relief efforts in the South. He also took a special interest in the spiritual welfare of newly freed African Americans. Writing to Archbishop John McCloskey, he said, "Four million of these unfortunates are thrown on our charity, and they silently but eloquently appeal to us for help." He invited Rev. Herbert Vaughan and the Mill Hill Fathers from England to minister exclusively among freedmen. In October 1866, he presided over the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore. First Vatican Council In 1867, Spalding visited Rome to participate in the centenary celebration of the martyrdom of St. Peter. He returned to Rome two years later to attend the First Vatican Council, where he was a member of the Commission on Faith and of the Commission on Postulata'' which had to examine all the matters proposed for deliberation before they were presented to the Council. While he firmly believed in papal infallibility, Spalding initially considered that its dogmatic definition would be unnecessary and inexpedient. Instead, he favored an implicit over an explicit definition, as he believed the latter would likely "excite controversies now slumbering and almost extinct." However, Spalding reversed his mind on the necessity of an explicit definition of infallibility after being drawn into a dispute with Bishop Félix Dupanloup and after the governments of France, Germany, Italy, and Spain joined forces in opposition to a definition. He stated, "I should regard as the greatest misfortune of my life to have contributed in any way whatever to cause even a single one of my brothers to falter in perfect obedience to the authority of the Church." Immediately after the final vote on infallibility, he addressed a pastoral letter to Baltimore, in which he explained the necessity of such a definition and attacked its numerous misrepresentations. He then visited Savoy and Switzerland to regain his health, expecting to return to Rome when the Council reassembled. However, the capture of Rome by King Victor Emmanuel II made this impossible, and Spalding returned home. Spalding, who suffered from poor health throughout his life, became greatly impaired in his final years. A short time before Christmas 1871, he went to New York to attend a meeting of bishops. On his return home, he caught a severe cold which developed into an acute form of bronchitis. He died over a month later at age 61, and was buried in the crypt of the Cathedral of the Assumption.