The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1894-05-18
THE SOVEREIGN PONTIFF
Great Strength Of Spirit Housed
in the Pope's Frail Body.
The Head of the Roman Church as Seen
on State Occasions Great Mental
Vigor and Extreme Physical
Weakness.

In personal appearance Leo XIII.
has q marked resemblance to those
meager figures of saints, worn to a
shadow from a life of fasting and as
ceticism, which Fra Angelica so loved
emn faces full of profound thought or
deep devotional expression, standing
out against a background of brilliant
blue or bright gold. The pope seems
to have only sufficient body left to
house the spirit that longs to be at
rest. He was always more or less deli
cate. and, according to the Baltimore
Sun, one of the most cogent objections
he urged in the conclave against his
being elected to the papacy, when it
became evident that the votes were
tending toward him, was that his deli
cate health would in short time rem
der new conclave necessary He is,
perhaps, seen at his best during those
grand, though infrequent ceremonies,
which take place in st. Peters, and at
which he assists as the central figure.
When seated in the crimson, high
backed, sedia gestatoria, which is
borne up by long poles resting on the
shoulders of eight bearers who are
clothed in crimson damask, he may be
said to look his best, as, with slight
swaying motion, he is carried
along through the vast crowds.
By the sides of the chair, or sedia,
up near his head, are carried the
large fans (aabellD of white peacock
feathers, which give such an air of
splendor to the spectacle; and held
over his head by eight poles, borne by
distinguished noblemen, is the canopy
of white and pearl-gray silk, which as
it moves in the sunlight shows chang
ing tints as varied and delicate as
those on a doves breast. The pope,
seen on such an occasion, is waxy pale
in complexion. The great sign of life
and vigor is the brilliancy of his eyes,
which, with piercing glance, seem to
take in the whole vast crowd, and to
see and observe each individual face.
The heavy, huge tiara, which he wears
at such ceremonies, with it's three
crowns studded with pearls, seems to
oppress him by it's weight and bulk.
His hand trembles with nervousness
VI Iile puTueu VI years dS ne Illus III up
from the superintendent weight of
the great cope, which enwraps him
from the shoulders to the feet, and ex-
tends it to bless the people as he
passes. AT audiences, which, with un-
wearying good nature, he still contin-
ues to give, being seen closer, he
looks all his age, which Is now reach
ing the close of his eighty-fourth year.
The constant surprise of those who see
him and hear him speak in that strong,
deep voice, with the slow and clear
enunciation for which he has always
been distinguished, is that man of
such age preserves SO well the brill
iancy of mind, the vividness of mem
ory, the keenness of intellectual grasp
which were his characteristics from
his early years. However well he may
be served and assisted by the brilliant
minds around him, the acts he does
and the letters he issues and the ad-
dresses and discourses he makes, are
wholly and solely the outcome of his
own mind and the result of his own in
tellectual operations.