Evening star., 1898-09-17
LIFE OF POPE LEO
His Remarkable Intellectual Power
at Early Age.
MARVELLOUS INDUSTRY AND ZEAL
Wholesome Progress Has Always
Been His Policy.
A FRIEND OF ACE

Copyright, 1s5s hy the International Literary and
News Seryice-)
The right man in the right place-he
was born for the sovereign pontifcate, and
everything in his life has led up to it,
Such is the verdict already passed upon
Pope Leo XII by an exceptionally COM
petent observer; and such. doubt not will
be the fral verdict of poSterity. This,
rightly understood, is the highest praise
that can be awarded. 1t is the We'll done,
good and faithful servant of the gospel
II is also the ideal set up by our latest
pfAosophy-a perfect adaptation of the life
to its environment. The career which has
brought this consummation is of more Than
passing interest.
In all such cases the adaptations must
In part al least antedate birth Vincenzo
GiOaCChinO Pecci was well born His
father, Ludoyico Pecci was a noblenan
and soldier. His mother Anna Prosperi
described as a woman of sanity character,
traced back her ancestry to Cola ii Ri
enzi. familiar to our boyhood as the last
Of the Romans" Yet the famous tribune
vas not whit more typically Roman than
this boy. his remote descendant born at
Carpineto among the VoIscian hills on
March =. lSlc. Even the place the Eagles :
Nest. Is II was called. was fOTtIGa-a.
Manners were simple there and the living
plain. and for several years the 1.-THE ar,d
hardy youEESter raced over the mountain
slopes acquiring the activity and endurance
which were to carry him through a life of
A-ceSSttIt tDli 10 extreme old axe. II PaD4
CORE SempTe' Che pope ALWAYS runsy has
long been L tayOrite saying among those
VINO have best known him and il was here
that the habit started Netting birds was
MS IdVCrite amusement, and we are told
that his fUndnes5 for this exercise SO per
sisted in after life that he occasionally in
duiged IL even in the gardens of the Vati-
can II Is hard to imagine it we look
upon MS picture, where he sits in pale and
iiuStere dignity, with a face cut of live
aiaDaster. upon the papal throne Yet
happy Is the man who can thus retain
sometl ing Of the elasticity of childhnad
Age comes upon him slowly. and is ike
the bright, frosty, invigOratins mornings
OF November 1t is only We young men
y no are not broken down" he cried at the
age OF eighty, on a day when most of the
ecclesiastical dIsn!tarics around him were
prostiatei with Illness.
Schooling Began at Eight.
At tne age of eight he was sem with
his brother 10 a Jesuit school at Viter-
DO. Nhateer prejudices, Just or other
wise one may cherish against the .-csu!ts
rome VIII deny their skill and tagrcugbn.ss
a. ttacEeis. Young Vincent took 10 his
studies With the easerHess Of 4 bird Just
IearNinE 70 use its wings. He was decjd-
eilE precpc-ous, and IN his twelfth wear we
h"a MN writing Latin verse Of excellent
GuaIiy. Indeed. al through ms hirev Iifo
ne mas been remarkable s1r mis- love of
IltillLftr ana Tor the purity and finish
OI MS style. both III Latin and T.ai ii.,,
ANA. despite ths wide difference of creed
Az tAlS ana IL Various other cnuractori4t tics
MS me, hrin features. his force cI car
Stlti ana MS Stu4lCuS habits h. S;Tuu.,I,,
reminds US Of Tie youthful AIU.on
lew years later ne entered the Roman
NC''s SS' also conducted 10y the Jesuits from
"'-''i u the age OF twenty-five he grad
CStei With highest h0uOrs and the dgPr.e
OF doctor Of theology. H.. then stu3ieJ
c-Nli End common law. completing his
ccLEst', and taking holy orders in lS{S His
<1lii'llrs. 1l-,. anu especially his fitness for u
tiL.'Lltt!c career, were now manifest He
hAl also won many powerful friends anon,
them Cardinal Sala, whom he had assisted
Win great courage and efficiency during
.He ch'.eT% epideinic Of the year last men
u'Aeu- he was now given an appoint
H.t mt calculated TO try his mettIe. He Was
sent as delegate. or governor, TO the prov
tuce OF Beueyento.
This was little enclaye of DarsI tar-
ritory in the midst OF the Kingdom of
Naples. sort Of political island about
eqt al 10 Manhattan in extent and not
%ilA>tanIlnB its comparatively scanty pop
ui'iton- quite as hard to govern II had
become a veritable den of thieves. Snug
S!efs. conspiratOrs and bandits of every
breed sought refuge amid its hills ana
neeted IN It's dilaPidatei castles For these
briganI gangs were almost openly harbor-
es and protected by the broken mobiles who
shared their spoiis The peasantry were
partly III sympathy with them and partly
114tinldated. Biackmaii. plunder and saw
age vendettas were rife
Into this feudaI riot. his mission to oueI1
IL was sent our scholarly young priest
Before ne could lift Il finger he was brought
10 the gates OF death by virulent attack
OF typhoid fever. Meauwh1le tba ra,,,Ia
had loved him at first sight and the ruff
Hans. deeming sick boy y-governor an easy
mark relicitated themseIves-but not long
Stern He Was Gentle
For Vincenzo Pecci, a born ruler of men.
was az stern as he was gentle. Like Will
liam the COnQueror. he could not love a
thief" and It was soon made evident that
he was the OF soldier. The papal
troops were mustered and used with a skill
and yigor quite unprecedented. One morn
ing the citizens were astouished to see Pas
quale Colletta, the archbrgand of them all,
every member Of his nurderous gang
marched in chains behind him. And the
young governor. stfll tremulous and as
paliid as a spirit from his recent illness,
wasted no mercy on assassins. To all such.
stark man he was. and great awe men
had Of him"
His greatest trouble was with the patron
mobiles, who, accustomed to boundless Ii
cGnse. were at first disposed TO defy his
authority and assert their ancient feudaI