Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-07-20

| 1881, the degree of doctor of divinity
and entered the academy of Noble Ec-
cesiastics to study law and diplomacy
and thus qualify himself for joining
what may be termed the Papal Diplo-
matte service and become conversan
with the system of the spiritual gov.
ernment. 1t is from the ranks of this
official body that, in these days, new
pontiff is almost invariably chosen
| In 1897 joachim Pecci received the sub
diaconate and diaconate and on Mapt
| IA of the same year George AV1 made
| him domestic prelate, his first pro-
motion with the title of monsignor
| On December %. 1897 he was ordained
priest by Cardinal Odescalchi, saying
| his first mass in the chapel of St
Stanislaus at the Jesuit Noviciate OF
St Andrea. Early in 1888 Monsigno.
Pecci was named governor of the papa
province of Benevento and, like SiXtus
V. busted himself with the suppression
of brigandage. In connection with this
work the following story was told OF
Monsignor Pecci. A certain marquis
called one day to protest against what
he considered the interference of the
governor and informed the latter that
he was just starting for Rome to pro-
cure his recall.
"Have you considered the step we'll?
asked Monsignor Pecci.
Yes, Monsignor,' said the other
"and I'm going at once
To this the governor reioned:
RESOLUTIONS of this kind should be
we'll considered at leisure. You viii
No 70 VII
the present"
That same night the marquis castle
was surrounded and twenty-eighi
brigands of whom he was patron and
chief were arrested or shot.
From Beneyento Manager Pecci was
transferred to the governorship oi
Perugia, where he remained for year
and half.
The young ecclesiastic, in 1S43. was
called to exercise his talents in a more
important post, being consecrated by
bishop of Damietta in Partibus and
sent to Brussels as phpal nuncio. 1t
was as representative of the vatican
in the Belgian capital that he first
gained the political insight and ex-
perience which have been one OF the
principal characteristics of his tenure
of the pontifical throne.
Monsignor Pecci remained over three
years in Belgium, and on his recall to
Italy was decorated with the Grand
Gordon of the order Of Leopold.
After leaving Brussels the nuncio
paid visit to London. This was in
February, 1916, and in the same year
he was consecrated archbishop of Per-
ugia. He continued in this position
for the thirty-two years which inter-
vened before his election to the highest
position in the church. his tenure Of
the episcopate coinciding exactly with
tie 80 years of the reign of Plus TX.
In his episcopal labors the archbishop
showed no less energy and zeal than
he had displayed as governor of a
poSitile,t atatc. AnonG other achieve
ments he succettdsd In purging the
archdioceseof brigandage. and at a
certain time all the prisons under his
spiritual jurisdiction We're empty. Such
success did not pass unnoticed. and
in 1850 Monsignor Pecci was elevated to
the dignity OF cardinal priest.
At the consistory held in 1877 Card
inal Pecci was appointed Camerlingo
of the Roman church, which gave him
chief charge of the temporalities of the
holy see. In this capacity 1t fell to
his task to make the necessary ar
rangements for the conclave for the
election of new pope after the death
of Plus lX, in February, 1878 The
conclave lasted SO hours and at the
third ballot Cardinal Pecci was elected
supreme pontiff and took the name
of Leo XIII after the famous pope Leo
X for whom he had great veneration.
He was crowned on March 3 with the
tiara, or triple crown, the ceremony
taking place not in ST Peters, where
all his predecessors but one had been
crowned since 1865, but in the Sistine
chapel in the vatican, where the con-
clave had been held.
Public opinion regarded the new pope
as characterized above all things by
a love of peace, and it was expected
that, departing from that non possu
mus policy OF his predecessor, he would
speedily conclude a compromise with
the Italian government and thus put
an end to the antagonism between the
vatican and the quirinal But, thu
the world was soon undeceived, and,
in his first encyclical, promulgated at
Pope Leo XIII unhesitatingly main
tanned his demand for the restoration
of the temporal power of the papacy.
nor did he ever recede from the posi-
ton then taken up.
At the same time. the policy OF the
Roman Curia certainly underwent a
in the direction of moder-
alton, which greatly contributed to
increasing the influence of the vatican
abroad. From the very outset, the
new pontiff displayed the greatest in
terest in the social questions agitating
the world Of today and in an encyclical,
issued in December 1878, appealed to
the intellectual forces of Catholicfty
to contest the propaganda of doctrines
which his holiness described as sub
servient of social order, alluding es-
pecially to the socialists in Germany
and the Nihilist movement in Rus
sia.
The cooperation afforded by the
pope to the various governments in OPP
posing the growing forces of social de-
paved the way for the settle
ment of disputes existing between
those governments and the vatican,
both spiritual and civil authorities be-
ing, as it were, called upon to merge
their differences and make common
cause against the enemy. The first
great political achievement of the pope
was the settlement of the differences
with Germany which had given rise to
the famous Kulturkampt.
The rapid spread of anarchic doc
trnes in Germany and the attempts
made upon the emperors life in 1873
Prince Bismarck to make ap-