The Irish standard., 1903-07-25

the slightest interruption of the gov
erning authority. AS the senior men,
Der of the sacred college, Cardinal
Oreglia, to whom the pope to-day SOL
emnly confided the interests of the
church, has now become the exponent
Of the cardinals until Pope Leo's sue
cessor has been elected.
The day following the death of his
holiness the cardinals, with Cardinal
Oreglia leading the procession, entered
the death chamber and there performed
the ancient and sacred rites of the
Church, which have been observed
from the early days. Cardinal Oreglia
in the name OF those present pronounc-
ed Leo NH dead. On the evening of
the same day, as the great clocks Of
Rome sounded the hour Of s, all the
bells on the 400 Catholic churches be-
gan to toll in mighty dirge On Thurs
day the body Of the late pontiff was
removed from the throne room to st.
Peters, where it lay in state till to-day,
when the funeral took place. Thou
sands of people visited the remains
and paid their last homage to the body
of the great pontiff. Seldom, if ever,
las Rome seem such an outpouring of
sorrow over a pope's death as that
which it Witnessed during the week.
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF LEO.
In the quaint mountain village of
Carpineto, clinging to a spur of the
Leptic Hills. the future Pope Leo NH
came to earth OH March ., 1910. The
babe was baptized Vincenzo Gioachimo
Pecci, and the ceremony was quite an
event in the town, because Count
Ludovico Pecci, his father, owned the
only building that could be called IL
palace, and half the environs of Car
pineto. Built OH the summit of the hill
the Pecci palace overlooked the snow
capped mountain range to the east
ward and the medieval town. AL,
though almost in sight of Rome, an
hours ride by train and four hours by
diligence are still necessary to reach
Carpineto. Indeed. the final climb
has to be made afoot or on mulebacll,
so steep is the ascent. Nothing has
been changed since the Middle Ages,
when the place was the seat Of Il
Duchy, first under the Gaetani, to
which family belonged Boniface VIII,
and later under the Aldobrandini, to
which was allied Clement VIII. Dur
ing the last two centuries however, the
most important family has been that
Of Pecci, although they originally
came from Siena. They have furnish
ed the Church of Rome cardinal in
nearly every generation. The late
pope's elder brother attained the pur-
pie before he did. The Pecci palace
is rambling pile Of white stone, un-
attractive exteriorly; but within are
spacious ante-rooms, suites of magni-
icent apartments, the walls Of which
Ire covered with costly tapestries and
family portraits. A large portrait Of
the late pope's mother represents her
rs handsome and dignified patrician.
She was Anna Prospect, a descendant
IF Cola di Rienzi, "last of the Trib-
mes" Near by, on the same wall, is
The face and figure of Count Pecci, in
the uniform of colonel in the army
Of Napoleon I. Among other por-
traits in the same salon is that Of a
New Yorker, ennobled by Leo XIII.
but rejected from the Union Club,
Duke di Loubat. In this quaint old
rookery young Pecci passed his child
hood. The library is one of the best
private collections of books and man.
uscripts in Italy. Under glass are
shown many letters from the boy to
his "Dear Madame Mother and his
"Dear Monsieur Father" all written
in clear script, Of which man might
have been proud. One, written at the
age of u, when at the Jesuit school,
asks for writing desk, "as all the
other boys have them" Other letters
are there, sent from Rome in 1887,
when the cholera was epidemic in the