense effort to try to study b,
wondered in their perplexi
what they could do with hir
= He was, as he said himse
later, "a kind Of scandal in Il
- house." He took care of the sic
of worked among the brothers
u