Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1897-02-28

the Red sea as an exile, or face the ex-
penses of a restoration of its temporal
power. The jubilee of 1888, according
TO some authorities, poured S30,0O0,OOO
into that treasury and $S0,000000 ac-
cording to others. That of 1893 was
less auriferous, but it added new sums
to the millions of 1883. Therefore, If
the Papacy is temporarily pinched by
the lowering OF the level Of Catholic
contributions, it is not the fault OF The
supremely economical Leo.
But this difficulty, in spite of the famous
historical treasury, is real. To enumerate
the reasons for It would be TO write one
Of the cOntempOraneOus chapters or the
Church and OF the Fapacy. Coming into
power like Leo the Great, Gregory Nll.'
and Sixtus V. al a period Of transforma-
ton. Leo MIL was obliged to stimulate
Christianity and lead it toward new shores.
This new course angepsd the higher classes
and the Conservatives. Now. nothing is
more brutal or more vindictive than the
groups and classes that are Interrupted in
their digestive functions. Leo XIII has in
terrupted those castles a the moment when
they were dining. or taking their coffee
and their petits vepres. His social policy
frightened the rich and the favored by
fortune. Was ii not necessary to give
lesson to te idealist who from the Vatican
preached justice fraternity and the eleva-
ton of the masses toward a higher lie?
His republican instructions troubled the
dolce far nente of the jewellers in castles
who. behind THEM money bags. looked down
upon republican and democratic endeav-
ors. Was It not necessary to reply TO this
giver Of counsels. to this fearful demo-
crat." by the Inauguration of the period OF
the Seven poor cows?" In all ages the
conservatives, the fortunate, the beau
possldenu, the happy ones of this world
have hated the innovators and reformers:
and this hatred has taken the form and
the proportions of strike in obedience
and in financial contributions
After his memorable toast at Algiers'
Cardinal Lavigerie died, heart broken I'M
der the weight of that vengeance which
certainly can scarcely be called Christian.
Serene and with the constitution Of
mountaineer of Carpineto ALA scarpa
grossa ALA tesla fina, Leo XIII. would
not bow his iron forehead to the storm.
The more the old castles boycotted him, the
more his indomitable courage increased.
In spite of treasons. vengeances, and re-
sistances. he advanced along his route.
Like the SUBMITS Of the Alps, he lifted his
proud and luminous head above the storms
devastating the plains. When, as Carlyle
says. a man places himself ''in the heart
of things. he has no fear Of the movements
upon the outer surface"
But there are other causes for the drop
ping off Of these financial contributions.
The Catholic nations on the continent have
organized themselves into a new society,
world in itself, by the side of the lay state,
the prosecutor Of the revolutionary soci-
ETY.. To found and endow schools, TO keep
up religious establishments. to sustain
congregations, to increase the wages Of
the poor. TO encourage clubs and parties
constitute a labor which preceding gener-
ations had not TO perform, at least TO the
same extent. The increase Of expenses at
home diminishes the amount of st. Peters
pence. II should also be remembered that
the capital of the rich classes no longer
yields the old time dividends, and that the
great fortunes are diminishing and crum-
bling away. Lastly. we should bear in
mind that although very popular at the
beginning, with that halo Of prestige and
excitement which surrounds every novelty,
ST. Peters penny is beginning to take is
place among well known and usual things
and institutions.
Now there Is nothing which experiences
the cooling down OF enthusiasm so much
as a work to which the Imagination has
had time 20 accustom Itself To arouse
the torpop that happy and careless beat-
tude, IL needed one Of those coups de
theatre which move the masses and lead
them with happy hearts toward the aim
which the stage settlers have assigned to
them. Leo XIII. has a lofty soul and an
impeccable conscience; but ne has not that
imagination which, like the lightning rod,
conspires with the electricity 70 bring the
bolt from the cloud. He is a cold and cir
cumspect Roman lie is not d leader of
mon with a luminous forehead and a fiery
eloquence. He is an Augustus, not an Or
pheus. He would scrupulOusy study the
different methods Of reconstruction, but he
would never grasp the STAFF of Moses and
make the fountain of Iife spring from the
rock Plus TX. perhaps. with that popu-
lar soul which put him In communication
with the throng, might have excited gen.
erosites by a trumpet call. Leo XIII. al
ways despised such methods. He is, above
all things. economical and prudent in the
sense Of the Gospel. If up to the present
he has not made public the increasing pow
erty Of the Papacy he has communicated
to the nuncios and his representatives its
growing necessities. As the tide Of char
ity recedes, the wave Of expenses advances.
The Papacy has grown like the tree of the
Holy Scriptures that covers all the earth
with its powerful and blossoming branches
The missions continue to stretch out every
day more and more their golden rays Of
light. This expansion pays itself in sacri-
fees. Leo XIII. establishes almost every
where. but especially in the extreme East,
colleges and native seminaries to increase
the power of giving out light and of the
attraction and projection Of Western
FALSE