Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-08-24
THE sCHOLAR.PoPE.
Incidents OF Leo's School Days
and Points I'm His Policy.

Incidents of Leo's School Days
and Points I'm His Policy.
Grsnville Murray In the Geneva Times.
Leo NH. is q crowned scholar. From
child he took kindly to his book, and
the Jesuits turned him into one OF the
finest Latinists OF the age. The one re-
suit was pretty certain to follow from
the other, as the key to the educational
success. OF the Jesuits is TO be found In
their principle Of first ascertaining q
pupils sptitudes and then cultivating
them to the best of their power. Joa-
chin Pecci's youth was a series oil
academieal triumphs, each OF which
signalized the addition of fresh pro
vince of learning to his intellectual do
minions. Classics we're first mastered,
then mathematics, next physics, and
afterward moral philosophy, in which
he gave instruction at the age OF ~.
Perhaps he might have remained q
scholar and nothing more, but IN the
third decade of his life he fell under the
ipfluence-one would rather say rose
to the influence-of the famous Cardinal
Odescalchi, a man who in another age,
might have replayed the great part OF
Ignatius Loyola. 0descalchi it was who
renowned the purple to enter the order
of Jesus and gave innumerable other
proofs OF Christian humility and deyo-
ton to his masters cause. Among the
services he rendered to the Church OF
Rome not the least was the conversion
of Pecci, as one may call it, in the true
sense of the word. He turned his mind
to a serious though not austere view OF
religion, and had the happiness OF adj
hitting him to holy orders. Pecci was
then q, and already lay prelate In the
household OF Gregory WI.
Like every pope since the Reiorma..
ton, Leo XIII. is a thoroughly good
man. Still, il one may venture to COM
pare his moral standard with that OF his
Immediate predecessor, one would be
inclined 10 state the difference between
them as consisting in the fact that Leo
has more OF the wisdom OF the serpent,
while Plus had more OF the innocence Of
the dove. Plus kept child-like heart
and faith to the last, and the bishop OF
Perugia, who knew the world and show
ed il, rose but slowly into his sovereign's
confidence. He received the red hat in
1853, but was not appointed Camerlengo
till twenty-four years later. The days
of Plus were already numbered, and he
must have known that in thus singing
out Pecci for distinction he was almost
designating him as desirable successor.
The courtly and accomplished cardinal
had at length won his way to the pom
tiff's cordial esteem. Plus, too, may
have suspected that ne had set too little
store by the wisdom OF this world, and
that, humanity speaking, no small share
of it would be necessary to the man
who was next to steer the bark OF st
Peter through the troubled waters.
Leo XIII. has now reigned more than
three years, and the broad lines OF his
policy are sufficiently defined. His at.
tItude toward the governments OF Eu.
rope is the wisest, if it be not the only
possible one he could have adopted. de
stands on the defensive, and bides his
time. Two points in the purely spir-
itual policy OF Leo NIlI. deserve notice.
The second of the popes officially recog'
nized as infallible, Ire has not, any more
than the first, made the slightest use OF
the extraordinary powers vested by the
last general council in the holy see. He
has defined no disputed doctrine. In
truth, the council which proclaimed the
pope infallible were speaking ereathedrd
has necessarily made the pope extreme
ly cautious of giving expression to "a
cathedra utterances. Absolute power
has often been remarked to exercise q
SOLDERING influence on its possessor.
Even so, authority to decide the most
solemn questions without appeal is one
which man who is at once an Italian
and a priest, scholar and sdiplomatist,
will not be likely to abuse. This is the
negative result of Leo's reign; the posi-
tive is the new impulse he has given to
the study OF the works OF st. Thomas
Aquinas. When one remembers that
the Angelic Doctor was the fayorIte oil
Maurice-unQuestio the largest
minded of Protestant theologians-one
cannot help deriving better hope for
the future OF the universal church from
this circumstance. And, whatever
opinion he may have of the schoolrnen,
it is surely an excellent sign OF the times
when the chief pastor OF Christendom
seeks TO combat unbelief, not as OF old,
with the temporal sword, but simply by
the study OF what he holds TO be the
souudest philosophy. The present gen.
Grafton may or may not accept the con.
illusions of st. Thomas; it will certainly
gain by studying, If only with view to
refnte him