The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-03-15
THE DAILY LIFE OF POPE LEO.
The Vatican and How 1t Is Furnished,
and How Visitors Are Received.
A Kindly Greeting for All Calers-Per-
sonal characteristics of the Head Of
the Catholic Church.
J. Fl. Haynie. In San Francisco Chronicle.


has been living for the past five or six years in
the Eternal City. The reverend old gentleman.
like myself, visitor to the Cardinal Archbishop,
was greatly pleased to meet me, because, as he
said, he was in California more than thirty five
years ago. He said he was staying with the cure
| of the Madeleine parish, and invited me to pay
him visit. This did the next day, much to
my joy, for he is not only jolly old man, but
| full Of that kind of information which does all
correspondents good to get hold of. After
breakfast asked the Bishop to tell me as much
as he could about Pope Leo XIII,
and as much as he dared of the life
| within the Vatican, and the result of my
interview is subjoined The Holy Father occu-
| pies the second floor of that portion of the Vati
| can which lies to the north of the San Damaso
court, Immediately facing the Logga di Ra-
| phael, with which all who have visited Rome are
| familiar His apartment consists of five rooms
"a small waiting room study library bedroom
ard an oratory. Before reaching the apartments
you have to pass through two rooms. in the first
of which are the Swiss guards, and in the Sec
ond the private assistant chamberlans. All
/ these rooms are very plainly furnished, there
having been no change made in them during the
| past forty years, except that the bed in which
Plus TX died was removed, while number of
books in the library have been replaced by 9th
ers. The sleeping chamber of the Pope is very
small, and theSwals are entirely covered with
red hangings A bed, two arm-chars two
chairs and prie-dieu are about all that it con-
tains, and the only ornaments on the walls are a
| few prints representing religious subjects.
There is nothing to say about the library, which
does duty as dinin groom as well as library,
| and may say that it is more used in the
| former than in the latter capacity, for if his
Holiness is a small eater, he makes up for the
frugality by the frequency of his repasts
| The oratory is also simple and contains none
of the works Of art which you might naturally
expect to find in it, All these are to be found in
the study, or cabinet de travail, the largest and
only room of the apartment that can be said to
| be laxuriously furnished. At o'clock in sum-
mer, and half an hour later in winter, the Pope
gets up and says his prayers An hour later he
! goes into his oratory to celebrate the mass.
! Sometimes on Sundays he gives the communion
to a few privileged persons. generally members
/ of the Roman aristocracy or distinguished pill
| grims Immediately after this mass he attends
the one celebrated in the Sxtine Chapel, after
which he returns to his apartment and partakes
of his first meal, usually composed of piece of
| unsweetened cake or pastry and q cup of very
strong black coffee, which, with red Bordeaux
wine, forms the principal beverage of the Holy
| Father The Pope always breakfasts and dimes
alone. Under no circumstances does he ever ad-
| init any one to his table, but it may happen that
| some members of his family, or some other
| person for whom he has an affection may
4Iacau On him while he is at table, in which
case he receives them in the library, without in
| terrupting his meal 1t is generally while he is
%ahl @Aakh ~
| Cardinal Giuseppe Pecci, or his nephew, Count
| Camille Pecci, captain of the Noble Guard His
! breakfast over. the Pope enters his study and
| begins his days work with reading his private
! correspondence In this he has the assistance
not, as he should have according to established
| custom, of one OF the private chamberlains but
OF Mons. Boccali, whom he has made, So to speak,
/ his private secretary. AT $50 o'clock the Sec-
rotary of State arrives, whereupon Monsegneur
| retires and leaves his Holiness and Cardinal
| Jacobni together Their work generally lasts
an hour and when the Cardinal has gone the
projects of the various congregations received
| to make their reports as to what is going n
| their several departments, and to submit 81
| may have arisen for the decision of the
| Father. There are twenty Of these Department.
| or congregations, as they called Leo XIII
| does not receive the heads of all of them every
| day, but he sees each at least once week, and
| there are always three four received every
morning
| Next comes the turn of the ambassadors who
| may have asked for audience, and after the en-
| bassadors the Secretary of Petitions and the
Secretary of Briefs to Princes. These at an end,
| his Holiness receives any pilgrims who may
have obtained private audiences, and on Mon
| days and sometimes on Thursdays he gives
public audiences, which he cuts as short as posi-
Bile, for he finds them very fatiguing. These
audiences over, he returns to the library and
| eats; his first solid meal-a boiled egg, a dish Of
| meat, generally "a mutton chop dish of yegeta
| bles and some cakes. While eating he drinks
| sparingly of Bordeaux wine, and occasionally
| takes small. glass of sherry or Madeira with
| his cup of black coffee. The table service is at
! tended to by single maitre d'hotel, and though
| the Pope eats alone, NJ. Boccai or one of the
| private chamberlains is always present. This
meal ends the first part of the day and when it is
over his Holiness retires to his bedroom for few
moments of repose. One day two or three years
| ago Leo XIII did not come to dinner at his usual
| hour. After waiting few minutes the
| chamberlain in waiting knocked at the
! door of the study, and, receiving no reply,
opened it, The Pope was conversing with
| gentleman, and he motioned to the chamberlain
| to go back The conference lasted until $3.50
| o'clock. That gentleman was none other than
| DeBowitz; correspondent of the London Times
and it appeared that Leo XIII had unbosomed
! himself to the famous journalist, and had drawn
| terrible but accurate picture of the political
| presentand future of Europe. The first thing
| De Blowitz did on his return to his hotel was to
| write out long telegram for his paper, repeat
| ing the interview down to its smallest detail
| AS he was concluding his dispatch M. Decrais
the French ambassador, called. He had already
| heard of the long conversation which the jour-
nast had had with his Holiness, and he came
| to ask De Blowitz to impart the details of that
interview to him. The correspondent of the
Times was about doing so when letter was
brought in by a messenger from the Vatican
M. De Blowitz opened it, read it and crumpled
| it up in his hand with gesture of anger, and
then, without a word of explanation, handed it
/ to the ambassador. 1t was from Cardinal ia
cobini. who in the name of his Holiness. in
formed the journalist that Leo XIII counted on
his absolute silence as to all that had been said
/ during their interview, and told him that he
was not to reveal to any one so long as the
| Pope was alive, word of what the sovereign
/ had told him.
| The Holy Fathers siesta is generally short
one-never more than half an hour He follows
it with repetition of the holy Office and then
/ returns to his work with his secretary. This