The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1903-07-24

Leo Nil. uds Dttn Il hbtIdi poilbicitu
He has hailed the future rather than
deplored the loss of the past. He has
been one of the captains In the move
ment for universal education and has
striven TO make education and morals
confde i'm each other. Not single
scandal from Rome in his papacy has
been conveyed 10 the world. lie has
shown friendly disposition To the
world and could himself take place in
almost any learned faculty or congress
and hold his own i'm general knowledge
with scientists, belles-lettres men and
doctors.
Elected pope i'm February, 1878. he
was then almost siXty-cight years of
age. and he had been for thirty-two
years the archbishop of one quiet city,
Perugia. which once belonged TO the
papal states. but stood high among the
old Italian republics or feudalities for
its painters and men of gifts. This re-
gion, generally called Umbria pro-
duced the highest triumphs of art in
Raphael. In Perugia and its province
the archbishop was as distinctly the
foremost citizen or subject as the late
Phillips Brooks undoubtedly was in
Boston or Henry Ward Beecher in
Brooklyn.
lie was born at a mountain town in
the Apennines, not far from Rome,
called Carpinet, on March >, 1910. TO
this little place of about 1900 people
his ancestors had been expelled from
Siena about 800 years before. They
were mobiles in Siena, but had taken
part against their countrymen when
the Medici of Florence resolved To
conquer and annex Siena. This indie
pendent republic, inspired with pas
slonate hatred against Florence, made
a memorable defense, but the odds
were too strong.
Retiring into the state Of the church,
the pope's family, named Pecci Qro-
nounced PechD, formed new friend
ships. and the pope's father was a count
who either volunteered or was drafted
into Napoleon's service when he over
ran Italy. The pope's mother was a
countess. who brought property to her
husband.
They lived in what is called a palace
in Italy, large building rising from
the rocks, two stories and an attic high,
with flowers and terraces about its
base. 1t appears that the pope during
all his life has known no want, bur has
enjoyed a private revenue such as a
gentleman of noble descent would be
apt TO have i'm any country who had
kept his estates.
He was born after the French repub-
leans Lad oyerrUn Italy and been ev-
erywhere victorious and the greatest
change had taken place not only in the
Italian people, but even in the priest
hood.
The pope himself. Plus VII, had been
taken captive from Rome 10 France
and was only returned to Rome at the
fall Of Napoleon in 1914. He restored
the Jesuits, who were the secular school
masters within the church. but they
had fallen under the hostility of several
OF the kings and been for some time
suppressed. Upon their return they
opened schools and gave the city of
Rome something Of it, old clerical and
literary character.
In 1917 the late pope's mother took
her sons TO Rome and the next year
put them at school at Viterbo. a city on
a hill but few hours carriage ride
from Rome. This lady belonged TO one
Of the orders of the Franciscans and
when she died was buried in their
brown cloak and cord. Her death was
nearly at the same time with that of
Plus VII.
The next pope. Leo Nil, branched
out as an educator. The JesuitS' college
was opened in Rome in 1894 with l 400
students. and among these were the
two Pecci boys. of whom Joseph was a
Jesuit He was three years older than
his brother These boys went home to
their mountain town on holidays, and
the pope was an active hunter and
fowler i'm the mountains. Rome was to
them like any American city to a fami-
ly which lived III the neighboring coun-
try and spent the winters in the city.
The name of the pope was Joachim
Vincent Raphael Lodovico Pecci. He
always went by the name of Vincent
Pecci until at certain period after his
mothers death, when he became gen
orally known as Joachim Pecci.
He became fluent in the Latin and
wrote verses and orations in it and
gained prizes. After his mothers death
he lived with his uncle in the Mutt
palace in Rome He somewhat knew
Pope Leo MI. and chose his papal
name with reference to that prelate.
He matriculated in 1880, graduated n
doctor of theology in 1882, which was
the time that he adopted the name of
Joachim, and he entered the diplomatic
class in the university called Sapienza.
or Wisdom. in Rome. Among his
friends and classmates were such no.
bles as Duke Sforza Of the old Milan
lords.
He was acquainted with Leo. as well
as with Plus Will. who lived but a
short time. and then came Gregory
WI In hoe, bnrcaboIJ Io woe ono