Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-02-11
THE DEAD POPE.

A Sketch of the Earlier Portion. of Hts Life.
John Mary Mastai- Ferretti, was the son of
Count Jerome Mastai- Ferretti. Smigaglia, in
the duchy of Urbino, near Ancona, one of
the papal States. The deceased pope was
born at that place on the 18th of May, 1892.
The surname of the pope's family was
originally Mastai, the family dating back to
the thirteenth century, and it had always
been historical for eminent services to the
church and the State For centuries it had
been noble, the head of the house bearing
the dignity of count. union between the
last representative of the illustrious house
of Ferritti and one of their own blood en-
abled the Counts Mastai to
BLEND THE TWO NAMES,
and the family became known as Mastai-
Ferretti.
An uncle of the late pope was Andrew
Mastai, bishop of Mantua, who, by his UNI
wavering devotion to Plus VII, including,
as it did, the suffering of long imprison-
ment in the fortress of Mantua, won for that
prelate an enviable place in the annals of the
church.
The future Pope Plus *, when boy of
II years of age, was put to school at the col
lege of Volterra, in Tuscany. The gentle
ness of his disposition and the gifts of his
mind and person soon won for hlm the
esteem of all his youthful associates, while
his progress in scholarship was SO rapid that
his acquisitions at an early age challenged
the attention and excited the admiration of
the visiting professors.
At this college he passed some years, final
ly emerging from it possessed of a strikingly
handsome person, and richly cultured
mind. Some of his relatives wished him to
adopt the vocation of the law. but his ardent
| spirit longed for the career of arms. He Wis
tied Rome, where, fortunate in all the graces
of mind, manners, person and fortune, he
soon became reigning favorite In the most
exclusive and fashionable circles of Roman
society. He was enabled to crafty his wish
to commence life as a soldier, and upon the
reconstruction of the noble guard of Plus
| VII he was granted admission to that his
toric corps. But in his case the spiritual
power of the crucifix was to supercede the
proves of the sword, even though it was
devoted to the banner of the cross Soon
after entering the guard he was taken sick,
and the illness threatened to be severe and
even fatal. His mother, the Countess Mas
tai, appealed to the Virgin, night and day,
with all the tender supplication and fervent
faith that could lend power to the prayers of
an agonized mother to save the life of her
son. Though the times had baff1ed the skill
of his medical attendant,
THE MOTHERS PRAYER WAS HEARD.
and the young count soon recovered his
health, and while yet weak from the effects
of his sickness he determined that his future
life should be solely devoted to God and His
church; and renounclng all the tempting adj
vantages and delightful pleasures of his high
and wealthy position, he Stunned forever the
gayeties of the world and proceeded to study
for holy orders in the priesthood. He re-
celved minor orders on the 5th of January,
1917, when 25 years of age; sub-deacon's
orders on the 26th of December, 1913: dea-
cons on the 9th of March, 1919, and was or
dained priest on Holy Saturday of the same
year, at the hands of Monsignor Caprana.
His first mass was celebrated on the 10th of
April, 1919. His first work as priest was
passed in comparative obscurity at
Rome, though he was even then be-
coming noted for his thorough devo-
He visited the hospitals prisons and orphan
ages, and with his own hands nursed the sick
and administered to the necessities of the
distressed. His practical benevolence and
tender care of the sick have always been a
leading characteristic of the late pope, while
he had always been munifcent and, indeed,
lavish, in his private charities. The young
priest was
SENT BY Plus VII TO CHILL,
as assistant to Monsignor Muzi, who was
vicar apostolic to that young government in
1928. They spent two years of fatigue and
| danger in this journey, visiting the churches
of Chill, Peru and Colombia, and crossing
the continent in bullock carts-a ride which
took them two months. Returning to Rome
in 1925, Father Mastai was promoted to the
prelacy, and placed at the head of the great
hospital of st. Michael, founded two centu-
ries ago by Innocent x, and comprising at
this time not only hospital for the sick,
but a retreat for the aged, refuge
for boys, house for Magdalenes,
a home for virtuous girls, and
a school for arts and inustries. When Mon
signor Mastai assumed the presidency of this
vast and complicated institution it was bur-
dened with debt and on the verge of bank
ruptcy. He recognized every department
of the hospital, repaired its dilapidated reve-
nues, extended the range of it's charities, and
i'll less than two years brought order out of
the confusion, by the sacrifice, however, of
his own patrimony.
| Not long after the accession of Gregory
XVI, Mastai-Ferretti was made by Leo XII,
Archbishop of Spoleto. This see he held
during the remainder of the reign of that
prelate, and during the brief term of his sue
cessor, Plus VII, Gregory XVI in 1892 trans
ferred him to the see of Imola in the Romag-
ma, and he devoted himself to the manifold
duties of this charge with unrelenting vigor
and the most careful attention. In 1888 he
was nunico at Naples. While there the
place suffered terribly from a
scourage of cholera. The arch
bishop made the needs of the sick people
his own personal care, and such was his prac-
tical interest in and painstaking attention to
them that his name is mentioned with bless
ings and gratitude to-day by people who
remember his devoted services.
His see of Imola received his most vigil
ant attention, and he was never weary in
well-doing for his people. His charities he
carried to such an extreme that he frequent
ly completely impoverished himself. On one
occasion having no money with him, he told
an applicant for assistance to take some of
the
s1LyERwARE OFF HIS TABLE,