The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1902-1905, 1903-07-24
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} Or. FILLS On Eco the man
I and Els Place In history.

A mong those men who are the
N glory of their time the world has
= already made a large place for
Leo the Pontitf.
The first Leo is known to the world
as Leo the Great because he founded
the Papacy. but the last Leo, who
conserved, purified and strengthened
what the first had founded, will ulti-
rnutely be known as Leo the Good.
BY reason of the majesty and beau
~ of his character he WIS revered by
protestant and catholic alike dur
ing his life, and now that he is dying
the protestant world mourns for him
as it has lamented no prelate since
the death of Cardinal wman.
From every viewpoint Leo appeals
10 the sense of universal admiration,
He is the spiritual ruler of more
than one hundred millions OF men,
aud vet power never made him proud
or arrogant.
He is a great scholar, wise toward
all books and libraries, but he If
neither Impractical nor a dreamer
for he is known as one of the most
practical of men.
He is annually in receipt of treas
urers of gold so vast MS to make the
income OF princes contemplate. yet
to the end he lived in three rooms
furnished to the point of baroness
and poverty.
He is held in universal reverence
because he stands for the great SIM
plicities, those universals of Chris.
liantty, called Love, Peace and GOOD
Will.
His ambition was one of the nobl'
est possible to the mind of man VIZ
to so spirtualize his church as tt
MAKE i W rshy to control the destiny
Of the millions WHO followed him
Above all else, to use the expression
of the prophets, "lie was II man who
feared God" being of goodness al
compact.
And now that his career is endeC
the world bebolds Leo standing forth
in the form of il man without admiN-
ture of meanness or vice or crime
but clothed with justice and virtue
and goodness rs with garments. we
can say of Leo as was said of Ber
nard. 1--WE thank Thee, Lord, thai
Thou hast counted the world worthy
to have had him so long"
LEO'S PLACE IN HISTORY.
Because of his achievements fol
the church all scholars have already
given Leo u place among the creates
of the popes. Strictly speaking, thu
giant popes are six in number. |
was the glory of Leo the Great tina
he founded the Papacy and organized
that vast system whose lines from
Rome, web-like, stretch out over al
the ealtl
Then came Gregory-the mission
AIRY pope-who, in $50, sent his teach
ers to the inhOspitable shores o
England, where they won over th,
savage ancestors of Shakespeare ant
conquered King Ethelbert by thei
plea for immortality. Later cam,
Hilderbrand, that Gregory who wa
not content that the pope should
be the equal of kings and princes. |
was his ambition to eXalt tn
spiritual power above all Temporal
power. Emperors, kings and queen
must be subject to the worlds spirit
ual ruler. He denied to Henry tn
Fourth Of Germany the right of in
vesture of bishops, and when Henr,
insisted Gregory promptly eXcOm
municated him, forbade any of hi
subjects to serve him. In that hOu
Hilderbraud proved that the pop
was the king over all emperors. rule
of all temporal mOnarchs, and from
chat day Gregory was master ant
! H,nru pnGiant All thn Mt
in HeHry's palace fled. The monarch
had coal, but no one to kindle fire
flour, but no one to make a loaf
horses, but no man to tend them
When the king appeared on tn
streets an men fled, and every shoI
door was locked in his face. At las
Henry took a staff and made his wa,
to Italy, but the pope refused to Sc
him. For three days and tire
nights, blrefOOted and bareheadeC
amid the blasts of winter, Henr,
stood knocking at the door before h,
received audience and pardon. Then
for centuries, the pope was SOY
ereign.
Then came the great popes of tn
De Medici period, who built the ca
thedrals, who were the patrons o
men like Bramante, Michael Angelo
Raphael, Titan and Da Vinci, ant
that great company of immortal art
ISIS. In that era when the pontii
was a secular prince came the Re
formation also, that rent the churcl
in twain; and long after came Pin
with his decree of infallibility; an,
last of all came Leo the Good. VIII
accomplished the impossible even il
Luther's own country.