The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1909-07-17
A RATIFICATION
OF ST. PETER
(By E. Frederick LeFevre, in Denver
News.)

| NeWS.)
The great gray piazza before the ca
thedral is dark with people hours before
the ceremony. From all directions they
come, hurrying to the broad steps, many
thousands on foot, hundreds more rat
Ting up in cabs that stop at some mag
ic boundary designated by an officers
hand, where the people climb out and
the cab turns short about to rattle
away.
The elect drive by in landaus to the
doors around by the high altar, where
the more exalted tribunes are, and all
gentlemen must be in full evening dress
The ladies wear black gowns and black
mantfllas. Very few hats are to be seen
even in the thrOng on the piazza, for all
the devout pilgrims wear wells and al
most all Romans. Then there are the
| black cassocks of the priests on all
sides, for the whole crowd seems con-
stituted of them and their feminine par
| iShioners.
No. it is not all so somber, this whole
throng. There came the German col
lege students in their crimson robes that
quite justify the American who eX-
claimed he was glad to see so many
young cardinals out taking the air.
There are other groups of students,
some with touches of scarlet or green
on the cassock's edge or lining, some in
blue with canary trimming. Then
there are the voluminous white robes of
the sisters, just there marshaling their
gray-cloaked novices in a compact, ex-
cited little group.
Uniforms of vatican soldiery and po-
lice are now visible on the last flight of
steps, where their ranks are a barrier
the crowd must pass by, showing their
papers of admission. Here and there
is Swiss guard with round, genial
face and very little knowledge of the
language about him, his physique and
traditions so splendid and his uniform
still the draedful potato-bug patch of
red and yellow and black with the
square beef-eater hat decorated with
strange worsted plumes. The type of
guard at the vatican seems to mount
a scale as it approaches the pontiff S
person, from the small assorted sizes
OF police and soldiers, up through the
big Swiss guards to the magnificent
personal guards with their lofty crest
ed helmets. But l am ahead of the pro-
cession.
Slowly the dark crowd surging up out
of the colonnade-encircled piazza filters
through the line of police by virtue of
tickets, yellow, or white, or pink, OF
blue, according to rank and place. Each
person asks of some ten or more Off
Gals each in a different uniform the
way to his or her particular tribuna
Patiently each time the way is indi-
Gated, just as it has been to the thou
sands of others who have asked the
same question.
Whether ono eli 81 Sc o1co n
matter of degree. Happy are those en-
titled to even the hard benches or little
camp stools they themselves have
brought--for all this is long before the
ceremony.
There are thousands of people all pa
tiently waiting the great moment of the
popes coming. All over the body of the
church they stand close in fenced-off
spaces each side of the wide center
aisle. Around each Of the great pillars
that support Michael Angeles vast
dome are boxes in two tiers, and there
are other tribunes each side of the far
altar. In a great circle around the high
altar beneath the dome sit pilgrim,
priests and monks. In the open space
were countless officials, hither and
thither, in every imaginable uniform
The dark stuff of the "tribuna," the
brocade hangings on the walls, the dark
dress of the pilgrims, make a shadowy
background to throw into high relief
the gorgeous procession that is to come
Here and there a young girls white
dress and veil, or a nuns Golf stands
out like some marble statue, for even
the faces of the throng are not to be
seen so intent are they on the little COM
pendiums of the occasion distributed
broadcast by italian largesse. Far off
at the end of the nave is a picture of
the person to be beatifed A light is
thrown over the picture from inside its
frame that gives it an airy, celestial
brightness, as the center of the great
golden rays that stand out all around
1t, save below, where there are golden
clouds. So first l see the Norman priest,
Jean Eudes, and bent over my own
to read of him in this day
of his elevation with pomp to the privi-
iege of being called "beato" blessed.
In the very first year of the seven
tenth century there was born of hum
BILE parents, but devout, the little Jean,
already dedicated by his mothers vow
to the service of God. A gentle, modest
boy, he grew to be fine scholar. and
soon took orders and rose to be a priest
in Paris.
ACSChIIy There broke out the great
plague that ragged up and down the
land. Father Eudes went to meet it
among the people of his own district,
and fought bravely, succoring the
needy, soothing the sick, comforting the
dying and praying when others slept.
After time he went back to his stud
les, but was again called on to face the
plague, while all around him fled for
their lives, leaving the poor to die in
terrible squalor.
After his herofsm he returned to his
studies, and then was appointed head of
all the Norman missions, and began his
preaching. So potent was his
aloquence that sinners abandoned their
vices, enemies were reeoncfled. usurers
restored their ll-gotten gains, unholy
books and pictures were brought and
,ast at the missionar's feet for burning. |
Fearless preached. indeed, he was, for
lie moved all the French court to tears. |
Anne of Austria.
There is an anecdote of his preaching
over Louis XIV's bowed head at the ir-
'everence of so devout a kings stand
ng courtierS. The gentlemen in wait |
ng fell hastily on their knees and Louis |
turning his head, saw more of the dis
aspect Father Eudes did not feel that |
Versailles alone was in need of reform |
Fhe work of his missions convinced him
If the need of q reform in the church. |
lie set about founding seminaries. The |
of Jesus and Mary and of |
he Order of Our Lady of Charity he |
ounded.
But what is happening? There is n /