The Savannah morning news., 1903-07-19

a school fitted to prepare young men
for public life. And so they said TO J
the Jesuits, tried in the furnace by
long suffering as the innocent alone
can bear in silence, and purified by the
fires of calumny, Imprisonment, exile,
poverty and starvation, they re-
solved to intrust the education of their
boys, Joseph and Vincent" The ten
der and enlightened piety to which his
admirable mother had formed the lit
tie Vincent was still further cultivated
and perfected by the men who priced
moral excellence above all the mere
treasures of knowledge. Since those
days the school boy of Viterbo became
the teacher of the Christian world.
The Countess lived most of her time
in Rome. so as to be near her sons,
while indulging her own pious tastes,
her frequent letters to them continued
to foster in their souls the home virtues
she had planted there. She delighted
in their progress, and took comfort
from the frequent accounts received
from the College of their good conduct
and proficiency. Thus did she seek
to find compensation in sending them
away from home at a, time when boys
most need a mothers eye and hand and
heart.
One feature of her training was the
reverence which her example taught
them for the much prosecuted Fran
ciscan Monks of the neighboring mon
astery, for the Franciscan Monastery
at Carpineto did not escape the van
dalism of the French invasion of 1881
1898. The Countess Pecci and her hus-
band were not slow in giving a helping
hand to the brown-coated and bare
footed Observantines. The monastery
had always shared with the needy poor
the bread its brethren begged in the
neighborhood. Its dispensary gave to
the poor sick gratuitous advice, medi-
cine and care. The brother physician
or surgeon visited the bedridden in
their cottages and brought with them
the healing balm of comfort for the
spirit, even when their drugs failed to
restore the body. A close bond of I'M
ion existed between every home in the
district whether that of the prince or
peasant and the Franciscan Monas-
terry through the Third Order of st.
| Francis, which embraced every class
of men and women living in the world.
The Countess Pecci was a member OF
the Third Order, and her children, too;
thus did the little Vincent become from
! his earliest years familiar with the
brown habit and sandaled feet of the
sons of the gentle st. Francis of AS
sissi. From his mothers lips he heard
| the story of the wonderful and bene-
| ficent life of the saint who has been
| characterized "the sweetest and gent
lest saint in the long line that has re-
! flected luster upon Catholicism" 1t
is said that she told him the beautiful
! stories of St. Francis in a way that he
could understand, and which made him
prize still more Godlike virtue and gen
| crosby. How we'll the outlines of that
life remained imprinted on the bright
mind of the child was shown in the
| Geographic dispatches of yesterday,
when the dying Leo XIII asked humbly
for the Franciscan benediction.
So much for the sweet memory OF
his mother and childhood. She always
brought her boys home for vacation to
the sunny nights of Carpineto, where
they drank in long draughts of sweet
and pure home life by the side of such
a mother as Anna Pecci. This contin'
ed till Joseph was II and Vincent was
IA. 1t was for them the very spring
time of existence, and that year from
the healthy amusements and recrea-
lions of Carpineto, she sent them back
once more to Viterbo. Alas, she was
never again to gather them again
| around her in that spot which she
had made the ideal Christian home A
fatal Illness seized her, and Count
Pecci took her to Rome at the first
symptoms of danger that she might
have better medical skill. But the rip
est science and skill of Rome could not
stay the progress of the disease. In
the prime of life this loving wife and
mother was called to leave her hus-
band and children when they most
needed her. Her last looks rested on
her circle of loved ones. She died as ole
all who live for home and duty, for
God and neighbor. She was laid out
in the brown habit of the Third Order
of st. Francis, in the Church or the
Holy Stignata, especially dedicated to
him in Rome.
The affectionate heart of the
thoughtful and loving Vincent yearned
4 long for her who had left her own i'm
age on his features, his heart and his
life. Touching anecdotes of the ten
derness with which in his venerable
old age and exalted position, he points
to children who are presented to him
the unspeakable privilege of mother S
love and care are told, and the world
knows how he insists on the sacred
duties of filial piety. His voice, 1t is
said, would theft assume an accent OF
special tenderness and his delicate,
transparent features would become
overspread with a special light.
Most touching of all is the memory
of the mother that evidently came TO
him yesterday in the moments when he
saw dark shadows fitting about the
room, and the illustrious Pontiff real
lied that his end was near. He re-
membered her devotion to st. Francis,
and the veneration she had taught
him, and he asked in death for the
benediction of the F'ranciscans. His
reverence for his mother, this aged
man of "a, standing upon the TIRES
hold of the other world, is lesson in
flial piety which boys and girls, and
young men and young women the
world over should take to heart IL
constitutes a fitting end to this long
and beautiful life, and a precious leg