The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-07-21
LIFE OF POPE LEO XIII.
WONDERFUL RISE FROM
 HUMBLE BEGINNINGS.
His Family and Early Assoeiations- His Career as Priest, Bishop and Cardinal.

His late Holiness was born at Car pineto. in the diocese of Anagni. in the Papal states. on March 2, 1s1O. being christened under the name of Joachim Vincent. The Society of Jesus. which it was afterwards the first care of his pontificate to restore to it's ancient po- sition in the councils of the church, was entrusted with his education, young Pecci being sent at the age of three years to the Jesuit college at Vivorbu, where he remained until his fourteenth year. At this time his mother died and he shortly afterwards proceeded to Rome to continue his studies at the Je- suit college in that city. When he was eighteen years old he secured, the first prize for chemistry and physics. His aptitude for natural sciences, however, in no way interfered with his taste for literature and classical studies, and even in those early days he was re- 1narkable for the elegance and purity of his Latin, which subsequently, found such notable expression not only in his encyclicals and ecclesiastical work, but in the higher plane of poetry. He ob- tained in 1881 the degree of Doctor of Divinity and entered the Academy of Noble Ecclesiastics to study law and diplomacy and thus qualify himself for joining what may be termed the Papal diplomatic service and became conver- sant with the system Of the spiritual government. It is from the ranks or this official body that, in these days, a new pontiff is almost invariably chosen.
 In 1887 Joachim Pecci received the sub-diaconate and diaconate, and on March IA of the same year Gregory XVI. made him domestic prelate, his first promotion, with the title of Mon- signor.
 dained priest by Cardinal Odescalchi, saying his first mass in the chapel of St. Stanislaus at the Jesuit Noviciate of St. Andrea. Early in 1888 Mgr. Pec- ci was named governor of the Papal province of Benevento and, like Sixtus ", busied himself with the suppression Of brigandage. In connection with this work the following story was told of Mgr. Peeei: A certain marquis called one day to protest against what he considered the interference of the gov ernor and informed the latter that he was just starting for Rome to procure his recall.
 Have you considered the. step well, Marques?" asked Mgr. Fecci.
 Yes, Monsignor." said the other, land I'm going at once.
 To this the governor rejoined:
 Resolutions of this kind should be well considered at leisure. You will dc me the honor of staying here for the present.
 That same night the Marquis castle was surrounded and twenty-eight bri- gands, of whom he was patron and chief, were arrested or shot.
 From Benevento Mgr. Pecci was transferred to the governorship of Pc rugia, where he remained for a year and. 8 half.
 The young eccIesiastic, in 11S44S, 11SS44S was called to exercise his talents in a more important post, being consecrated bish- op of Damiotta in Parfibus and sent tc s Brussels as Papal nuncio. It was as representative Of the vatican in the Belgian capital that he first gained the political insight and experience which have been one of the principal charac- teristics of his tenure of the Ponti1cal throne.
 Mgr. Pecci remained over three years in Belgium and on his recall to Italy was decorated with the Grand Gordon of the Order of Leopold.
 After leaving Brussels the nuneie paid avisit to London. This, was ir February, 1S45, and in the same year he was consecrated archbishop of Perugia He continued in this position for the tfirty-two years which interviewed be- fore his election to the highest position in the church. his tenure of the Epis- .copate coinciding exactly with the 5 thirty-tWo years of the reign of Plus TX.
 In his Episcopal labors the archbish- op showed no loss energy and zeal thar he had displayed as governor of a pon. tifical state. Among other achieve ments he succeeded in purging the archdiocese of brigandage, and at 2 certain time all the prisons under his X spiritual jurisdiction were empty. Sucf success did not pass unnoticed, and, 1T 1850, Mgr. Pecci was elevated to the < dignity of cardinal priest
 At the consistory held in 1877 Cardi- Z nal Pecci was appointed Camerlingo oi the Roman church, which gave hin { chief charge of the temporalities of ths Holy See. In this capacity it fell tt < his task tosrnake the necessary ar. engagements for the conclaye for the election of new pope after the deatf of Plus K, in February, 1878. Int conclave lasted thirty-six hours and a the third ballot Cardinal Pecci was elected supreme pontiff and took tht name of Leo XIII, and the famous Pope Leo X, for whom he had a grea' veneration. He was crowned on Marci 3 with the tiara, or triple crown, tht ceremony taking place not in St. Pc < ter's, where all his predecessors bu one had been crowned since 1855, but il the Sistine chapel in the vatican, wher, the conclave had been held.
 Public opinion regarded the new pop as characterized above all things by 1; love of peace, and it was expected that departing from that one-possumus pol Su. E 1