Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1878-02-09
THE DEATH OF Plus TX.

startling age One is the statement that the
Russians who are the champions of the Faith
as it is cherished i'll the Greek branch Of the
Roman Church have recaptured from the
Moslem the ancient city founded by the first
Christian Emperor. The other statement is
that of the death of Plus X, Pope of Rome.
Il his incumbency of the Chair of st. Peter
was not the very longest on record it was
among the longest, he having been chosen as
long ago as 1916. He was eighty-six years of
az His immediate predecessor was Gregory
XVI, of whom the sculptor-poet, Story, says;
e. Gregory XIV died in the Vatican during
the night of the 3lst of May, 1916, alone, ut
teriy deserted by even the meanest OF his at
PENDANTS, and suffering for want of the wine
prescribed by his physicians necessary to
his sustenance He was found dead in his
led Icy his physicians when they visited him
in the morning; and at the post mOrtem eN-
animation nothing was found i'll his stomach
but few euon seeds. He 81 years old.
In character he was ambitious and cruel; III
habits GROSSLY incorporate. 4 full account of
the circumstances Of the Popes death is given
hy Prof Gajani, in his Memoirs of Roman
Exile Chap. xxxvi.' But the Pope who has
.lst passed away was Justly entitled The Pi-
,a, He was indeed the Father Of his Church.
Many remarkable events transpired during his
Pontihcate, the most remarkable of which was
the wrestling from the Holy See of its Tempo
raj Estates and their return to the sovereignty
,t United Italy Also during his term was
held no less extraordinary concave than
that Of an Ecumenical Council, out of which
came . revival of the dogma of Papal lnfalli
bity. Alss in the time of Plus was the Ma
,,oeonic dynasty revived and the Napoeonic
occupancy of the Holy City repeated. Spain
underwent her first religious revolution since
the days Of the Romans and a native Of the
United States was created Cardinal in his
lifetime And we repeat that the coincidence
os the overthrow of the Turkish Empire and
the death of the Pope is one OF the most start
Ing examples of simultaneous occurrences
that we can call to mind. Quoting from Lord
Macauleys splendid essay on Prof Ranke's
History of the Popes, We reproduce the fol |
lowiug famous and very brilliant sentence
There is not, and there never was on this |
earth. work of human policy 50 well desery-
mr. of examination as the Roman Catholic |
church, The history of that Church Joins to- |
..ether the two great ages of human civiliza-
+inn. No other institution is left standing
which carries the mind back to the times when
the smoke of sacrifice rose from the Pantheon,
and when camelopards and tigers bounded in
the Flavian amphitheatre. The proudest
royal houses are but of YESTERDAY, when com
pared with the line of the Supreme Pontiffs.
That line we trace back in an unhroken series
from the Pope who crowned Napoeon in the
nineteenth century to the Pope who crowned
PENN in the eighth: and far beyond the time
# P,pin the august DYNASTY extends. till it is
lost in the twilight of fable. The republic o
Venice came next in antiquity. But the re
7,jhlic Of Venice WAS modern when compared
with the Papacy; and the republic of Venice
J., cone and the Papacy remains. The Papacv
remains. not in decay. not a mere antique, but
full of life and useful vigor. The Catholic
Church is still sending forth to the farthest
ends Of the world missionaries as Jealous as
those who landed in Kent with Aug,lstin, and
sill confronting hostile kings with the same
spirit with which she confronted Attila The |