Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-09-28
DEATH OR PRIESTHOOD.
The Severe Training OF the Roman Ca
Iege described by Father Curran.

The Severe Training OF the Roman Coll
lege described by Father Curran.
The New York Star has the following in
terview with Rev. DR.. Thomas F. Curran,
a aCatholic priest just returned from Rome |:
"In this country there are many colleges
where Catholic students are made priests,
the most notable being at Not.e Dane, st.
Charles st. John and FOrdham, and some
Jesuit schools. These institutions have the
best instructors possible. In Rome, though,
Is where the leaders In the priesthood
are taught. II takes nine years for stu
dent TO become priest here, and to be-
c)me Jesuit the student must have spent
eleven, or even twelve years In study.
When he enters the Jesuit nOvitiate he Is
given period of two years to reflect on
the career on which he is about to enter.
At the end of this time, IL he still wishes to
persevere, he Is allowed to make the first
vows Of poverty, chastity and obedience.
He then devotes five. years to
study only, and several more to
study and teaching. In some of the insti-
tutions here the student has very hard
time Of 1t. Up at o o'clock in the morn
ing, black coffee, little bread and a small
piece of meat for breakfast, study and a
very frugal dinner, more study, q walk
and very, very light supper. more study,
prayers and sharply at to bed. This
course of treatment, when adopted for
several years, kills many promisii y
young man. But go to Rome, and 1t il
u1I1erent. IL Is ulHeTent, DeCduSe IL Is
about twice as hard to undergo the rg.d
mode of life. -
What students 20 to the Am, ric IN col
lege ?"
''The brightest men in the various
diOceses of the country, two from each
diocese, i believe, Is now the rule. They
do mt have to pay for their tuition or
support. They are put into black gown
which they are not allowed to discard from
the time they enter the college. No language
Is allowed to be spoken, either at recitation
or in the dormitories, but Italian. The
greatest men of the Catholic church teach
in this college the representative students
from every race in the world. The students
diet is a very hard one to subsist on, and
the sleeping apartments are little rooms ten
by ten, with an iron cot, an iron washstand
and basin and brick floor. Here 1t
Is, rise at 8, prayers, attend services at st.
Peters, where the pope says mass each
morning for the students of this college,
and back to study. 1t is lectures and study,
little to eat, and six hours sleep. The stu
dents of the college are permitted to con-
verse with the pope quite often. If stu
dent graduates from Rome, ii he succeeds
i'm living through the course at the Ameri-
can college, that is sufficient to place him
In direct comnunication with ms bishop IN
whatever diocese he belongs. His know
ledge of the vatican and the other leaders
of the church at Rome is invaluable
"Is the pope falling in health?"
"When | left the American college sew
eral years ago he was in excellent spirits
and health. He was able to take long
walks in the vatican grounds, but on my
recent visit l found him unable to go about
without the support of his servants. He
has done the work Of twenty wonderful
men in his eighty years of existence. 1t
has been study, prayer and fasting, Al d,
naturally, he cannot stand 1t mucl ionyr
He reads for hours still, though in his
library, which he loves as a mother loves
her child. He has arrived at that age where
he cannot possibly do the work he tries to
do, and the result is frequent attacks OF
illness. The mind is willing, but the body
Is weak"
"Who would he likely to succeed Pope
Leo as pontiH?''
There are many names mentioned in
Europe, and even one American cardinals 8
name was heard often. Cardinal Maria
Parrochi, the pope's vicar general, is prob
ably the most powerful man next to the
ARope i'm the Roman church to-day. He
was born in 1888, and whom Leo chose him
as his vicar general he was given great
power. The organization of the church is
practically in his hands to-day. He is a
great man, and a learned man."