Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-10
WAS SHAKESPEARE
ROMAN CATHOLIC
STORY CAUSING GREAT EX-
ClTEMENT IN ROME
Testsmept's Wording Would SO In-
dloate-CardlnaIs Aroused over
Actions Of Merry del Val.
Rampolla In seeluslon
Special Cable to The Herald.

Special Cable to The Herald.
ROME, Sept 9.--The Osservatore
Romano prints in detail a story which
is causing no end of comment among
Catholics. The story is entitled will
liam Shakespeare a Roman Catholic"
| Then 1t proceeds
"The learned critic De Rougemont
has published the authentic testament
of the great poet Shakespeare, which
begins with the words:
"In the name of the Father, OF the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost, of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Of
the Archangels, Angels, Patriarchs
Prophets, Evangellsts, Apostles and
Martyrs of the whole Court of Heaven,
and of my Angel Guardian, l, William
Shakespeare, unworthy member of the
Holy Catholic Apostolic and Roman
Religion" etc, etc.
Thus finishes, continues the note, "ev-
cry pretension, sustained with such
persistency by Protestants, that he was
born, had lived, and died outside the
fold of the Catholic church.
Already two trustworthy Protest
ants, Richard Davies (DaviesO and
Prof Signoers, had asserted that Will
liam Shakespeare was Catholic Pap
ist,' as was said at that time; and Gui-
zot affirmed that the father of Shake
speare, who bore the name of John,
was a Catholic, and hence had educated
his son in a Catholic manner"
Complications in Vatican
Interesting complications have arisen
at the Vatican. The chief symptom is
that the cardinals are no longer con-
suited, and that the cardinal secretary
of state governs not only over their
heads but over the head of the good
and pious old pope. Leo XIII never
failed to consult the cardinals on all
important questions, and always list
ened to their views with the. closest at
tention. Under the Merry del Val re-
gme, even those who contributed most
to the election of Plus X have been
pushed aside.
The opposition consists of three cate
gories of cardinals. The extreme left,
the Montague" of this new movement,
is recruited from the best, the cleverest,
and the most modern members of the
sacred college. To this group belongs
Cardinal Satolli, who has learned much
during his long sojourn in the United
States; Cardinal Agliardi, famous for
his wit; Cardinal Ferranta, formerly
nuncio to Paris; the aged but learned
Cardinal Capecelatra. the impulsive
Cardinal Vincenzo Vanutelli (the chief
friend of Germany in the sacred col
lege), and the French Cardinal Matthew.
In the group of the "Moderates" are the
Cardinals Cassetta, Cavagnis, Cavichi-
oni, Gennari, Mintinelli and Nocella, all
ardent partisans and electors of Plus
X. The third and least militant group, |
which confines itself to observation and
mute criticism, is made up of men like
Cardinals Oreglia, Macchi, Gotti, Sera-
fino and Tripepi.
RampoIa's Place
And Cardinal Rampolla? ? Since the
advent of Plus X, the secretary of state
of Leo XIII has withdrawn to his pal
ace, reads the works of the fathers of
the church-and waits. And since his
retirement Cardinal Rampolla's influ-
ence with the sacred college has been
steadily growing. Even those who
were formerly his enemies now see how
skillfully the Bismarck of the Vatican"
conducted the affairs of the church. The
veto against his election given by Aus |
tria at the last conclave is regarded as
one of the greatest mistakes ever made
by the government of Franz Josef. The
claim is now made that his supposed
friendship for France would never have |
induced so clever a man as Cardinal
Rampolla TO enter into a conflict with
the triple alliance.
Finds Great Painting
1
der, the architect of the Vatican, while
tapping an archtrave of the stair lead
ing to the museums of the Vatican, for
the purpose of restoration, ordered a
workman to scrape it cautiously, con-
sdering that perhaps under the surface
there might be some painting. In fact,
while the workman was scraping away
the whitewash there gradually came to
light colors, on the first appearance
faint blue and afterward more vivid.
AS the work of discovery proceeded
there We're valuable ornamental or
decorative paintings of the 18th century
revealed to the workman.
These were of the Raphael school of
painting. Among the ornaments was
magnificent shield of Pope Leo X.
Some of those who have had an oppor-
tunity of seeing these works have come,
at first glance, to the opinion that they
may have been painted by Raphael him
self, or at least by Giulio Romano, his
most prominent and probably his ablest
disciple. The fact that these works of
great art have been covered over sug-
gests that this was done either to con-
ceal them or they were whitewashed
during the prevalence of infectious dis