"Volumus autem, ut occasio et materia tibi auferatur vagandi, quad extra Corkagen. et Clonen. civitates illarumque Dioeceses etiam de licentia Episcoporum locorum ordinariorum Pontificalia officia exercere nequeas, decernentes irritum et inane quidquid secus per te actum et gestum fuerit" (_Ex Secret. Brevium Romae_). Dr. Tanner was consecrated bishop in Rome, and subsequently tarried during the winter months in the Eternal City, laying up spiritual treasures for his future mission. On the 10th of April, 1575, special faculties were granted to him, and he was, moreover, empowered to exercise them not only in his own united Dioceses of Cork and Cloyne, but also "throughout the whole Province of Dublin, of which he was a native (_universae provinciae Dublinensis ex qua exoriundus_), as well as throughout the whole province of Munster, so long as the various Archbishops and Bishops were obliged by the fury of the persecution to be absent from their respective sees (Ex. _Sec. Brev._). About the middle of May the same year, he set out from the Seven Hills to assume the charge assigned to him, and the great Pontiff Gregory XIII. wished to accompany him with the following commendatory letter, dated 12th of May, 1575:-- "Universis et singulis Episcopis atque aliis Praelatis ad quos hae nostrae litterae pervenerint, salutem et Apostolicam benedictionem. "Ut Nos commendatissimos habemus viros eos quos pietate atque integritate praestare intelligimus, sic cupimus eos nostris in Christo fratribus ac filiis esse summopere commendatos, huncque animum cum omnibus pietate et virtute praeditis tum vero venerabilibus fratribus Episcopis ut ordine ipso sic charitate Nobis conjunctissimis Nos debere cognoscimus. In his est venerabilis frater Edmundus Episcopus Corcagiensis qui a Nobis discedit ut in patriam revertatur. Erit igitur Nobis gratissimum, si eum in hac peregrinatione quam commendatissimum habebitis, vestroque ubi opus esse intelligetis favore complectemini: Datum Romae apud S. Petrum sub annulo Piscatoris die 12 Maii 1575, Pontif. Nostri an. tertio". (_Theiner_, _Annals_, ii. 133).