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Show Anecdote of the Pope. An anecdote of the election of Pius X, which but now conies to light shows in what spirit Cardinal Sarto ascended the throne of Peter. One morning during dur-ing the conclave, when the majority of the cardinals had decided to vote for Cardinal Sarto to replace the great Leo XIII, a certain prince of the church was charged by his colleagues to repair re-pair to the cell occupied bythe Patriarch of Venice and inform him of the fact. But Cardinal Sarto returned a message that their votes should be given to another; an-other; that he would never consent to be next Pope. "Wili Your Eminences send me to Cardinal Sarto? The last word is not said yet," asked Cardinal Satolli when this discouraging reply reached th'j august body. And a long conversation between the two cardinals followed in the ceil of the Patriarch. Cardinal Sarto was still obdurate. However, Cardinal Car-dinal Satolli had another trump card to play, and that no less than the authority au-thority of the great doctor of the church, St. Thomas of Aquin. If that failed, all was lost. "When the almost unanimous choice of an assembly," argued Cardinal Cardi-nal Satolli from the works of the Angelic An-gelic Doctor, "falls on one man, especially es-pecially for a position so elevated a3 is that of the Papacy, it is a sign that that man is chosen by Divine Providence, Provi-dence, and he cannot reject the choice made without opposing the will of God Himself." And five minutes later the great theologian theo-logian came out to the body of cardinals car-dinals with triumph beaming on his countenance. It had not been the first good service. |