Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-11
WAS SHAKESPEARE
A ROMAN CATHOLIC?
Special Cablegram to The Star.


ROME. September 1.-THE Osservators
Romano prints in detail a story which 10
causing no end of comment among Cath
olics. The story is entitled William
Shakespeare a Roman Catholic Then 1t
proceeds: THE learned critic De Rouge
mont has published the authentic testament
Of the great poet Shakespeare which be-
gins with the words:
I'm the name of the Father. of the Son,
and Of the Holy Ghost, Of the Blessed Vir-
gin Mary, mother OF God. of the ARCH
angels. angels, patriarchs, prophets, evan
gelists. apostles and martyrs of the whole
court of Heaven, and of my angel guard
ian, /, William Shakespeare, unworthy
member of the holy Catholic apostolic and
Roman religion" etc. etc.
Thus finishes continues the note, every
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 Protestants.
Richard Davies (DaviesD and Prof. Sig
noers. had asserted that William Shake
speare was Catholic papist,' as was said
at that time; and GuZot affirmed that the
father of Shakespeare, who bore the name
of John, was a Catholic. and hence edu-
Gated his son in Catholic manner"
Interesting complications have arisen at
the Vatican. The chief symptom is that
the cardinals are no longer consulted, and
that the cardinal secretary of state gov
erns not only over their head, but over
the head of the good and pious old pope.
Leo XIII never failed to consult the car
dnals on all important questions, and al
ways listened to their views with the closest
attention. Under the Merry del Val regime
the claim is made that the cardinals 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 re-
cruited from the best, the cleverest and the
most modern members of the Sacred Col
lege. To this group belongs CARDINAL Sa-
TOLL, who has learned much during his long
sojourn in the United States; Cardinal
Agliardi, famous for his wit: Cardinal Fer
ranta, formerly nuncio to Paris; The aged
but learned Cardinal Capecelatra, the i'm
pulsive Cardinal Vincenzo Vanutelli (the
chief friend of Germany in the Sacred Col
iege) and the French Cardinal Matthew.
In the group Of the ''moderates" are the
Cardinals Cassetta, Cavagnis, Cayichioni,
Gennan. Mintinelli and Nocella, all ardent
partisans and electors of Plus X. The third
and least militant group, which confines it.
self to observation and mute criticism, Is
made up of men like Cardinal Oreglia, Mac
Chi, Gotti, Serafino and Tripepi
And Cardinal Rampolla? Since the ad-
vent of Plus Y the secretary of state of
Leo XIII has withdrawn to his palace reads
the works of the fathers of the church.
and waits. And since his retirement Car
dinal Rampolla's inufience with the Sacred
College has been steadily growing Even
those who were formerly his enemies now
see how skiIfully the Bismarck of the Vat
lean" 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 cIever
a man Cardinal Rampolla to enter into
a conflict with the triple alliance.
Il Il
1t is announced that Signor Schneider. the
architect of the Vatican. while tapping an
architrave of the stair leading to the Mu-
seums of the Vatican for the purpose of
restoration, ordered workman to scrape
it cautiously, considering that perhaps un.
der the surface there might be some paint
ing In fact, while the workman was scrap
ing away the whitewash there gradually
came to light colors. on their first appear
ance faint blue and afterward more vivid.
As the work of discovery proceeded there
were valuable ornamental or decorative
paintings of the fifteenth century revealed
to the workmen. 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 opportunity
of seeing these works have come. at first
glance to the opinion that they may have
been painted by Raphael himself. or at least
by Gull Romano. his most prominent
and probably his ablest disciple The TACT
A. NJ
covered over suggests that this was done
either to conceal them or they were white
washed during the prevaisnce Of infectious
disease.