In a rather agitated correspondence between Emperor Francis Joseph and Pope Pius IX in 1874, Pius IX highly praised the members of the Austrian episcopate, who, in his opinion, had, through their noble leadership, performed excellent work in helping the monarch to accomplish his goals. He asked, moreover, whether anyone could cite a single deed of a Catholic priest that could be used as a pretext for abrogating the concordat which the Austrian government had made with the Church in 1855 and denounced in July, 1870.