Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-08-11
WHY THE PoPEs LIVE LONG.
Ills Because of "PInin Living and
High Thinking Which Are
Now in Leo NILS Favor.

Now in Leo NILS Favor.
From theLondon Lancet.
Plain living and high thinking" have
scored again. and the nonagenarian pom
| tiff, after an illness followed by an opera
ton which within twcnty-four hours
vatican. has been allowed to leave his
bed, and, seated in his arm chair by the
now historic window, to look out on that
world from which he has been excluded for
more than twenty-one years His case in
all its incidents and surroundings is a
memorable one. Other pontiffs, indeed.
out OF the total of 2ji sixteen only have
seen their Slst year His immediate pre-
deeessor, Plus tx, lived until he was 80
years old, and alone of all the popes sur,
PASSED the years OF Peter (2o) on the papal
Ihrone Clement XI. died in his S3rd year
Paui ", elected at 81 years of age, lived
az a put a ,centenarian. But none of these
popes, except Pho Mono for a few years.
was prisoner" confined to 'palace
and garden" as Leo Xiu. has been since
February, 1873. They could all leave the
vatican for the Quirinai, and both these
palaces during the dog days for Castle
Alban lake, we'll nigh 1900 feet above sea
level. Change of air and change of scene
were open to them.
But Leo XIII. has never stirred beyond
that Mons Vaticanus, which retains the
insaiubrious character given it by Martial
None OF them moreover in their 90th year.
tury's standing, and all this amid the cares
or a spiritual empire infinitely greater in
NUMBER and compleNity than the busiest
of them ever knew. OF course in the pres
ent case the personal equation counts
for much. Leo XIII. comes of the ancient
stock of the Peccis, mountaineers of the
Latin and Neapolitan frontier.
From his youth up an indefatigable schol-
| ar, he relieved the seclusion of the study
with an open air exercise, and during the
many years he was archbishop of Perugia
ial MI y-if h iS
gun. Then again, he was happily gifted
with the mems aeQua' of his faYorte poet,
conducting to that even flow Of the ,circu..
longevity Over and above this constitu-
tional characteristic, he has always had the
will to live" which in the physical sphere
is the counterpart of what the greatest of
American psychologists has in the religious
life called the will to believe" This effort
of volition. conscious or unconscious, is
quite compatible, as in Leo's case, with
absolute courage in the face of death.
Indeed, before and after the operation,
| the pontiff's cheerfulness almost rose to
gayety, expressing itself in pleasant sallies,
doubly pleasant for his consultants to hear.
| 1t may or may not be truly stated that he
congratulated himself. as a hopeful ele-
ment in the prognosis, on his having
youth on his side But he certainly spoke
and acted as if he had-as If, indeed. he
fully shared Professor MaZzoni's belief that
after the operation he had at least as many
years in store as would suffice to falsify
the words whispered into his ear on coro-
nation: Non Yidebis amos Petri. His
example adds another to the many in
stances of patriarchal years attained by
hard working men, professional and other
wise, in whom mind and soul according
WELL with a physique unbroken by excess
and braced by manly exercise. have result
ed in that 'oid age immortalized by
Wordsworth as beautiful and free" That
poet himself and his official successor. Lord
Tennyson. the duke of Wellington and En-
peror William I. are typical examples of
that serene sunset of life which, succeed
ing its ''fitful fever" shed so rich an after
glow on their decline.