 Ordained priest in 1847, he devoted himself to the confessional, preaching, and various charitable enterprises, but also to ecclesiastical studies, giving especial attention to ecclesiastical history.He was particularly drawn to Peter Damian, Catherine of Siena, Philip Neri, and Alphonsus Liguori, 
whose biographies he wrote.He attacked Ernest Renan's "Life of Christ", then widely circulated in Italy, and afterwards himself published a "Life of Jesus Christ".