The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-07-04
Roman Cardinals.

Cardinals are still princes of the
church and wear the purple. says n
Rome letter to the New York Herald,
but the terms which once meant so
much have lost most of their signiti-
canoe The pomp and circumstance,
the splendor and the power of the Sa-
cred College have been almost de-
stroyed, so TAR as externals are con-
cerned. The cardinals dignity grows
daily less mundane and more ecc!esias-
teal. Those who lived in Rome twen-
ty wears ago will not have forgotten the
magniticence which then surrounded
their eninences. The streets were
filled with the splendor of their pres
ence.
The red and purple seemed every
wherein the narrow lanes. the pal
aces, and the churches. Rome bowed
down before them as they rumbled past
in their crimson coaches. and their very
servants had certain majesty attach
inc 10 them, such as the best powdered
tiunky in King Huinbert's palace will
never attain. All this has changed by
the breach in the Porta Pia. The Grim
son coaches roll BY no longer; the car
dinals have been shorn of their gran
deur, and their retainers have ey-
changed their scarlet and gold for plain
black broadcloth.
In their home life the cardinals of
this generation are simpler than many
shopkeepers. The higher you 60 in the
Roman hierarchy the less is the osten-
tation. Pope Leo himself SETS the eX-
ample. and with few exceptions his
venerable brothers and beloved
sons" all initiate him. Cardinal Jacob
mi, Papal Secretary of State. lives in an
apartment at viii h q New York mer-
chant would scoff-were it not in the
Vatican. Cardinal Billo's rooms and
Cardinal Lucas. in the palace of the
Cancelleria, were so shabby and vulgar
that they would have calictl
smile to the lips of the
most indulgent Of our modern
es,hetes. The tawdriness of the late
| Cardinal Hassoun's furniture passes de-
scription. 1t WAS worthy of cheap
Coney Island clearinghouse Cardi-
| nal Howard, As becomes scion of his
house, does affect some luxury. Yet
| even here it is seen in the form of cost
" books and pictures. His eminence's
| table is more liberal than some others,
| his wines are older. his linen is finer,
and there Is stately comfort in the
heavy drapery and well-stufed arm
chairs which adorn his apartment. But
compared with the homes of most
wealthy Americans that of the aristo-
cratic archpriest of st. Peters appears
very unpretending. MIR. Vanderbilt,
1 L.. 81 rnt- INT
a poor place to entertain in. Nor
would it inspire much respect in the
minds of many well-to-dO English
s1uires.
Even more s.rik' ng than the poorest
of most residences of the Roman cardi-
rails is the bad taste and indi. erence to
beauty which stare you in the face in
nearly all of them. HE wallpapers,
the chairs. the tables, the curtains, and
the carpets would make very pork
| butcher weep. Mr.. Matthew Arnold S
hair would grow prematurely white il
| he had TO live in such an art ambiente
as Cardinal >imeoni's for n single fort
night. The tiger pattern rugs and mats
of our grandfathers are still in favor in
the re option rooms OF the ecclesiastical
princes. The furniture pictures" OF
the Hotel Druuot are interesting beside
some of the portraits and sanity allie
gories at his eminence So-and-so's.
One might forget or admire the cheap
ness of the hangings were they not so
gaudy. But who can forgive magenta
danaSk or bright yellow rep, or slipper
pattern Berlin wool work, all of which,
alas. are decorative commonplace at
his eminence's.
A cardinals post is no sinecure.
From morn till nightfall the bell at his
door rings ceaselessly. Grievances have
to be redressed, cases of conscience to
be inquired into, visitors to be given
audience, and visits to be returned.
Then there are meetings to attend al
the Vatican and other meetings may be
at the Propaganda, to say nothing OF
the routine obligations OF all bishops,
The praying, preaching. pontiicating,
and giving of benedictons. How some
eminences findi the time for all theiI