The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1903-07-24

POPE LEO XIII.
ties. He believed an enemy an enemy onlv
until he could make him q friend, and he
was always ready to welcome a friend. He
recognized talent at once and never sooner
than in those opposed to him. Agood idea
was a good idea to him, no matter who pro-
posed it, and he never committed the mis-
take of undertaking the forces against
him. He had that genius which can tell
what is possible and what impossible. AS
easily as he could weigh others, so easily
could he weigh himself. He knew his own
limitations.
He was a great man among the great
men of his day. He played a part amid
some OF the most tremendous dramas of
history, n he played it successfully.
With no force of arms he made men who
ordered armies to obey him; out of enemies
he created friends; a church which he found
the prey of all he left strong in the circle of
her defenders. Leo XIII will go down in
history as one of the greatest among the
long line of great men who have filled the
papal chair.
Personally the late pontiff was tall and
slender, and his hair was snow white. His
face had the kindliest of expressions, and
his smile was ready when anything amusing
was said. His keen wit was tempered by a
charitable wish not to wound the feelings
OF others. His manner was high bred and
finished, and he possessed a most charming
courtesy, which placed all who saw him at
their ease. He loved to chat on literary
topics, and to the last found pleasure in
reading the great authors of antiquity. His
experience of life was so vast that his re-
marks We're full of a quiet wisdom. He
immersed pyaru p,,o who ,,,% 49,. IT.
personal habits were simple to a degree, for
he lived the life of an ascetic. His industry
and power for work We're extraordinary.
and the labor he daily went through while
pope was enough to exhaust a much younger
and stronger man.
Chronology and Early Life.
joachim Vincent Raphael Lodovico Pecci,
afterward Pope Leo XIII, was born March
2, 1910, at Carpineto. He was sent to the
Jesuit college at Viterbo in 1918, where he
remained till 1925, when he entered the
Coliegio Romano, just restored by Pope Leo
XII. In 1928 he took first prize in physics
and chemistry. In 1880 he was ma%triculated
as a divinity student at the Gregorian uni
Verslty. In 1882 he won the degree doctor OF
theology n entered the College of Noble
Ecc~leslastlcs, where those who design to
serve the pontltical government diplomat
ically or enthusiastically are trained. In
1887 he was made subdeacon, then deacon,
then priest. In 1898 he was made delegate
or governor of the province of Beneyento.
In ls4l he was appointed governor of Spole-
to. In lS43 he was made apostolic nuncio,
or papal ambassador, to Belgium and tit
ular archbishop of Damietta. In 1915 he
was made bishop of Perugia, where he ar
rived In 1916. In 1858 he was made a cardi-
nal. In 1877 he was appointed camerlingo.
IN 1878 he was chosen pope to succeed Plus
TX, deceased.
: 5oachlm Vincent Raphael Lodovico Pecci
was the son of Count Domenico Lodovico
Peccl of Carpineto and Anna Prospect Buzz.
The family to which he belonged came
originally from Siena. It's chiefs having
taken sides with the Medici in the long
struggle between Siena and Florence found
1t necessary to emigrate to the states of the
church. They settled in Carpineto, a rugged
mountain owl nestled down between two
great crags. Count Lodovico Pecci's wife
was the daughter of a noble Volscian fam
lily living in the ancient city of Cora, the
modern Corr She brought with her a
dove which notably increased the fortune
OF the family but she brought far more
when she came herself. She was a woman
OF extraordinary ability and strength of
character. Joachim. or, as his mother al
ways called him, Vincent, was the fourth
son.
That Joachim Pecci should, under the
Training Of such II woman as the Countess
Anna, turn his attention to the church was
only natural. She belonged to the Third
Order OF st. Francis. an association founded
to bring men and women closer to the
church. From his earliest years the boy had
been accustomed to seeing the brown habit
and sanda}ed feet OF the brothers and to
listening to the story of the life of St. Fran
CHS OF Assist, as told by his mother. These
lessons were driven i'll when. in his l4rh
year, his mother died in Rome and he fol
lowed all that remained Of her TO her grave
III the Observantine Church of the Forty
Martyrs,
In iS2S, when at the Collegio Romano he
gained the first prize in physics and chem
istry at the end Of the college year. he was
chosen TO defend in public against all oh
3ectorS theses chosen from the subject mat
ter OF the three years course. In getting
ready he so overworked himself that his
physicians absolutely forbade the trial, but
the university granted him a certificate at
testing his complete preparation for the test.
While he WAS a student in the College OF
Noble ELcleslastics. Cardinal Sala took the
war1nest fancy TO the young scholar and
gave him much advice of the greatest value.
Cardinal Paca also admired Joachim Pecci