The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1903-07-30

Rome, July 22.-Pope Leo XIII. is
dead. The last flicker of life expired
at four minutes past four o'clock yes
terday afternoon and the pontif now
lies at rest.
The period of over two weeks that
Pope Leo passed in the shadow Of
death was no less wonderful than his
life. His splendid battle against dis
ease was watched the world over with
sympathetic admiration and ended
only after a series of tremendous eff
forts to conquer the weakness of his
aged frame by the marvellous will
power of his mind. The pleuropneu-
monia with which his holiness had
been suffering was scarcely so respon-
sible for his death as that inevitable
decay Of tissue which ensues upon
ninety.three years of life. The tested
steel which had bent so often before
human ills was
Bound to Break at Last.
To-day the sacred college of cardi-
nails viii assemble for the impressive
ceremony of officially pronounciug
Pope Leo dead. After this sad func-
ton has been performed the body will
be taken to the small throne room
adjoining adjoining the death cham
Der, where 1t win be embalmed. The
funeral ceremonies viii extend over
nine days, the remains being removed
to the cathedral of st. Peters, where
they will lie in state. The ultimate
resting place of the dead pontiff will
be in the magnificent basilica OF st.
John the Lateran.
Pope Leo's final moments were
marked by that same serenity and de-
votion and. when he was conscious,
that calm intelligence which is asso-
ciated with his twenty-five years
pontifcate. His was an easy death.
An hour before he died, turning TO DIR.
Lapponi and his devoted valet, Pho
Contra, he murmured:
"The Pain | Suffer Is Most Terrible"
Yet his parting words were not of
the physical anguish that he suffered,
but were whispered benedictions upon
the cardinals and his nephews, who
knelt at the bedside, and the last look
of his almost sightless eyes was to-
ward the great ivory crucifx hang
ing In the death chamber. Practically
all the cardinals now in Rome, lneel-
ing at Che bedside, watched the pass
age of his soul Earlier in the day
Cardinal Seraflno Vannutelli had i'm.
pressively pronounced the dissolution
in articulo mortis. The condition of
his holiness varied from agony to
coma
OF the supreme moment Dr. Lap
poni gives an impressive description,
He said:
Death occurred through exhaustion,
although In the last two hours Pope
Leo made a supreme effort to gather
together all his energies. He succeed
ed In recognizing those about him by
the sound of their voices. as his
Sight Was Almost Lost.
Still he made a marvellous display OF
his energy and even his death was
really grand. 1t was resigned, calm
and serene. Very few examples can
be given of man of such advanced
age after so exhaustive an illness
showing such supreme courage in dy-
ing. The pontiff's last breath was
taken exactly at four minutes past
four l approached a lighted candle
to his mouth three times, according to
| the traditional ceremonial, and after
I, ward declared the pope to be no more.
/ then went to inform Cardinal Greg
liza, the dean of the sacred college,
| who Immediately assumed full power
and gave orders that the Vatican be
| cleared OF all curious persons having
no right therein. Contemporaneously
the cardinal instructed Mgr. Righi,
| master of ceremonies, to send the
/ Swiss guards from the Clementine
hall to close all the entrances to the
Vatican and
Dismiss All Persons
from the death chamber, the body be-
ing intrusted to the Franciscan peni-
tentiaries."
Meantime, events OF momentous i'm
! portance to Catholic Christendom
were occurring. The death Of Pope
Leo meant the passing of the supreme
power into the hands Of the sacred
college Of cardinals as its temporary
custodian during the interregnum.
The perfect administrative machin-
cry OF the church provided against
the slightest interruption of the gov
erning authority. AS the senior mem
Der of the sacred college Cardinal
Oreglia. TO whom the pope yesterday
solemnly confided the interests Of the
church, has now become the exponent
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