Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-07-14
A PILGRIMS RETURN.
Father N. CarrOlrs Interesting Visit
to tho Eternal City.
THE AUDIENCE WITH THE POPE.
Visits to the Ruin ed Churches, Palaces and
Sights of Rome.
A TRADITION OF @HRISTs APPEARANCE

IL, II
from their long pilg timage to Rome and the
historic places of tine Old World lasHFri-
day evening. A DIsPATcH reporter visited
him last night and found him we'll and
hearty. He said: Yves, 1 am back and
we'll. We have passed. through palaces of
great fame and antiquity and have been
the country Ger, but 1 Aelieve the Lord
has given us a country the host desirable
to live in of any we have Sc h. We sailed
from Hoboken, N. j., FebrI hry 21, and ar
rived at Rome Friday atterH bon, March Is.
We were kept very busy fo two days visit
ing churches, galleries of a and ruins, and
on Monday, March IS, we ERE admitted to
an audience with the Holy Father.
The priests were ga hered in one
large room on the knees, wait
ing his coming hd in another
room were the laity. fhe Pope soon en-
tered, with his chambe lain and soldiers,
mostly Swiss, and wal Ed among us and
talked to different ones |of his pilgrims in
italian, French and htin. He made an
address to us in Italiai, in which he COM
mended the devotion u the "bravos Ameri-
canos"' who were II proceeding to visit
and venerate the Aoly places sanctifed
by the birth, lite, Id bors, suferings death
and resurrection our Savior. He said
that he felt sure that the sight of these
places would augnte ent our faith. He pre-
sented each of us v fth a silver medal blessed
by himself with lis likeness impressed on
it"
THE POPE'S PERSONAL APPEARANCE.
"The Pope wa dressed in awhile cossack,
and the chamb berlains and soldiers were
elegantly attireh The Pope wore a skull
cap on the ba} }k of his head. the heads of
the priests in{ that country being shaved.
He looks JUST like his pictures. A ponti-
fcal chair AFas placed at the end of the
room, but n did not sit in it but seemed
Spleased to hove among the pilgrims and
converse wi fh them"
Father Carroll showed the silver medal
to the reporter presented to the pilgrims bv
the Pepe. 1t was a little smaller than
half dollar, and inclosed in a neat morocco
case about two inches square. On one
side is a picture of the Fpe, raised
in bas relfef, the features and other
points being ! we'll defined. 1t was
surrounded by the words, LEO XIII,
Pont. Max, An. *" which translated
means that the medal was struck off in the
tenth year of the poRtifcal term of Leo
Kill, Pontiface Maximus (High Priest).
On the diverse side of the medal is cross
resting on clouds in bas trelief, symbolic
that the religion of the cross is above and
endures forever.
INSCRIPTIONS ON THE SOUVENIR.
Around this were the words, AN. L. A.
CoNsECR SACERDoTALI, LEoNIs XIII,
P. NJ" signifying that the medal was made
in the fftieth year of his sacredotal conse--
Grafton. Under the clouds were the words
"KAL. IAN. MDCLXXXVIII., january,
1882
Continuing, Father Carroll said: "The
Vatican, the home of the Pope. is filled with
pictures of art, statuary, etc., and is, as you
know, beautiful palace. He also has an
inclosure with vineyard, geological gar
den, fountains, etc., in it; but be has little
comparatively of that which he had before
the different invasions.
AFTER the audience with the Pope we
spent the time rambling around the city
viewing the ruins. One day we visited the
catacombs some way from the city, where
the Christian dead were buried and the peo-
pie worshiped, when they were oppressed
in pagan times, and not allowed to worship
God in public. We went down steps, deep
into the ground.
A VISIT TO THE CATACoMBs.
The soil appears to be brown clay, petri-
fed, but it can be picked out and .excava-
tions made with tools. The passages lead
at right angles, and inches are placed in the
walls for coffins. After the dead had been
buried the place was sealed up and slab of
marble affixed with the name of
the one buried and, perhaps,
Tn nj int
ings and frescoes and rooms for mass. You
could see the bones in some of the inches,
but most of them had been rifed by differ
ent conQuerors of the Eternal City, in
search of treasure, supposed to have been
buried with the dead.
81 saw the maritime prison where an
angel came to Peter, tapped him on the
shoulder and he shook off his chains 1
was also shown a place outside of
Rome where, after Peters escape
Gas tradition goes) he met Jesus
who appeared to him and walked with him.
Peter asked the Lord where he was going
and he said he was going to be crucifed
again. Peter understood the meaning of the
Savior's words and returned into captivity
and was crucifed with his head down. This
is a tradition of Christ's appearance after
his ascension not chronicled in the Bible.
Many of these traditions have been handed
down from generation to generation, but
never appeared in the Bible
THE TOMB OF PETER.
81 also saw the tomb of Peter. which was
entered by the Saracens, in search of treas
ure, but they were misled in finding the
body of Peter, as the sepulcher has a false
tomb into which they went
sit is surprising nov the French and
Italians can live without fire in winter,
hardly any being used except for cooking
purposes Their houses generally built of
stone, are very damp. We would consider
it dangerous to live in such dampness, and
it is a wonder it did not make US all sick.
"The churches in Rome are magnifcentln
their interior adornment, but the best OF
them, not excepting st. Peters are old and
squalid looking on the exterior. 1t is un-
accountable to me why they allow the
exterior OF their churches to remain in
such contemplate neglect At every
church door and every corner YOU
encounter beggars with outstretched
hands and entreating voices, seeking aims
Everybody that looks at you. there think
that they have undoubted right to get
money from you, and that you have come to
their country simply to throw it around''
Father Carroll said that he met Frank G.
Carpenter, THE DISPATCH correspondent, in
Cairo and Constantinople. He was in COM
pany with his wife and travelling about and
gathering the facts for the articles which
have appeared in The DISPATCH each
Sunday. The pilgrimage from Rome has
been given in THE DISPATCH recently by
a long letter written home by Father Car
roll.