The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-07-01
THE POPE IN HIS PALACE PRISON.
The Daily Life and Personal Habits of
the Head of the Catholic Church.


the Head of the Catholic Church.
w. I. Stead in Pail Mall Gazette
A very interesting picture might be
drawn of the daily life OF the pope in his
palace prison. In some respects it must
be admitted that the spectacle is almost
ideal. Imagine pure, sood and able man,
OF more than three-score years and ten,
rising at o'clock on any given morning,
after sleep as untroubled as a childs, and
setting about what is in his own honest
conviction the discharge OF his duty to God
and his church, by using his influence as
the vice-regent of the Almighty to allay the
troubles OF the world.
His authority, to begin with, is almost
absolutely untrammeled When Aiexan-
der III. writes. he uses NJ. de Giers as
peer; Cardinal Rampolla is equally the
peer of Leo XIII. Around the papai
throne are cardinals and archbishops and
dignitaries of great place; but in all the
brilliant throng there is no one who exer-
cises any controlling influence over the
detached and lucid intellect OF the pope.
Occasionally, earlier in his reign,
pressure to bear to induce HIM
to adopt a policy to which he was dis
inclined. "N hat you say" he would
reply, us very good. no doubt, but
let 1t be done in different
way" And done always it was
cardinals desisJed from making fruitless
suggestions. He is SO supreme that, COM
pared with the elevation which he occu-
pies, cardinals count Tor no more than
deacons, or even than aculytes. There are
mutterings OF dlscontent in the congrega-
ton from men who once counted Tor some
thing in the church, but now count
fnr hitf nm, fhn xfa
the sacred college recognizes with
loyalty and pride the commanding
ability and authoritative confidence of It's
chief The pope, therefore, has a single
mind, and he has an immense sense of his
responsibility for the decisions at which he
arrives.
Every morning before addressing himself
to the direction of the affairs of this planet
he oilers the sacrifice OF the mass, and then,
for graIiarum action, attends 4 second mass
at which his chaplain is the ceiebrant: with
mind thus a,tuned to divine things the
pope then begins his working day. A single
glass of coffee, tea or milk suffices to break
his fast. Alter going through his papers he
begins TO receive ABOUT 8. From that hour
till in the afternoon the throng of visitors
never slackens. Secretaries, ambassadors,
cardinals from the congregation, distin-
guished strangers, bishops from afar, have
audience in turn. There are loo bishops
in the Catholic church. and with all OF
them the pope is in more or less constant
personal relations.
Nothing can be more gracious, more an
mated, or more sympathetic than the
manner OF the pope. His eye, which
when fixed in thought is deep and pierre
ing, beams with kindness, and the severely
rigid lines of his intellectual features relax
with the pleasantest of smiles as he talks,
using, as the case may be. either French,
Latin (which he speaks with great purity
and facility, or his own musical native
tongue.
After four or FIVE hours spent in this
way he returns TO his books and papers IN
III 8, when he dimes. His meal is frugal; a
little soup. two courses of meat, with vege-
tables, and dessert of fruit. with one glass
Of strong wine, suffice for his wants. After
dinner ne goes out Tor a drive or a walk in
the gard. ds OF the Vatican. In the even
ing he resumes his papers, and ct night,
betweed . and 10, ali the papal household
assemble Tor the rosary, after which they
retire TO rest. But long after that hour the
cardinal state secretary, Mocenni. is often
summoned TO the papal apartments, where,
by the light of the midnight lamp. Leo
watches, and thinks, and prays for the
welfare of the church.