St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1893-02-18

Ory Afl, VINO desired TO recognize IN ttle
way the services which Joachim Pecci
had rendered as pontifcal delegate and
governor of Perugia. The latter, until
the arrival there of young Pecci, had
been regarded as hotbed of discomfort
and revolution. Before he had been there
long he observed that the only access to
the town-which is built upon noun
tain side-was by means of a steep aad
precipitous path, fit only for foot passen-
gers, asses and mules. Accordingly he
Immediately set to work to construct a
broad carriage road of easy gradient in
its stead. With such energy and vigor
did he push forward the operations that,
when few months later Pope Gregory
visited the town, he was able to drive up
right to the very door of the cathedral in
his carriage. Moreover, the pontif was
greeted by the populace with the most
extravagant demonstrations of loyalty,
and all signs of that hostile disposition
for which the Perugians had until then
been notorious were conspicuous by their
absence.
Gregory rightly attributed this re-
markable change to the young governors
enterprise in opening up the new road,
and thereby infusing fresh blood and
prosperity into the town, and it was as
reward for his services in this connection
that Pecci received the appointment of
nuncio to the court of Belgium. Until
that time his work on behalf of the
church had been mostly of an admins
trative character, and there were many
who expressed fears that his lack of dip
lomatic experience and knowledge would
cause his mission to result in failure.
These apprehensions turned out to be
groundless, and the young nuncio at
Brussels soon gave indications of that
rare genius for statecraft which has
caused him to be recognized as the most
remarkable diplomatist of the present era.
During the three years which he spent
at Brussels Archbishop Pecci became
exceedingly popular, both at court and
with the masses. He grew to be famous
for his brilliant repartee and delicate wit
as much as for his political acumen and
tact, and became particular favorite of
cynical and freethinking old King Leo
pold. While at Brussels he formed the
acquaintance Of the queen of England,
and in response to a pressing invitation
on her part spent month at Windsor
before returning to Rome. This delay
prevented his reaching the Eternal City
in time to see Pope Gregory alive. The
latter died quite suddenly in May, 1916,
only few days after having signed the
appointment of the young nuncio to the
archbishopric of Perugia.
For some reason or other Archbishop
Pecci did not find grace in the sight of
Pope Gregory's successor, Plus TX. Not
only did he abstain from confding to
Pecci any other diplomatic post, but even
went SO far as to delay for more than
seven years the archbishop's promotion
to the rank of cardinal, which invariably
takes place Immediately on the termina-
ton of nuncie's diplomatic career.
Mgr. Pecci was perfectly aware of the
unfriendly sentiments of Plus TX toward
him and withdrew Immediately after the
latter's Inauguration to Perugia, where
he spent the following 81 years in adj
ministering his a-chbishopric, visiting
Rome very rarely. Pope Plus strongly
objected to the conciliatory attitude OF
Cardinal Pecci toward the royal Italian
government, and in 1877 he appointed
him to the post of Camerlngo. This of
fee is one of immense difficulty, and its
duties are calculated to bring the holder
thereof into perpetual conflict with the
italian government. Before these pro-
iects of Pope Pius-if indeed they real
" existed-had time to be realized he
died, and Cardinal Pecci was elected as
his successor by the votes of two-thirds
Of the sacred college.
Within very short time after his ae-
cession it became apparent to the world
that the new pope presented IN every re-
spect a striking contrast to his prede-
cessor. Whereas Plus TX had left the
Vatican at variance with almost every
foreign power, Leo XIII at once set to
work to restore amicable relations with
them all. His first task was to bring to
q friendly conclusion the dispute known
subscription Sis& a year in advance.