The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-08-04
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IneIdanIs Of Lse's school Days and
POIDis In His Poties.

IneIdsnIs Of Lsa's school Days and
POlDIS 10 Hie POLICE.
GIeRuIls Murray IN The GOnsVa TImoL
Leo XIII ID q crowned scholar. From
A child be took kindly to his book and
the Jssuits turned him into n Of the
hrst Latipists Of the age, The one result
was pretty certain to follow from the other,
az the key to the educational suCctss Of
the Jesuits Is to be found in their prlnci'
pie Of first ascertaininG q pupil's aPtitudes
and then cuIiyRting them to the best OF
their power. Joachim PeCci's youth was
q series Of GeAdsmical triumphs, each Of
which slgnaliEad the addition Of . fresh
province OF learning TO his Intellectual do
mains, ClasHics were frat mastered, then
mathematics, next physics, and after.
ward moral philosophy, IN which be gave
instruction Of the age Of nineteen. Per.
hEps he might have remained q scholar
and nothing more, but in the third decade
OF his life he fell under the influence zone
would rather say rose to the Influence
OF the famous Cardinal 0desCalchi, o man
who, in another age, might have replayed
in the great part OF 1gnatlus Loyols.
OdesCalchi 1t was who renounced the
purple to enter the Order OF Jesus, and
gave innumerRblG other proofs Of Chris.
tan humility and devotion to his Mas
ter's cause. Among the services be
rendered TO the Church OF Rome not the
least was the conversion Of Pecci, as one
may call 1t, in the true sense oil the word.
He turned his mind to q serious though
pot AuAtere view Of religion, and had the
happiness Of admitting him to holy orders.
PeCCi was then tWenty.seven, and already
q lay pEelate In the household Of Greg
DRY XVI.
Like every pope since the Reformation,
Leo XIII ID a thoroughly good man,
Still, II one may venture to compare his
moral standard with that Of his imme.
diate predecessor, one would be inclined
to state the difference between them as
consisting In the fact that Leo has more
Of the wisdom oil the serpent, while Plus
had more the innocence Of the dove.
Plus kept aChild.liks heart and faith to
the last, and the Bishop OF Psrugia,
who knew the world and showed It,
rose but slowly into mis- s%overeign's
confidence. He received the red hat
In 1858, but was not appointed
Oamerlengo till twenty-four years later.
The days Of Plus were already numbered,
and he must have known that in thus
singing out PeCci Tor distinction he was
almost designating him asa desirable sue.
Cessor. The Courtly and accomplished
Cardinal had at length won his way to the
Pontif's cordial esteem. Plus, too, may
have suspected that he had set too little
store by the wisdom OF this world, and
that, humanity speaking, no small share oil
It would be necessary 10 the mar who was
next 10 steer the bark Of st. Peter through
the troubled waters.
Leo Nil has now reigned Tor more
than three years, and the broad lines Of
his policy are sufficiently defined. His
attitude toward the governments Of Eu'
rope 10 the wisest, II II be not the only
possible one, he could have adopted. He
stands on the defensive, and bides hiS
time. Two points in the purely spiritual
policy Of Leo XIII deserve notice. The
second Of the popes officially recognized
as inlallible, he has not, anymore than the
frst, made the slightest use o.
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 when
speaking tr cdthedrG has necessarily made
the Pope extremely cautious Of giving ex'
preston to Ct cdthedrd utteranCes. ALSO
lutte power has often been remarked to ex'
erCise Rsobering influence on lie possessor
Even 80, authority to decide the most
solemn %queitions without appeal is one
which o man who Is at once an Italian
and q priest, q scholar and u dlplomatist,
will not DO likely to abuse. This Is the
Negative result OF Leo's reigni
the positive Ia the new impulse
he has given to the study Of the
works oil 81. Thomas Aquinas. When ono
remembers that the Angelic doctor wa
the iayorlte CT Maurice unquestlonably
the largest minded Of Protestant thsolO,
%glans-one cannot help deriving a better
hope for the future OF the Universal
Chu Oh from this circumstance. Aud,
whatever opinion We may have OF the
schoolmen, 1t 10 surely an excellent siRa
OF the times when the chief pastor d
Ohristendom seeks to combat unbeliel,
not, as Of old, with the temporal sword,
but simply by the study OF what he holds
10 be the soundest philosophy. The
present generation may or NAV not &C.
cep. the conclusions OF III. Thomas; II
will certainly gain by s:udying, II only
with q view TO reiute him.