the western New York seminary. Abraham Ryan soon began to express his opposition to the abolitionist movement which had gained strength in the Northeast. He joined in sentiments expressed by Catholic bishops and editors in the United States in that period, who felt threatened by the anti-Catholic opinions voiced by the leadership of the Abolitionists. His writings in that period began to express suspicion of Northern goals. Possibly for that reason, Ryan was sent back to St. Mary of the Barrens, as their superiors might have decided to keep the brothers separated. During the winter of 1860, Ryan gave a lecture series through which he started to gain notice as a speaker. He was ordained a deacon that summer after which he was chosen to accompany a group of Vincentian priests on a preaching tour of the rural parishes of the region in order to revive devotion to the faith. His abilities as a preacher gained wide approval, and his superiors decided to have him ordained a priest earlier than was the normal age under church law. Having gained the permission of the Holy See, on September 12, 1860, he was ordained a priest. The ceremony took place at his home parish in St. Louis, with the ordination being performed by the Bishop of St. Louis, Peter Richard Kenrick, with his mother and siblings in attendance. Ryan spent the rest of the summer on another preaching tour, this time in the company of his Provincial Superior. Conflict arose during the course of the tour as the superior felt that Ryan's preaching was not fully spiritually centered, and Ryan felt the criticism keenly. As a new priest, he was assigned to teach theology at St. Mary's of the Barrens. He was also listed in 1860–61 on the faculty roster of St. Vincent's College in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Founded in 1843, St. Vincent's was the forerunner of De Paul University in Chicago, now the nation's largest Catholic university. Frequent bouts of illness, however, kept Ryan confined to bed until the following spring. It was at that time that the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln took place. Ryan was so incensed at being called by the same name as the new president, whom he despised, that he began to use the shortened version by which he had been called as a boy, the form by which he became known in history. In the Fall