Rural Retreat times. [volume] (Rural Retreat, Va.) 1892-1918, 1903-07-24
THE Passing OF
Pope LEO XIII
The End Of a Life Which Almost Span
ned a Century Came as Peaceful
as the Fading Of an After
noon Sun Into the Soft
Shadows ofEyening
-a-
HIS SPIRIT VANISHED ON WINGS
HIS SPIRIT VANISHED on WINGS
OF Prayer-The Grim Destroyer the
Winner in a Prolonged Contest
in Which Calm Heroism Crap
pied With and at Times Over
came the Forces of Disease
and Age.


and Age.
Pope Leo XIII is dead The last
flicker of life expired at four minutes
past o'clock Monday afternoon, July
goth, and the pontiff now lies at rest.
The period OF over two weeks that
Pope Leo passed in the shadow of death
was no less wonderful than his life.
His splendid battle against disease was
watched the world over with sympa-
thetic admiration and ended only after
series of tremendous efforts to con-
quer the weakness of his aged frame
by the marvellous will-power of his
mind. The pleuro-pneumonia with
which his holiness has been suffering
was scarcely responsible for his death
as that inevitable decay of tissue which
ensues upon SO years of life. The test
ed steel which had bent so often be-
fore human ills was bound to break
at last.
Pope Leo's final moments were mark
ed by that same serenity and devotion,
and when he was conscious, that calm
intelligence which was associated with
his twenty-five years pontificate. His
was no easy death An hour before he
died, turning to. DR.. Lapponi and his
devoted valet Pho Contra, he MUIR
INJURED:
'.The pain | suffer is most terrible
Yet his parting words were not of the
physical anguish that he suffered, but
were whispered benedictively upon the
cardinals and his nephews who knelt
at the bedside and the last look of his
almost sightless eyes was towards the
great ivory crucifx hanging in the
leath chamber. Practically all the car
iinals in Rome, kneeling at the bed
side, watched the passage of his soul
Earlier in the day, Cardinal Serafno
Vannutelli had impressively pronoun-
ced the absolution in articulo mortis.
The condition of his holiness varied
from agony to coma
Wishing to relieve him, Dr.lMazzoni
suggested that morphine should be adj
ministerial, but DIR. Lapponi did not
agree fearing that the end might be
lulckened
Of this supreme moment DR.. Lapponi
gives an impressive description He
said.
Death occurred through exhaustion.
although in the last two hours Pope
Leo made supreme effort to gather
osether all his energies. He succeed
ID in recognizing those about him by
ne sound of their voices, as his sight
vas almost entirely lost. Still he made
. marvellous display Of his energy ana
ven his death was really grand 1t
vas resigned, calm and serene. Very
few examples can be given of a man
of such advanced age after so exhaus-
tive an illness showing such supreme
courage in dying. The pontiff's last
breath was taken exactly at four min
utes past four. | approached lighted
candle to his mouth three times. ac-
cording to the traditional ceremonial
and afterward declared the Pope to be
no more. ] then went to inform Car
dinal Oreglia, the dean of the sacred
college, who Immediately assumed full
power and gave orders that the vati-
can be cleared of all curious persons
having no right to be therein. Con-
temporaneously, the cardinal instruct
ed Mgr. Right, master of ceremonies,
to send the Swiss guards from the
frances to the vatican and dismiss all
persons from the death chamber, the
body being entrusted tosthe Franciscan
penitentiaries.
The perfect administrative machin-
cry of the church provided against the
slightest interruption of the govern
4 ing authority. AS the senior member
of the sacred college Cardinal Oreglia
to whom the Pope today solemnly con-