Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-07-20

1FIeuuiefS Cnurcn lnJO a Cnurcn having
friends everywhere, lay in several great
qualities of mind. He had a patience which
nothing could tire. He could wait months
or years, need be. until his time came
He had no decisions. Joachim Pecci saw
things as they We're, not as he would have
liked to have chem. He shad no animosi-
TIES lie believed an enemy an enemy only
until he could make him a friend, and he
was always ready to welcome a friend. He
recognized talent at once and never sooner
than in those opposed TO him. A good idea
was 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 great man among the great
men of his day. He played part amid
some of the most tremendous dramas of
history, and he played it successfully
With no force of arms he made men who
ordered armies to obey him. out of enemies
hecreatcd 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 pontif 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 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-
N ks were full of quiet wisdom. He
impressed every one who met him. His
personal habits were simple to 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 much younger
and stronger man.
Chronology and Early Life.
Joachim Vincent Raphael Lodovico Pecci
afterward Pope Leo NH, was born March
2, 1910, at Carpineto. He was sent to the
Jesuit college at Viterbo in 1878 where he
remained till 1925, when he entered the
Collelio Romano just restored by Pope Leo
XII. In 1928 he took first prize in physics
and chemistry. In 1890 he was matricuIated
as a divinity student at the Gregorian uni
versity In 1882 he won the degree doctor of
theology and entered the College of Noble
Ecclesiastics, where those who design to
serve the pontifical governments diplomat
ically or Enthusiastically are trained. In
1887 he was made subdeacon, then deacon,
then priest. In 1888 he was made delegate
or governor of the province of Benevento.
In 1S4l he was appointed governor of Spole-
to. In 1913 he was made apostolic nuncio,
OF papal ambassador, to Belgium and tit
ular archbishop of Damietta. In 1915 lie
was made bishop of PeruGia, where he ar
rived in 1S46. In 1853 he was made cardi-
nal In 1877 he was appointed camerlingo.
In 1878 he was chosen pope to succeed Plus
TX, deceased.
Joachim Vincent Raphael Lodovico Pecci
was the son of Count DoInenico Lodovico
Pecci 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
it necessary to emigrate to the states of the
church. They settled in Carpineto, a rugged
mountain town 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
dover 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 a.
ways called him. Vincent, was the fourth
son.
That Joachim Pecci should, under the
training of such 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 sandaled feet of the brothers and to
listening to the story of the life of st. Fran
els of Assist, as told by his mother. These
lessons were driven in when, in his 18th
year, his mother died in Rome and he fol-
lowed all that remained of her to her grave
in the Observantine Church of the Forty
Martyrs.
In 1928, 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 OBJ
jectorS 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, Sbut
the university granted him certificate at
testing his complete preparation for the test
While he was n student in the College of
Noble Ecclesiastics, Cardinal Sala took the
warmest fancy to the young scholar and
gave him much advice of the greatest value
Cardinal Paca also admired Joachim Pecci
ano recommended MIN strongly to Gregory
XVI, who appointed him one of his domes-
tic prelateS and soon afterward the refer
endary to the court of Segnatura. He now
had his foot on the first round of that lad
der he afterward climbed SO steadily.
Cardinal Sala saw to it that Joachim
Pecci was attached to the Congregation of
the Propaganda, and Cardinal Lambruschi-
nj, who was the pope's secretary of state
had him appointed official to many impor-
tant bodies He also placed him under the
immediate charge of the learned preIates
(soon to be cardinals) Trezza and Brunelli
The superiors of this young man realized
the character of the material before them,
and they shaped the weapon with exceed
ing care
Career Governor.
Joachim Pecci's first position of impor-
lance was that Of governor of Benevento,
small territory situated in the midst of
what was the kingdom of Naples. When
the French withdrew from Italy and Naples