Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1873-04-23
The Pope.

The malady which at intervals for
the last twenty years has afflicted the
Pope, returned upon him lately with
increased severity, and lie is proba-
bly, dead. At four score and two
years, his established frame could
offer little opposition to disease.
Pope PINK TX. has occupied the Pou-
tifical chair longer than any of his
predecessors: near two years longer,
indeed, than have been been ascribed
to Peter himself. Among his prcdc-
cessors, MANY have directed the af-
fairs of the Church with more vigor,
some with more wisdom, but none
with more unswerving fidelity to tia
traditions, or a more constant and
Jealous assertion of its supreme au-
thority. To all sncroachments from
whatever quarter, lie has opposed a
passive but ~intlexiblc resistance,
yielding up his temperatures only to
force, denying the validity of the Sc
to enforce civil authority and juris-
diction over them. lie has constant
ly refused the princely annuity which
Victor Emanuel desired to bestow
upon him, and has vainly and repeat-
edly sought to force into his hands.
To Bismarck's sweeping Punishment
from Prussian territory of the Jcsu-
its, he replied with denunciations
and anaihemas as stern as if his voice
was still winged with the ter
rors of Hildebrand or Sixtus. He
has seen his priests and bishops shot
by n sans cutotte rabble in France.
and the Catholic system of education
even in faithful Autrsia, tc srnIy
o%vcrhauled by the hand of Imperia
authority. He has patiently and
mildly withstood all onsets of rcyo-
lutionists, of armed kings, ofatl,eists,
of savagea and remorselessG othicprime
ministers-cven the treachcrv and
ENVIRONMENTS of his own court-and
the m of rest eau but have
come TO the old Poutifl with n voice
Of bencdiction. He leaves the Church
menaccd with surrounding perils-
indeed, more stormilv hcleaguered
than at any time during his pontifi-
cate but it is possible that, though
he failed to discern the black thun-
der pillows which wrap the base of
the temple in which lie has minister
ed, his aged eyes, as they passed, saw
lapobS LItiA thS SlOsS hllullllS W ltIl
the umclOudcd midday beam. All
he priests ofthat venerable Churcl,
qclievc in the eternity Oft duration
and that, whatever perils from time
to time encompass it, they are only
transient and soon pass away. 1t is
likely that this faith in which Pho
Mono has all his life SO steadfastly
abode. can, to some extent, mitigate
the pain with which he leaves the
Church shorn O. its temporal poses
%sions, its authority deridcd when it
used to be obeycd, and its societies
oppressed and cxiled. lie passes
away dreaming a diving dream that
the old splendors and terrors ofPon-
titical Rome may yet kindlc upon her
domes and speak from her cathedrals.
History will accord to him the char
ac'cr of having striven to preserve
undiminshed the authority OF the
Church. and to uphold its haughticst
and most arrogant pretensions; but,
as he toiled against the spirit of the
age in which lie lived, he of course
did not entirely succeed. But he will
leave a memory of bcnignity and
sal .'tly mildncss and gentleness which
will I've tcnderlv cherished by oil
Catholic. throughout the world.