The Irish standard., 1910-04-30
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
OF THE PRELATE
Who Refused Roosevelt An
Unconditional Audience
at the Vatican.
Cardinal Merry Del Val is
One of the Most Noted
Figures in Rome.
The Right Hand of the Pope
and Eminently Fitted to
Hold His Post.

Twenty-Five years ago or there
abouts a slender, swarthy youth, chief
ly noticeable for pair of wonderful
brown eyes, was in attendance at the
Academia del Nobili Ecclesiastical in
Rome. AS the result OF many pranlls
he bore the nickname Merry Devil"
trious and reasonably well conducted.
with a remarkable aptitude for lam
guages. passion for outdoor sports,
and a singularly winning manner.
Years passed, and in due course the
youth came 10 mans estate. The
black cassock of the student and priest
gave place in turn to the crimson SOU
taine of a bishop, and to the scarlet
mantaletta of cardinal.
Today he is generally to be found in
that portion of the Vatican palace
known as the Borgia apartments.
Rafael Merry del Val is one OF the
most remarkable figures in the Cath
| olc Church today He iss the right
hand of the Holy Father. He directs
the policy of power that has four
hundred millions of the most loyal
subjects on earth. And all this at the
age of scarce two score and five years.
That he is eminently fitted for the
post he holds there can be no shadow
OF doubt. The son of distinguished
diplomatist, he has spent the last 20
years in the greatest school OF diplo-
macy in the world. 1.
Merry del Val's remarkable abilities
as a linguist gave him an enormous
advantage from the very start. Span
ish is his mother tongue. English he
speaks like an Englishman, French
like a Partisan. or German he has a
fluent command: his Italian is so en-
tirely free from accent that he has
come to be regarded almost as one of
that nationality.
| The fact that he is the first Cardinal
Secretary of State who has been able
to deal with Catholics of the Anglo
Saxon race in their own tongue was,
perhaps, a chief factor in his appoint
ment Born in London in 1865, his
father, who was then an attachc of
the Spanish embassy. having descend
ed from an Irish family that emigratcd
to Spain early in the seventeenth ccn-
| tury, Merry del Val is the youngest
cardinal secretary of state since the
first incumbent of that office, Carlo
Borromeo, the nephew Of Pope Plus
Nv, who held the post when scarcely
past his majority.
A cardinal at thirty-nine, his fur
ther advancement came through a Sc
ries of peculiar circumstances. Lee
XIII on his deathbed, nominated as
consistorial secretary Mgr. Volpini
Strangely enough, Volpini died few
days before the Holy Father, who was
kept in ignorance Of his friends death
Had Volpini lived he would, by virtue
of his office, have been secretary Of the
general congregation of the Sacred
College, which met to elect a new
Pope. His death necessitatcd, ol
course, the selection of new secrc.
tary. The choice of the College O
!, Cardinals fell naturally enough on tho
! young and 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 al
secretary Of state, pending the ap'
, pointment of permanent incumbent
Hc was one day leaving the Pope''
cabinet with a mass of correspondence
; when Plus x called him back ant
; handed him a letter, remarking cas-
ually: "This is also for monsgnor"
, Adding the letter to the others, h
t passed out. In due course Of time !
came to his attention, and, opening ii
; he found it was a notification, writtcl
by the Pope's own hand, Of his ap
/. pointment as permanent secretary @
, state because of his "capability, devo
, ton to work and absolute self abnega
, tion" So great was the shock of thi
unexpected, unsought and perhaps un