The Irish standard., 1907-01-05
Ills EARLY !: J 1 FRIENDS.
Same Notable Characters With
.;sss e1:s Whom Justin Mccarthy,
Tho Veteran Author, Was on
.s. : Terms of Intimacy.


! stsss s;s awsenty years ago a slender, swarthy
s5Oath. chiefly noticeable for a pair Of
ss,wAnderful brown eyes. was in attend
y 3ahta at the Accadema del Nobih Ec-
sSI1siastici in Rome, says Munsey's
Magazine for December.
- ears passed and in due course the
Youth came to mans estate. The
u black cassock Of the student and
priest gave place in turn to the Grim
son sash Of monsignor. to the violet
sscntane Of a Bishop, and to the scarlet
Nnuntelletta Of a Cardinal. Today he
bid generally to be found in that por-
Aion. of the Vatican palace known az
i4he Borgia apartments. Secretaries
land messengers come and go. The
tapestry hung rooms are noisy with
5 tho clatter of typewriters. A desk is
Uttered with many letters. and they
are addressed, one and all, to His
:Eminence Cardinal Merry del Val, sec
ystary Of State to His Holiness Plus \.
Rafael Merry del Val is ono of the
hnost remarkable figures in the Church
today. He is as the right hand Of the
Holy. Father. 1t is he who stands at
the. helm OF the Papal ship Of state
and guides its course through troubled
watere. He directs the policy Of a
,poWer that. has four hundred millions
fpfs 1.-THE most loyal subjects on earth.
And all this at the age Of scarce two
score and one.
That he is eminently fitted for the
tpost he holds there can be no shadow
OF . doubt The son Of a distinguished
diplomatist,. he has spent the last
ltw0nty years in the greatest school
pf diplomacy in the world. Other
16vsrstens can back up their diplo-
s1sey Thy fleets and armies; the Pope
.nossssses no. second weapon. 1t is
.toUptful, indeed, If any diplon1atist Of
sntdern times has been better fitted for
Aiis task. Merry del Walls remarkable
ability al linsuist gave him an enor-
l1dnos1s advantage from the very start
Spanish ID his native mother-tongue;
Enxlish he speaks like an Englishman,
French. like Partisan. OF German
he has a fluent command; his Italian
9is 40: entirely free from accent that he
has come. to- be regarded almost as
ore Of that nationality.
!. Born, in London in 1865, his father,
rwllo was then an attache of the
Spanish embassy, being descended
from an Irish family that emigrated
to Spain in the seventeenth century,
MERRY del Val is the youngest Car
sdinal of state since the first incum-
bent Of the office, Carlo Borron,eo.
the nephew of Pope Plus ". G559-
i16s5), who held the post when scarcely
kpast his majority.
"a. Cardinal at 80, his further ad-
lWancement came through a series of
ypeculiar circumstances. Leo Kill,
on his death-bed, nominated as con-
txistorial secretary Monsignor Volrini.
strangely enough, volponi died a few
days before the Holy Father, who
WIS kept in ignorance of his death.
!I1ad volpini lived, he would by vlr-
ktue Of his Office, have been secretary
OF the General Congregation Of the
Sacred College, which met to elect
,.nsw Pope. His death necessitated
of course, the selection of a new
secretary. The choice of the College
OF Cardinals. fell. naturally enough, on
the young. energetic Merry del Val.
who was thus brought into daily per-
sonal contact with Plus X, to whom,
on his election as Pope, he acted AS
i SSeretary Of State, pending the ap-
p0antment Of q permanent incumbent
lEae was one day leaving the Popes
cabinet with a mass of correspondence
when Plus x. called him back and
handed Him a letter, renarking cas-
nally: "This is also for you, Mon
a;sillxnor." Adding the letter to the
others. he passed out. In due course
OF time it came to his attention, and,
opening it. he found that it was
}snotihcation. written by the Pope's own
hahd. Of his appointment as perma-
nsnt Secretary Of State because Of his
tEapability, devotion to work, and alb
6inte self-negation.' So great was
SSsthA shock of this unexpected, un-
A11ght, and perhaps unwished for,
D D lfe4for. that the Cardinal is said to have
4 ssaiOinentarily lost consciousness.
4hs Cardinal is an indefatigable
kksr: frugal liver, a man of strong
ss1ikSs ina dislikes. with a hot Latin
tssnper that is often in evidence, but
satyays under control. Tall and slim
spf figure. graceful of motion, show
5lSlS Sl the highest type. of the Andalu.
SGi16 in every feature. his face when
IFepose 10 little more than mask.