The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-03-07
d" Professional Amenities. %

The strongest instance of the professional
sentiment have ever heard of came under
my notice a few days back. 1t was in Roman
newspaper, and ran to this purport His Ho-
lmess the Pope, not content with writing an
autograph letter to Madame LamOriciere, full
OF atfsctionate coincidence on her husbands
death, has also bestowed upon her-what
think yon? You viii probably say, pension
to recompence the services OF the ilustrious
soldier Pa palace at Rome TO reside in ?-Some
priceless gem from the Vatican? None of
these. The sentiment of his calling was too
strong IN his holiness to descend into SUCH
mundane channels; his gift was infinitely more
precious and more appropriate-he sent her
the bones of a martyr from the catacombs +
1t was, unfortunately, an unknown saint: but
with tact that only the church can inspire.
apd an empressenae1t that bespoke the COURT.
er as well as the caurchman, he christened
the unknown CHRISTOPHER - Lamoriciere,s
name-so that even id MON enclature tbe gan
was filled up, and the measure of Consolation
rendered brlmiuls iHssf 1-lI1
do not know whether ladies in general, or
widows in particular, will agree with his holt
ness, and think that a saints bones are equal
TO hesh-and-biood husband, and whether
the happiness of a married life can be as well
cared tor by denizcn of the catacombs as by
creature of this breathing world. aa 900
My concern here Is simply with the Pope's
part OF this transaction. If his holiness takes
very exalted estimate of the consoling DOW
ers of sanity osteology, is it rot clear that he
takes proportionateiy humble one of con-
nubal bliss? If the Christopher of the cata-
combs be not a worthy successor of Christie
pher the general, The gift would SAVIOR of an
unfeeling ptaisante,fe. Why recall the per-
sonality if not TO replace it? .,isa sg''l,71Y
The well-known song tells Us, with less cal
lantry than we like, that the Pope leads 4
happy Life" by reason of his celbacy; was his
present on this occasion, thus, sly irtima-
ton OF the fact-a gentle hint-that MARRIAGE
was sham, poor thing, nothing in it? Al
send you another Christopher; you'll see he'll
do just as well as his predecessor" IF the
theory be correct, and far be it from me to i'm
pugn the justice of what emanates from such
source, what a stock of consolation does IL
open to humanity, and what real blessing
to widows will his Holiness bel y ~ ~
Might 1t not, however, be a grave question
in the plesent embarrassed condition of the
Papal exchequer, how far his Holiness was
warranted IN such munihcence? The adaoe
teaches us that generosity should follow ms
tlce; why not, then, utilize these martyrs p
Every Que might not be rich enough TO buy an
entire Christopher, but humerus or a tibia
might be bought within the means OF mod
crate fortune.
1 have no doubt that they would be ponula-
can even imagine the thousands OF letters
that would pour in from released affection
vouching for the comfort they had obtained
since they had awaited themselves of 3the
bones; and / can fancy the cardinal secreta-
ry coming into the share-narket for loan.
on the guaranty, thai, to use the language
OF petroleum, promises to be inexhalIstibie.n
What a mass Of TESTIMONIALS would cover
Antonelli's table? What shoals of letters in
the usual style? "Since have used the iyer-
tebral your eminence was kind enough to
send me;'-or ssince the arrival of the blessed
femora, have found my rest at night consi,l-
erabiy improved, and my appetite better:n or
"with the aid of the holy shin-bone now
take my usual walks" DC Talk of Peters
Pence, indeed! Here is mine OF more than
Californian wealth. The catacombs are said
to contain hundreds of thousands of saints.
only needing to be rechristenad and distribute
ed. Even should his holiness not yield to the
financial aspect of the question, can he reject
the moral! Can he bring himself TO lock I'M
this fountain of unbounded consolation? Can
he see widowhood around him in sorrow. and
not offer the solace of even false lib ?'' e
don't believe it. believe he will be act,,-
ally forced to become a comforter. If "Chris-
topher" be success, the Pope viii be besieeed
with applications which he vii, not be able to
resist. lin -.N FT
One lesson the incident strongly fmpresses
upon rs, which is, that 10 making celibacy the
rule of the church, the priests do not, in their
own estimation, impose upon themselves a
heavy sacrifice. If all that the connubial
state Offers can be replaced by the catacombs,
the Pope is better Off than the SULTAN
lBlackWoOd's Mapazine. ~ r.. ,-esi59. -