Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1898-03-06
LEO XIII. AND THE
POpEs OF HISTORY,

On March next Pope Leo XIII
(born Vincent Joachim Pecci) will Gel
citrate the eighty-eighth anniversary OF
his birth. Yesterday was, however,
the twentieth anniversary of his cleo
ton to the chair of st. Peter. He is,
therefore, the twelfth pontiff to have
felgned more than twenty years Only
SIX nave occupied the pontifical cnair
over rs years. The first of these was st.
Peter, who is said to have been the
supreme pastor OF that church in Rome
70 years, months and days, besides
the seven years Of his ponti1cate in
Antioch. Next was ST. Sylvester l.,
who reigned % years, 10 months and
n days (314-337), and who received the
great Emperor Constantine into the
church as catechumen and saw him
baptized. The next was Adrian L.,
who reigned % years, 10 months and
IA days (771-795), who was a Colonno
and came just before st. Leo III. Then
Plus vi. sat in the chair for "a years,
6 months and days 1775-1S00), Plus
VII. for % years, months and 6
days (1800-1823), and Plus TX, who
celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of
his ascension on June 10, 1876, and
reigned 81 years, months and Il days
the best record Of Papal longevity.
The other Popes who, like Leo NIL,
relgned for over twenty years, were
St. Leo l. (440-46D, called Leo tho
Great, who stayed Attila and Genscric
from further invading Italy; st. Leo
III. (795-816), who consecrated Charlie
magne, Emperor of the West, and thus
restored the Roman Empire after 300
years cessation; Alexander III. (1159-
lloD; Urban VIII Q623-1643), and
Clement XI. Q700-172D.
1t will be observed that Plus and Leo
are the names that most conspicuous
ly figure in the foregoing record. Con-
corning the name of Leo, it may be of
interest to run down the list Of the
other twelve Popes VINO have borne
that title. They have been the great
st. Leo L., who stayed AttiIa and Gen
seric; st. Leo II. (6S2-S4, who i'm
proved the chant; st. Leo I'LL, who
consecrated Charlemagne and restored
the Holy Roman Empire; st. Leo "
(S47-55), who fortified the Vatican and
LeOnine City against the Saracens; Leo
V. (9U3), who sat not one year and was
the shortest reigning of all the Leos;
Leo VI. (92S29), only little longer
reigning; Leo VII. (936-30; Leo VIII.
(963), an antipope; st. Leo TX. Q049
$50; Leo X. Q513-22), who excommu
nicated Martin Lurther and thus pre-
cipitated the great Reformation; Leo
XII $1,000, as short reigned as Leo ",
and Leo XII. 1S23-29). The Leos, as
one observes, have played a great part
in religious and political history. Nor
has "13" been an unlucky number, for
the present reigning pontiff, who
curiously enough-was created pope
exactly thirteen days after the death
of Plus TX.
Leo XIII. is the Northumberland
fiji y-eighth Pope, not counting the an
tipepes (Dioscorus, Boniface VI, Leo
VIII, Boniface VII, Benedict X, and
the series of schismatic popes from
1873 until 1929, during the Babylcnish
Captivity at Avignon). He is the sixth
Pope of the Twentieth Century. Like
the great majority of the Popes, he is
an Italian Of the Pontiffs, 104 have
been Romans and 1903 natives Of other
parts of Italy. Fifteen have been
Frenchment, 9 Greeks, Z Germans, .
Asiatics, 3 Africans, 8 Spaniards, ,
Dalmatians, / Candoit, / Hebrew
(Peter), l Thracian (Conon), 1 Dutch
man (Adrian ". of Utrech9, l PortU
gueSe John XXI, of Lisbon, and j
Englishman (Adrian ~, Nicholas
Breakspeare, who was born at Lans-
ley. England). Eighty-two Popes have
been venerated as Saints and 80 have
been martyred.