The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-11-04

TICAN.
able men of the century, whose grasI
F.! is firm enough to govern successfully
the most powerful and extensive or
ganization that exists, and who's,
broad sympathy has embraced the en-
tire field of human aspirations and in
terests. The condition in which he
found the church. the embarrassment
under which he has la.bored, the OBJ
stacles he had to overcome, measured
besides its progress since he assumed
sovereignty in 1873, proves him to be
one of the greatest masters of politics
and diplomacy as well as of religious
propaganda. Few men have had a
keener appreciation of the political
tendencies of these times. and no
leader Of men has conformed more
skillfully to the worlds advancement
and the constant evolution of thought,
discovery, commerce and government.
He is the most liberal and democratic
of all the pontiffs that have been, and
his sympathies are with the party of
progress everywhere.
The holy father is a man of exceed
ingly frail frame and small stature.
am told that his attendant picks him
UP and carries him about the Vatican
as if he were a child. His health
has always been delicate, and the
strongest argument offered in the con-
clave against his election to the
papacy was that he could endure the
cares and responsibilities of the Office
but a few months.
But Fra Antonio march,, who had
known him from boyhood, said
90 will Y.ai r,oya fo,
twenty years.
He has survived for sixteen, and has
seen many strong men die around
him; but now, passing into his eighty
nth year, Europe would not be sur
prised at any time to hear of his death.
A few months ago the pope asked a
physician to tell him frankly how long
his frail body might last
Holy father" replied the physician,
unless some acute disease should at
tack you, should say that you might
live five years longer
Five years." exclaimed Leo XIII,
II shall then be SO, the age at which a
good Franciscan brother prophesied
that l should die
During the past winter he has suf-
fered from the grip or influenza, and
on an occasion recently, shortly after
receiving the crown prince of Sweden
and suite with unusual ceremonies, he
tainted from exhaustion, and it was
feared he would never revive
THE POPE's DAILY LIFE.
His life is an exceedingly simple one.
He occupies a single room on the ton
floor of the Vatican, and sleeps upon a
narrow iron bed. The only furniture
in the room is a. rug upon the tiled
NJ oil
a table and a few chairs A gentleman
who has seen it tells me that the fur
nishings are as plain and simple as
those of a peasants home, and that a
hundred dollars would replace the
whole. He has a single attendant, a
man named Contra, who was born
upon ms ancestral estates at Carpineto
and was his body servant for wears
While he was still a cardinal. This man
batheS and dresses him. attends to his
meals often, wheels him in a rolling
chair about the corridors and the mag
gardens, and supports him
when he walks. He is at once his but
Ter, valet and nurse, and allows no
other servant near the person of his
master
The holy father spends much time in
prayer and reflection, and some DAYS
his habit is to sit for hours in a plain.
and old-fashtoned,. but comfortable
chair, before the window of his room
which overlooks the walled garden of
the Vatican, with his eyes closed and
his thoughts upon the policy and the
business Of the church. At those mo-
nents he is never allowed to be dis
.urbed.
Contra always comes to awaken and
lress him al 6 o'clock in the morning,
hn Oft dc,
private chapel adjoining his apart
nents. Often he hears second, imme-
lately after which he calls his mass of
celebrated by one of his
'haplains. AT he has a simple break
,ast of milk and coffee and cold bread.
Ind then such official espondence
is requires his attention is laid before
him by his secretaries, to whom he in
licates what disposition shall be made
If the various matters involved. He
speaks, and reads, and acts with great
elaboration. although his latter life
las been a remarkable exhibition of
lervous energy and endurance. At 10
o'clock he always receives Cardinal
the Papal Secretary Of
State, his most trusted and able lieu
enant, and thought by many to be the
greatest man in the church today. |
Afterward, such other officials as the
dtlCdu as lid nave business WITH MN. |
This generally occupies the time until
loon. when a frugal dinner is eaten. |
md then a siesta is enjoyed.
THE POPE MUST DINE ALONE.
This dinner illustrates his severe
implicitly. 1t consists always of some |
ort of nutritious soup; maccaroni. a |
lice of roast beef or mutton, single |
-egetable and fruit. He drinks freely |
f light red wine which has for years
'een furnished him by convent of |
uns in the south of France, and never
ses any other. He takes his dinner |
eizurely to encourage digestion, and |
While eating usually reads the news |
apers; Or chats with some one of the |
although etiquette requires |
i'm to eat alone. When his brother, |
he. late Cardinal Pecci. lived in the
,atican, he often sat for company, |
While the holy father eat his noon |
ay meal, and sometimes when the lat
er insisted upon sharing his food the
ardinal would accept portion, but |
insisted upon sitting at a separate |
able adjoining that of the person to |
yhom he always referred with great
everence as My brother, the Sow
ign Pontiff.''
The pope cannot have a friend to
Inc with him, but often asks a Roman |
-ince, or one Of the cardinals, or some
Their distinguished parsonage to join
i'm at supper. which is invariably linn