The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-16

Giuseppe Sarto, Patriarch Of venice, a man of piety, learning. aesthetic tastes and simple habits. Of humble birth' or Venetian parentage, with long years O. service as a parish priest Sarto enters into new sphere burdened with the re- sponsibilities of yielding the power Of the supreme pontlff and of directing the af- fairs of the Roman Catholic church the world round.
 Before the an6uncement of Leo's death, the one subject discussed in the press and drawing rooms was the pope's health. His tenacity of life and it's causes, so- briety at table, and a well-regulated mind, should serve as a lesson to the civilized world A member of the Chigi family tells me that the pope has always been an incredibly small eater. No doubt his life has never been strenuous. The S40O a year he derives from his little Mount Olives near Carpineto ought to. have sufficed for all his material wants before he obtained brilliant preferment as & churchman. His daily meals as Bishop of PArgyia. would have hardly satisfied child of six, and he has not increased them since he lost his teeth, which nap pened since his election to the vatican. He only uses false teeth when giving au- oisnces at which he must articulate dis tinctly. as when receiving French Cath- oiics Of note, millionaire Ameri- cans, King Edward, the German Em- peror, or members of the Russian lm- psrial family The dental setting shows through his extremely thin lips, wnich are merely skin. He mumbles rather ordt visitors.
 Since he has been unable to masticate his food he has been fond or finely chop ped meat, made into balls and fried Tn oil. and croquettes made in the French way. The chopped chicken-generally the breast-is stirred well in cold thlcR be- chanel sauce, and then given a sausage form, rolled in breadcrumbs and trleo. He takes also fried chickens liver, but sparingly, and only to give flip to his digestive organs. He is not great eater of fish, but somebody has sent him un- ned cods' liver, which he took, prepared in rice, with pleasure and benent, HIS broth is bouillon, made according 10 q recipe given him in 1S44 by the King of Belgians' French chef. He also nKes boiled fowl sauce supreme done in the French way. Sometimes hetakes as relish a slice of York ham not thicker than wafer. or pigs foot, prepared in the ltai- ian way or montadella de Bologna. But the bouillon and the preparation or chop- ped lamb or fowl are his principal sus- tenance He never eats saiad, put IS fond of an extremely well-coked Veget- able, seasoned with oil and lemon-1uee. His breakfast is an underdone fresh egg, or two, some chocolate, a cup or milk and no bread. The pope never liked farl- naceous. food, and is not great rice eater. A Belgian dish that he likes IS red cabbage baked with sugar like an annie tart. His snuff used to be sup piled by the Court of Madrid before the loss of Cuba
 Since that Pearl of the West Indies has become an independent Republic the pope has to buy his snuff. He uses great quantities, and soils dreadfully the front of his white robe. The French nuns Tn Rome of the Congregation Reparatrice de Occur de Jesus clean the papal robes and undertake to laundry his body linen, stockings and small clothes, which are of flannel under cotton or washing SIX in summer. His old slull-caps are given to pious ladies and to convents It is forbidden to give them away whole, or A piece of them with the pope's initials. The cast-off napkins are all plain. There are no tablecloths in the papal linen presses as His Holiness eats at the let ter-table at which he writes. His pocket handkerchifs are of red and yellow SIX foulard Our grandfathers in the snuff taking days used such pocket-handker- chiefs.
 It was generally desired that the suc- cessor to Pope Leo should be an italian The Roman Monsignori are more diplo- matic than pious. They believe the pa pacy to be eternal, and that 1t cen af- ford to regard events that seem 10 threaten it with serenity. They are rather sceptical than believing, and are therefore free from fanaticism. This en- ables Rome to be at once the fly-wheel and moderator of the Catholic world. She follows much more often than initiates movements, and hates fuss and gas if she can be said to hate anything. One laughs at Cardinal Manning's zeal, which exposed him at the vatican to the suspicion of being prompted by vanity. Cardinal Vaughan was more in conson- ance with tke dominant temperament of the Roman Monsignori Cardinal Gib- bons and Ireland are thought in Rome to be leading the American Cath olics to a schism. The Bremen cardinals and bishops generally are certain that they are, and the Bishop of Nancy has warned the French Catholics not to al- low themselves to be Americanized by certain theologians who write up Gib- bons and Ireland, and their master. Father Haeckel.
 Great interest was taken in the pres- ence of Cardinal Gibbons in Paris. To use an American term, the distinguish ed American churohman travels lightly. He has no suite" and is only accom- panied by his secretary, who is in holy orders The cardinal dresses as an ordi- nary priest, but has a patch of red silk where the cravat of a layman would be tied He is as thin as Leo XIII. was at his age (sixty-nine) has sweet, soft blue eyes, simple manners, and Is in no degree the proud preate. Used to being interviewed, and can 'parier pour ne rien dire" As it is not lawful TOT a Cardinal fin anticipation of a popes death to go to Rome the Bishop of Baltimore will re- main at the Seminary of St. Suipice. where he is lodged in a room that is not much more than cell He will stay there so long as the pope lives. and when the last breath is drawn, hasten to Rome to attend the conclave.
 Endless journalists have called on Car dinal Gibbons and been received, but were unable to draw anything note worthy from him. He owned himself, however, an admirer of Leo XIII. There was some courage in this. The "liberal- ism" of Leo is under cloud in the Catholic world of Europe. and the Free thinkers say that 1t made him the most dangerous enemy of Freethought and republicanism that ever sat in St. Peters chair.