The Savannah morning news., 1903-07-19
MOTHER OF THE POPE.
COUNTESS ANNA PECCI, A VEAL
THY AND NOBLE LADY.

Whose Charities Were Broad and
Piety Deep, and Whose Lessons,
IMPRINTED on Minds of Sons, Re-
manned With the Dying POntiH.
From the New Orleans Picayune.
In these days OF mingled hope and
anxiety, when the eyes of the world are
whose life is ebbing away slowly, it is
said, but none the less surely in that
darkened room in the Vatican, minds
of women especially revert to the
mother who gave to the world this
great and remarkable man, one of the
greatest who ever sat in the chair of
Peter since the days of the humble
Judean fisherman.
She must have been a lovely and low
ing wife and mother, and a noble and
exemplary Christian woman, TINS
Countess Anna Pecci, whose portrait, 1t
is said, taken in the first years Oh het
motherhood, still hangs in the great
hall of the palace at Carpineto, beside
that of her handsome young husband.
Count LudoVico Pecci, who married
the Countess Anna Porsperi Biz, the
daughter of a noble house OF the all
cient Volscian city of Corr, situated on
the western crest of Monti Leplnl, was
a soldier of enviable reputation, ana
member of a famous Italian Tarnlly:
The Prosperi-BiZi held in that ahcleLl1
Volscian stronghold and its dlstrlct tne
same place which the Peccl helu III
their own native town. The countess
NTert0f
hand a notable increase of properly
,1,hjcb their descendants hold to this
dav. in and around the old cyclopedn
walls made so famous In Roman MS
tory. ,o,,o,,,+ 70
But more than wealth, she brought 70
him and to her children stll rlclles
inheritance of Christian virtues dnu
noble womanly qualities.
Her fourth son, destined to oecolhe
one day the great Leo Kill, as an
know, was born March z, 1olV' M
Rishop of Abagni, to Wnlch ulOOea
Carpineto belonged, was lnViteu az az
baptize the little stranger, ana 70 t,n nri
towards him the office or gooIatnel'
This Bishop, who was a warm person
al friend of the family, bestowed on
his little aodson the name OF Joacnlni
Vincent Raphael Louis. The name oL
VINCENT was given to him at the spe-
cial request of his mother, VINO nao d
snacial generation for the great DOM
inican missionary, ST. Vincent Ferrer,
Archbishop of Valencia, and she never
called him by any other name. llueeu'
as long as she lived the child ana the
boy was only known by the hdIle VI
Vincent Pecci But when this worship
ned mother was taken from him ne
assumed and retained exclusively the
name of Joachim. He did this in order
10 show still more his reverence Tor
the memory of his great ana goou
mother. When asked why he had done
this he would say that Joachim ana
Anna. are the names given in the I'M
broken traditions of the churches OF
both the East and West to the par
ents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the
mother of Christ. And so IN assuming
this name entirely, Leo united in the
family circle the names of Joachim,
Anna. Joseph, Mary, those traditional
flowers of Eastern birth transplanted
into his home garden and shedding It's
sweetest fragrance there in the TOUR
children of the Countess Anna, while
Charles. Catherine, John the Baptist
were the names of the other three who
formed the joyous circle of seven who
played about the knees of this adml-
rable mother.
lit is SdlQ LldI DOlil clAh0 hSA 49,
hand we're such parents as made their
home a paradise for their dear ones, a
sanctuary of peace, piety, hospitality
and charity in the eyes of servants and
dependents, of relatives and friends,
and of the suffering far eand near.
Her third son, the venerable Cardi-
nal Pecci, speaking of her one day,
said in voice shaken with emotion,
"She was in truth the most devoted
friend of the poor. She was always
working for them. In seasons of great
distress she had daily supplies of bread
baked for them. You know how fond
our peasants are of polenta, or rich
nourishing soup. She herself directed
in person and watched the servants
while preparing and cooking huge cal
| drons of this species of pottage. This,
as well as all the bread, was dealt out
| under her superintendent to all who
needed it. And she took special care
that the sick poor, who could not leave
their homes, should have their supply
sent to them, and that the sensitive
poor, who could not bear to have their
distress known, should receive assist
nance in such delicate way as to pre-
vent their being abaSed in their own
| eyes. She was the soul of every good
work of piety and beneficence that was
| set afoot in the town. Indeed, she
| started many herself. But all this ac-
tive outside charity never made her
neglect her home duties. She lavshed
| on us all mothers most devoted care
and tenderness"
Both the Count and Countess were
earnest Christians. This union of mind
and heart in the knowledge and prac-
tice of the hottest and most ennobling
duties was in their home as in their
| life, the light which frightened and
warmed everything around them, and
filed with joy and bliss the hearts of
| their children.
The sweet and beautiful laws of the
Christian home, so well proved by ex-
perience, held good in the palace of the
Pecci at all times; the generous CO.
| operation of the husband enabled the
wife to attempt and almost accomplish
impossibilities; for such is the power
of love, hallowed by the thought OF
! God.
| Carpineto, to use the words of the
venerable Cardinal Joseph Pecci, sis
an eagles nest placed for security high
! above the plains between two gigantic
/ rocks"
Count Pecci and his wife, though
much attached to their boys, and know
| ing how much their brothers and sis