The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-09

of Pecci, of whom Leo XIII became the
most eminent St Malachy gave the
motto of "Ignis Ardens" for the next
| Pope. This is the motto of Cardinal
Gotti.
Three years ago Pope Leo XIII indi-
Gated his desire that Cardinal Gotti
should be his successor. Cardinal
Gottis appointment July 20, 1902, as
Project of the Propaganda, a vacancy
caused by the death of Cardinal
LedOchowski. seemed also to show the
| esteem in which he was held by the
! Pope. OF course, the fact that the
| Pope indicated his desire to have the
! Cardinal succeed him does not mean
! that he will be selected But Pope
| Leo's preference in such a matter must
CARRY great weight. The ajority Of
| the present College of Cardinals were
| chosen by Pope Leo.
| Cardinal Gotti was born at Genoa
March 49, 1884. His extremely humble
| origin might have hindered his rise in
| the church but for the pious fervor and
amiability of his disposition. His faith
er was a dock laborer in the city of the
future cardinals birth. The young
Gotti seems to have inherited his de-
votional tendency from his mother.
Thanks to her and to the interest of
some friends of hers. the youth was
enabled to prosecute his studies at Ge
nOa, at Rome and at Petra. He APP
piled himself TO theology with avidity
from the moment he received the ton
sure. This department he has practi
cally made his own. He is deemed one
of the greatest living authorities on
probabilist theology or the body of pre-
cept associated with the name of St.
Liguori. AS a Thomistic scholar Car
dinal Gotti also ranks high, being sur
passed in this respect, if at all, only
by Cardinal Satolli.
But Cardinal Gotti never has con-
cerned himself with theological the
orizing as such. He stands rather as
a student and follower of the moral
law. Hence his name is identified with
the religious party in the Sacred Col
lege as opposed to the political school.
Cardinal Gotti in his priestly calling
attached himself to the Carmelite body
This order of mendicant friars is not
only rigid in some of it's branches, but
it has peculiar attractions for those of
devotional tendency. Thus one branch
of the order is famed as the barefoot
brethren. Long before his selection as
Archbishop of Petra Friar Gotti was
known as an ascetic of ascetics. He
lived on the coarsest and simplest fare
dispensed with shoes and spent weeks
at a time in the seclusion of the mon
astery. His Carmelite brethren were
the first, naturally, to discern the mer-
its of the man, and he was gradually
promoted in the order until he was at
the head of his own priory. He stu
died, taught, preached and practiced
for twenty years, however, in compar-
alive obscurity.
a work intrusted to Friar Gotti
after he had been raised to the eps-
mo in f1O rnyffI1 he
distracted state of the church in Bra
iii. The abdication of Dom Pedro,
the radical legislation with regard to
religious liberty that ensued and the
undisciplined condition of the native
clergy presented a serious problem to
the Vatican. Archbishop Gotti was in-
structed to proceed to the new repub-
lie in the' capacity of internuncio and to
restore harmony. The success attend
ing his efforts resulted in his creation
as cardinal at the consistory held
Nov. 90, 1895.
Notwithstanding the princely dig
nifty and the still more princely pros
poets of Cardinal Gotti. he remains
in the solitude of his household, as
humble a Carmelite as ever. The rule
of his order. as practiced by him in
its ancient severity is strict When the
Pope bade him doff the Carmelite's
NAOdh AOl AAlt NdIullldl GdSSOCk ne WAS
forced to mitigate many of his monk
ish rigors. But in his own household
the cardinal adheres to them still
A cardinals household at Rome is an
elaborate affair. Everything is done
tremendously, almost as if the in
mates were in church. The cardinal has
his coat of arms, his lackeys and his
secretaries and even his palace Such
members of the Sacred College as have
wealth and who belong to the old Ital-
Ian nobility live in a manner calculated
to do justice to the ancient splendor
of the title of prince of the church.
But Cardinal Gotti is not one of these.
He deems himself bound to live as
much as possible in the style of a Car
melte monk
The Carmelites, who compose one of
the most remarkable of the mendicant
orders, in view of the antiquity of their
origin, derive their name from Mount
Carmel, the locality In Syria where
dwelt the prophet Elias. They have a
tradition that their order held the sa-
cred mount as far back as the time
of Elias himself. Some historians as
sign their origin to the year 1855. the
name of their founder being given as
Berthold. a noted Crusader.