The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-09-16
THREE P0PEs
Archbishop Keane, In the
Apostolate, Notes tie
Dominant Traits Of Plus TX
Leo Kill and Plus x. o..

~e~O ~ ~ASsS
fortune to communicate intimately
with three Popes; with Plus TX, Leo
XIII, and Plus X, writes His Grace
the Most Rev. Archbishop Keane, of
Dubuque, in The Apostolate. Two of
them have left their names indelibly
inscribed among the most notable men
in history. The third bids fair to
make a record in the annals of the
church and of the world no less illus
trious than theirs.
Plus TX.
The first of these ever-memorable
Experiences took place in 1873. was
then young priest. With a simple
ity suitable to the occasion, it was not
in the hall of receptions that Plus TX.
saw me. but in as small and plain a
room as the study of parish priest.
We conversed for fully twenty min
utes, with my hands resting on the
of an aged st. Joseph, the sweetest
and most venerable face had ever
seen. And yet, entering into the spirit
of the occasion, he did not speak to
me of old age, but of youth; nor of the
burdens and trials that weighed him
down, but of the priestly career that
lay before me. With buoyancy and
expansiveness at which l wonder to
this day, he spoke to me of his own
youth.
He was the Pope of my youth, and
to my youth all his words were ad-
dressed. He gave me the compass
by which to guide the journey of my
life. How faithful l had been to its
guidance will be the test by which
God will judge me when my work is
over.
Leo XIII.
Just ten years later, in 1888, took
place my next visit to Rome and my
first interview with Leo XIII. But
how different Pope found in Leo!
Plus had reminded me of gentle,
aged st. Joseph. Leo was like an
eagle-eyed st. Paul, ready to cope with
all the intellects and all the powers
OF the world. God had called him
to steer the Bark of Peter through a
period of specially difficult relations
between the church and the govern
ments of Europe. And it was easy to
see Providence had fitted him for the
mighty task by endowing him with a
genius that was match for Bismarck
and Gladstone and Gambetta and
Crispi at their best. And yet, with
all that this implies, he was none the
less the good and faithful servant to
whom Our Lord had entrusted the
care of all the lambs and all the
sheep of His fold.
Leo was the Pope of my manhood.
He meant work. work, work-assidu-
Gus, untiring, resolute, intelligent en-
deavor to realize on earth the king
dom of the Son of God. Contact with
him was always like bugle blast
calling to loftier aims and stronger
endeavors for good.
Plus TX.
Lastly, our Lord has privileged me
to confer Intimately with Plus x. In
studying his character, no one can
fail to remark not only the resem-
blances, but also and especially the
dissimilarities, between him and his
two great predecessors. In him we
see, as in Plus TX, much of the gentle
solicitude of st. Joseph. In him we
recognize, as in Leo Kill, much of
the lofty zeal of St. Paul. But in him
we are conscious, above all Of the
spirit of st. Peter, ever heedful of
these words of the Divine Master:
ITO thee I will give the keys of the
Kingdom of Heaven" Not for a mo-
ment surely did Plus TX. or Leo lose
sight Of that divine utterance and of
the sublime commission which it i'm
plies. But their providential circum-
stances compelled them to devote very
much of their attention to the rela-
lions between the See of Peter and
the civil powers of the world.
Plus had to stand to the last in SOL
emn protest against the spoliation of
the patrimony of Peter. Leo hoped
and strove, up to his latest breath, to
procure the righting of the great
wrong through the Intervention of the
Catholic powers of Europe. Plus x,
without either sanctioning the wrong
or withdrawing the protest against it,
considers 1t beyond his control, and
leaves it utterly in the hands of Prov
idence. His thoughts, therefore, are
far above what the powers of the
earth have done or may do. The God
of the nations will see to that. His
own solicitude is only for those spirit
ual interests and ends which Christ
our Lord had in view in establishing
the kingdom CT God on the earth.
This sublime aim he has expressed
in that formula which is the motto of
his pontificate-"Omnia instaurare in
Christie" This, too, he has repeatedly
symbolized by his action during the
great solemnities in St. Peters, on
which occasion, instead of wearing
the triple-crowned tiara, as his prede-