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Show ' JwC ICQ IBB fflffWKB UBS i 1 SSS f ; POPE LEO XIII AS HE AFFF .lUS AT THE OPEICLNG OP THE HEW r - CEN-TUKY AND WHO WILL 3E 90 'SJEARS OF AGE 023- MAPvCH 2, 1900. !Thp (iovotion r.f Catholic Ireland to thf succ(-i-?sive ncetijiants of the See of JVtor is lyin.-r n-ady to hand for ar.y-lx.dy ar.y-lx.dy who is in search of a superb illustration il-lustration -of steadfastness ar.J unwavering unwav-ering fidelity. It is the fashion with ciitics of our Celtic race to say that we are erratic, and that we cannot sH our teeth in a purpose with anything- like buU-dop: tchaefly. Our cour-ase cour-ase is unquesi'ioriable. we are told, but it is a courage which exhausts' itself in the transient plory and irresistibility irresistibil-ity of a mad and overmastering charge, our spa iodic recklessness, according to the frank and exalted censors, is inacniticent. but it is not war. This estimate of our will power and of our capacity to adhere with a fixed re-j re-j solve to a principle or a cause, does not j j. awaken in its any serious1 measure of ' self-accusation or many vexed heart- Fearchings. For ourselves- we are content con-tent to pli; aJrifr towards the goal of our national hopes. surtaincd by a ! ra.liant faith that we cannot be alto- 1 Kelhcr witiiout strenuousness of char- j acter. or d-"ggedriess1 of intention, when the ' hildron of our race have to-their j . cuoit. as they unquestionably have, a j loyalty to the ideals of national free- 1 lom, and to th- seitk-d convictions of j conscience, which has an unbrcken con- j tinuity of centuries behind it. ' Those settled convictions of con- 1 science have linked us pretty closely I and affectinnj tely to the Papacy and j all that appertains to it. Between Ire- land and the Pcpes in Rome there hap j been an attachment which no aecumu-I aecumu-I lation of temptations, or terrors, in the share of bribery, corruption or penal laws, could ever shake or weaken. It i were idle at this hour, in citing proofs ! of this attachment, to travers-2 the I time, with all its happenings, which i melted into history from the day when Hugh O'Neill, blind and broken-heart- eJ, found his final earthly rest in the I Franciscan ' Church f San Pietro di j Montorio, down to those later days which saw the defense of Spoleto and i the fight of Castlefidardo. It is enough i ! to know that Ireland is familiar with i the story and that, bsing familiar with j it, she cannot be indifercnt to any au-j au-j thority that speaks to us of the Hetid ; of the Church and his associations and purroundines. Kench Irish readers will find much to interest them in a brightly written and charmingly illustrated volume which has just been published by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, and which bears the title "Pope Leo XIII: His Life and Work." The author of the book is M. Julien De Xarfon, and we are indebted for the present translation trans-lation from the French original to Air. G. A. Rapc-r. Monsieur De Xarfon reveals re-veals to us a singularly sweet and striking individuality. His character I sketch of the present Pope, the way in which he tells the life story of Gioac-chimo Gioac-chimo Vincenzo Raffaello Luigi Pecci, and the pleasant, gossipy manner in which he pictures for us the organization organiza-tion of the Vatican makes him an exceedingly ex-ceedingly entertaining and instructive guide to follow. We have here no formidable for-midable analysis' of Church policy, no subtle interpretation of weighty utterances utter-ances which have from time to time been sent forth to the world from the halls of the Vatican. M. De Xarfon has contented himself with giving us a simple, unpretentious narrative which all who run may read. We rise from the perusal of the book with a figure fixed in our mind of a devoted son and brother, an indefatigable student, a hard working priest, a wise ruler, an accomplished statesman. Leo the Thirteenth Thir-teenth appears in these pages gentle, patient, far-seeing, with a will firm and resolute, when the occasion demanded firmness ar.el resolution. This strength of character and resoluteoess1 of will j revealed themselves at an early period :n his career. In the 2nd of February, IS;1S, when he was not yet 28 years of age, Gregory the Sixteenth appointed Monsignor Pecci, as he then was. Papal Pa-pal Delegate to the province of Bene-vento. Bene-vento. This province was part of the old Kingdom of Xaples and not far from the capital. ' It was a prey to urigandage of the worst type. High and low, alike, noble and peasant, lent themselves to this nefarious system. The new Papal administrator at once set himself to cope w.ith this epidemic of illegality. The necessity for prompt and vigorous action against the brigands bri-gands was shown clearly enough by their increased audacity. Scarcely had Monsignor Pecci set his foot in Bene-; Bene-; vento when he was' seized l5y a serious I illness. The brigands were convinced j that the new delegate would have quite j enough to do to re-establish his health. They reckoned without' their host. To-quote To-quote M. De Xarfon's words: "Monsignor "Mon-signor Pecci began by satisfying himself him-self that the Pontificial troops could be relied upon. He then drew up his plans of campaign with the utmost secrecy. se-crecy. He obtained the fullest information infor-mation of the districts in which brigandage bri-gandage chietty nourished, and despatched des-patched columns cf troops, led by reliable re-liable and experienced guides. The result soon surpassed all expectations. Most of the robber chiefs were arrested ar-rested and their gangs dispersed. With a view to restoring confidence among the people, Monsignor Pecci had the dreaded chiefs loaded with chains and j marched through the streets of the city. ! He also took care that all the sentences I passed by the courts were carried out to the letter. And brigandage died out, for want of brigands." Having thus dealt successfully with the lesser criminals, crim-inals, the delegate turned his attention tn tl-io ru-m-c-i-f ill nnVoa -u-Virv n't rl-i r.il nn the brigand business on a larger scale, openly holding person and property for ransom, smuggling incessantly, and often appearing at the head of their armed forces on the main roads. Amongst other developments a fierce struggle between the Custom officers and the smugglers ensued. One of the I nobles having complained against the Revenue officers for making a search on his premises, Monsignor Pecci quietly quiet-ly pointed out that the laws were made I for rich and poor alike, and that everyone every-one mupt submit to thenu "Very good," exclaimed the Marquis, the title ) held by the complainant, "I shall go to Rome at once, and I shall not return until I have obtained the recall of the Benever.to delegate." "The Benevento delegate does not in the least desire to prevent your going," quietly replied Mgr. Pecci. "He merely wishes to remind re-mind you that you cannot reach the Vatican without going through the Castle of St. Angelo." M. de Xarfon adivf: "The threat contained in these words was; not lost on the titleel adven-I adven-I turer. The prospect of an enforced stay in the celebrated fortress had no charms for him. Instead of proceeding proceed-ing to the Eternal City, he returned post haste to his chateau and prepared to defend it. The Pontificial troops made their appearance a few days afterwards, af-terwards, and captured the place as the result of a regular siege." Such energy soon told and in a few months the province pro-vince was cleared of the bandits who had infected it for years. A letter-written letter-written at this time to h;S brother Charles, sums up admirably the character char-acter which the . then delegate has borne from the Benevento days down to the present. In this letter the future Popp said: "The affairs of the province are now in order, and the opinion of the majority, of the people I mean, is in my favor. Duty is my guide, and I make it my rule never to have my hands tied by personal considerations. These tactics do not greatly please the upper classes, but they have earned me the reputation of a iriend of jusitice, and they satisfy the public and my own conscience." This reputation of being a friend cf. justice is one that Pope Leo the XIII has never lost s'nee 1S38. I have said that the delegate to Benevento Ben-evento was not yet twcr.ty-eight years of age when he received the appointment appoint-ment of delegate at the hands of Gregory Greg-ory the XVI. Joachim Pecci, to give him the familiar abbreviation' of his name, was born in Carpirieto, an ancient an-cient town of the Volscians,- on the 2nel UL JUcMCIl, J.-3J.U. Jlio lauifl was VOUIlt Ludovico Pecci, and through his mother, moth-er, Anna Prosperi Bust, who belonged to one of the twelve patrician families of Cori, a small town near Carpineto, the Pope is descended from Rienzi, the famous Roman tribune, the hero of Bulwer Lytton's novel. Many distinguished distin-guished politicians, diplomatists and soldiers can be traced amongst the Pope's paternal ancestors. More than this, the Pecci family have contributed two paints to the calendar the Blessed Bles-sed Pietro Pecci, founder or the Order of the Hermits of St. Jerome, and the Blessed Margherita Pecci. of the Servitors Servi-tors of Mary. Bernardini Pecci, a missionary mis-sionary in India, occupied an honoreel j place on the Jesuit martyr-roll. Coun- i tess Pecci, who was a lady of great I piety, repoiced to note that an early 1 date her son showed not only a taste for pronounced study but a disposition ! towards religion. In the October quar- ; ter of ISIS Joachim Pecci entered the College kept at Viterbo by the Jesuit ; Fathers. Writing to the Countess in j April, 1S20, Father Ubaldini, the rector : of the college, says of her son: "Vin- j SPinzionf Ktitl hptiaves admiroWw ' is quite a little angel."- In Xovember, 1824, the young stuelent entered the Roman Ro-man College, in which there were 1,400 pupil's. Here he remained for seven years studying literature, science, philosophy phil-osophy and theology with an unflagging unflag-ging ardour. One of his fellow-students writing later on' of this period of Joachim Pecci's school days, says: "During his studies in Tiorne he had neither society nor a; usement. His desk, was his world, p -ntifie. investigation investi-gation his paradise.'" Havin" passed with distinction through the academy of the Nobility, which he entered on the 15th of Xovember, 1832, he was ordained or-dained priest by Cardinal Odescalch;, on the 31st of December, 1P37. I have already noted that, a month later, on the 2nd of February, 1838, Father Pecci was despatched as Papal delegate to the province of Benevento. After three years spent in Benevento Mgr. Pecci was transferred as delegate to" Perugia, and then, at the commencement of 1843, he was appointed Nuncio at Brussels, in succession to Mgr. Fornari. w ho had beon changed to the Paris Nunciature. Before leaving for Brussels he newly-appointed Nuncio was proclaimed ArchbisQiop of Damietta by the Pope. On reaching the Belgian capital, the Archbishop found himself face to face with an extremely difficult, if not critical, criti-cal, situation. The Belgian government and the Belgian Catholic Bishops were point blank at variance over an education educa-tion bill passed in 1S42. It was a case that called for the exercise of the most delicate tact and skill, but the prudence pru-dence and judgment of Archbishop Pecci Pec-ci were more than equal to the emergency. emer-gency. With the adroit touch of a consummate con-summate master of diplomacy, from the very beginning to the end of his term of office, he smoothed away all ' resentments, straightened out all en- tanglements, and recoiled every oppos- ' in.g force. Keen and deep was the regret felt and expressed on all hands, : by the eBlgian government as well as by the Belgian Catholics, when, after three years, the Xuncio was recalled to Italy to rule over the See of Perugia, Peru-gia, where he had formerly acted as Papal delegate. He was proclaimed Bishop of Perugia, and created Cardinal Car-dinal in petto on the IDth of January, 1S46, but he did not receive the purple robe until the consistory of the 19th of December, 18.",;;. He was acting Bishop of Perugia when, on the 14th of December, 1MJ0. the city was captured cap-tured by an army of 15,000 Piedmonteee, under General de Sonnaz, who at once proceeded to take possession of the Bishop's Seminary and Palace. Perugia Peru-gia enjoyed the beneficent rule of its beloved Bishop for the long term of thirty-two years, at the end of which period, in 1877, Cardinal Pecci, removing remov-ing to Rome, took up his resielence in the Falsonieri Palace, and was installed install-ed as Camerlengo of the Sacred College, an office which made him permanent head cf the financial department of the Apostolic See. Pius the IX dieel on the 7th of February, 1878, and on the 20th I ot the serene month the Conclave of Cardinals, by forty-four votes out of sixty, called Joachim Pecci to the Chair of the Fisherman. Twenty-one years have now elapsed since that memorable event in the lif-; I of the Church, and Leo the XIII stands on the threshold of his nineteenth year. Time and death have made sad gaps in the ranks of his friends and contemporaries. contem-poraries. Of the congregation of Cardinals Car-dinals composing the. Conrlove of 1S78, only five beyond himself are now alive. Yet he rules the world-wide dominion of Catholicity with a vigor and a wis-dow wis-dow which almost tempt us to believe that the gift of perpet-I perpet-I ual youth has fallen to his lot. j The responsibility which rests upon his shoulders in the secular department de-partment alone for his government is something enormous. The mere administration admin-istration of church affairs in Rome itself it-self entails an annual expenditure of 250,000. This large sum is apportioned as follows: Cardinals and diplomatic representatives, 20,000; maintenance of the Vatican anel its dependencies, in the shape of libraries, museums, etc., 100.000: Papal charities and subsidies to Catholic schools in Rome, 60.000; presents anel grants in aid, 60.000: various expenses, 40,000. The pay of the little Pontifical army comes, of course, under the head of maintenance of the Vatican. The sum required in this connection is comparatively small, tre- pontifical arms now consisting of only three corps of Guards the Noble Guard, the Palatine Guard and the Swiss Guard and a body of gendarmes. Te Swiss Guard alone consists of 100 officers and men, all tall, and all natives, na-tives, of Catholic cantons. Their sole duty is to keep guard at the outer doors and in the corridors of the Vatican. Vati-can. Their pay is only 50 lire per t of this snail sum they have to provide one meal per day. The Noble Guard is drawn entirely from the Roman aristocracy, and the Palatine Pala-tine Gutard from the lower middle class. Every candidate for the Noble Guard must belong to a family of at sixty years' recognized nobility in the Papal states, and he must also prove that he has a capital of S00, and that his constitution is good. These Noble ''""f' ennot many without the consent con-sent of their commanding officer. The entire strength of the Pontifical army amounts to 600 officers and men, "the smallest physical force," as M. Julien de Narfon observes, "at the service o the greatest moral force in the world." Hov snlendidly Leo XIII has guided and sustained that moral force is known to the universe at large. Rarely, Rare-ly, if ever, in the history of the Papacy Pa-pacy has there been a stronger instance of the piety, the simplicity, the self-denial of the Saint going hand in hand with the genius of the statesman. He took his seat in St. Peter's chair when formidable dangers menaced the church. He applied himself to the task of overcoming those dangers with un- , erring wisdom and complete success. 1 King Victor Emmanuel had died just a month before the Pontiff whom he had l'viw V j, Mti 'Z.i -' 1 IfeS' jfrTx s'- XMf i ik PI pfeif A mm $ M'felii If Z&iA ra -fee? fr. A.ft, -st -. ,iWJ.v.. i i . - ; V CARDINAL CIROLAMO HARIA GCTTI, VHCT,I LEO XIII FAVORS AS HIS SUCCESSOR TN THE CHAIR OF PETER. Rome, Dec. 31. It is asserted that thepope, after the recent ceremony of opening the holy door at St. Peter's cathedral, addressed his intimate entourage and said: , "I thank Divine Providence for granting me the grace cf being able to celebrate this great function, and I wish for my successor grandeur and long reign, to the greater glory of God. "My successor will be young, as compared with my own age, and will have time to see many glories of the papacy and the church." Later, Leo clearly designated Carelinal Cirolemano Maria Gotti. prefect of the congregation of indulgences and sacred relics, as his successor. Cardinal Car-dinal Gotti, the famous Genoese monk, is a man of great piety anel modesty. Now about 64 years of age, he always li-ved the life of an ascetic, and elespite the dignity of a prince of the church, he always sleeps in a cell and on a hard mattress. i n despoiled, and it was generally believed j that the Italian government had elaborated elab-orated a scheme for the occupation of the Vatican immediately on the death of Pius IX. That bae calculation miscarried, thanks largely to the indomitable in-domitable courage and masculine statesmanship of the present Pope. It was a crisis that called for a strong brain and an iron will. None saw this more clearly than the Cardinals who met in the conclave of 1S78. At that conclave, the story goes. Cardinal Bi-lio Bi-lio supported the candidature of Cardinal Car-dinal Martinelli, as Pope, on the ground that he was "a saint." "If j Cardinal Martinelli is a saint," replied i Cardinal Bartolini, who supported the candidature of Cardinal Pecci. "let him pray for us; but a saint is not what we want at the head of the church just now." The good Cardinal, most assuredly assur-edly ,did not mean by this to cast any reflection on Cardinal Pecci'3 piety; j what, he meant to convey was that, in, addition to his ecclesiastical qualifications, qualifica-tions, the wide experience that the latter lat-ter had gained as delegate? to Benevento Beneven-to and Perugia, and as Nuncio to Belgium, Bel-gium, had given him a grasp of the character and ,neces3ities of civil government gov-ernment that would prove invaluable in the moulding and direction of the Papal policy. As the event proved the majority of the Cardinals took the same view as Cardinal Bartolini. When his election had become an accomplished accom-plished fact the new Pope was asked to give the name by which he desired to be known. "As Leo XIII," was the reply, "in. remembrance of Leo XII, whom I have always venerated." The veneration, which in this reply the Pope testified to feeling for the twelfth Leo, is destined to find its parallel in the veneration which to all time the Catholic world will bestow on the name and character of Leo XIIL |