St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-10-15
THE PAPACY At AWGHOA.
INTERESTING GLIMPSES At AN AL
MOST FORGOTTEN CITY.
a BECLOUDEO PAST HI STORY

Incidents and Events That Have
Made Avignon Notable - 7 he
Most Prominent Least Worthy
of Cherishing-Rev. DR.. Con-
way Reviews a Trip to the City
on the Rhone.
Avignon may well be called for
gotten French town. Its history re-
minds one of those unbalanced beings
who for personal aggraDdisemen Mt love to
pose for the popular applau Sc and who
in their old age find themselves as free
from personal friends as from public
favor. AvigAon is city with history,
but there are many hlots upon its his
tories pages. Mercatricious merit meier
brought lasting benefit either to an indi-
vidual or to community and such was
the chief claim for nOtorlty on the part
of that curious old city. do not mean
that AyignOn has no natural attractions,
for it has many; l do not mean that
those points which are most salient in
its history are no credit to it. Those
who speak of it as second Rome,
simply because some popers dwelt
there, call forth ideas that
are utterly misleading. That city
on the Rhone is no more to this city on
the Tiler than is the ephemeral litera-
ture of Bertha Clay to the classic writ
ings Of MIR. hackeray, or, if l may be
permitted a better simile, than is the
degraded pontificate of Lucius ii. to
the TRANSPORTED Christianity of Leo
Mi.
And yet Ayicnon has a history which
cannot well be passed over since it tells
OF the cOwardiy and the distorted am
billions of men whose calling should
have taught them manly bravery in the
presence of beings, and personal etface-
ment in the interests of humanity. But
ecclesiastical history teaches that pont-
IFS dweit there to please French prin-
cess and anti-popes hied there to trifie
with the agonized feelings of Christen-
dom.
WORTH VISITING.
Although AvignOn is 365 miles from
Paris mo small distance Ill Europe)
nevertheless tourists think it worthy of
q hASlls LII SpllC vi us dIl-
tiQuity, it still sits with some stately
grace by the banks of the Rhone. A
glance down the river reveals one of
the most beautiful prospects in all
France. The Mississippi near Fort
Smelling, when its banks show the rich
hues of late autumnal foliage; the con-
fines of the Hudson. clothed in the fam
tastic colors of the declining fall; the
shores of Killarney, when the first faint
tint OF winter does the double work of
putting the finishing touch of natures
artist upon the gorgeous leaves and of
reminding the tourist that ii is time for
him TO sing Home ward Bound" are
scarcely more fascinating than a view
of the Rhine as seen from the heights
OF Avignon. l saw it on days when
10 breathe was positive pleasure, days
when gentle languOr of refined love
pressed pleasantly upon the soil just as
furious snow storm was lending its
aid to develop the hardy race of North
Western America. And, although the
time was the early days of March.
there was not even remote suggestion
Of the colhness of a past winter or of
the rawness of all early spring. 1t was
such a season as that which turned the
mind Of young Petrarch to sing songs
and sOnnets of Laura de Moves, the belle
OF Avignon, when he first visited that
city in 1926. Its towers and spires and
battlementS may be seen from afar as
one approaches the city. Many of its
streets are dirty and disappointing, but
the Wharts along the RhOne are literally
magnificent. After all when one thinks
Of the antiquity of Avignon the wonder
ceases to be wonderful that it takes all
the brilliancy OF the bright sun of Pro-
vence to light up these dingy streets. For
ii was the capital of a Gallo tribe be-
fore julius Cesar wrote his classic COM
mentarleS or conquered the proud chiefs
OF Gaul. Avignon has had a chequered
history. Its spiendor was greatest IN
the fourteenth century when the pOpes
dwelt there and its population num-
bered 100000. Now it reaches a little
over 10000, and there have been times
when its inhabitants were fewer.
The walls of the city still stand, and
are mute but eloquent evidence of the
lower civilization of that day. No ma
ton would think of surrounding its
cities with walls now, although time
was when they were considered to be
Indispensable. Their absence tells of
the enormous change which has come
over military requirements during the
past three or four hundred Years.
Though built by the popes in the four
teenth century. they remind one of the
Old Roman walls of Chester, in England
THE POFES AT AVIGNON.
For seventy years the popes con-
tinueQ 10 reside at AVipnOn This Dariud