"Opening these volumes, the first thing that strikes us is the vast energy, the indomitable resolution, the all-embracing zeal of this great prelate. No subject affecting the interests of Catholics was beneath his notice. The collection of such a vast pile of materials is in itself an arduous and laborious task, and when collected the arrangement and collation of the documents were a work of time and trouble, requiring both judgment and discrimination; both these qualities are apparent in the contents of the two large volumes before us."
—New-York Tablet.
"The editor deserves great credit for the care, industry, and taste with which he prepared his work."
Baltimore Catholic Mirror.
"This is one of the most carefully prepared, as well as most interesting, contributions to American and Catholic history."
—Boston Pilot.
"Every Catholic should provide himself with a copy of the works, because they are the history, almost, of the Church in her infancy in the Eastern States."
—Cincinnati Catholic Telegraph.
"Take him all in all, Archbishop Hughes was the greatest man that the Catholic Church has yet produced in this country, and his writings must have a deep interest for all the members of his communion."
—Chicago Republican.
"There is a fund of instruction in his writings alike to the Christian and the worldling, the Protestant and the Catholic."
—Daily News.
"The work of the editor appears to have been done in a manner worthy of the highest commendation."
—Pittsburg Catholic.
"Every Catholic household should have the work."
—Irish American.
"This work gives his speeches and discourses in full. These will be sought for by multitudes of his admirers."
—New-York Freeman's Journal.