The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1908-09-05

The editor Of Rome" in an article
dealing with the fifth anniversary Of
the election of Pope Plus x. paints
IN sharp contrast the expectations of
these who thought they knew the
character of the new Pope and the
practical results of five years of his
pontificate,
The morning of August 4, 1903, few
were expecting the election of Pom
tiff. The evening before the Piazz:I
lad presented a wonderful sight-from
the steps Of the Basilca away down
to the mouths of the Rorgo Nuovo and
the Borgo vecchio the entire space
was tl1ronged with expectant crowd,
that numbered perhaps 100000; long
line Of private carriages and public
cabs was drawn up at both sides Of
the colonade. and if you surveyed the
you saw tens of thousands of faces fix
ed earnestly on one point in the sky,
:jlst wher. long pipe shot up above
tie roof of the Bistine Chapel into the
rale blue of a Roman sky. We knew
: in general way what was taking
place up there under Michaelangelo's
immortal frescoes: we could picture
to ourselves Cardinal Oreglia presid-
ing over the Fathers of the Conclave,
the Cardinals advancing one after an
ether to deposit their vote for a sue
cessor to St Peter. in the chalice laid
OIL the altar, the two Cardinal Scru
tatores opening the folded ballots and
reading out the name written on each.
Fer few minutes the two of us had
found ourselves jostled to make way
for a carriage drawn by a pair of
c;ack horses. which we had noticed
that morning in the Palazzo Taverna.
It had just left the Vatican, but we
had no idea what it portended. The
delay was longer than usual, and we
were not surprised, for in some mex
rl!cable way we had all come to the
conclusion that the election of the
Pope would be concluded that after
rcon, that in a few minutes Cardinal
Macchi would appear at the central
balcony over the great door of St.
Peters to proclaim that we had a new
E'ontiff: Then at last the little column
of smoke began to puff out over the
ripe above the Sistine Chapel, and the
PEOPLE held. their breath anxiously.
Had the Pope been elected? OF COURSE
didn't you notice that the smoke was
r1uch thinner than 6n the previous
days? Certainly not, the smoke was
as thick as ever. Ma no-that is no
indication one way or the other. You
did not know what to believe, but the
minutes grew into half an hour, and
there was no sign, and in another
half hour the immense square was
empty again.. Not one of us knew that
right that. the veto, introduced by
Austria, had been introduced for the
last time IN history. int. the Conclave.
The next morning tie multitude, in
an equally inexplicable manner. had
made up their minds that the elec-
ticn would not take place that day,
and. there were hardly more than a
couple of hundred Of US gathered there
under the pillars. within the few
.equare yards where we could at once
see the pipe and remain in the shade.
At about the usual time the smoke
eurled upwards. and We were prepar-
ing to go when a figure Of priest
appeared on the loggia Of the colon
made on the right. and made a certain
signal to us. We knew that the Pope
i,ad been elected. and few moments
later another pre- e-arranged signal
from the window in tire Vatican told
us who the new Pope was-yet we
we're hardly the wiser then, or quarter
of an hour later when the large en-
troidered cloth of silk was let down
over the balcony and Cardinal