The Washington herald., 1913-02-02
POPE Plus RECEIVES
STUDENTS AT ROME

| enlarged by Pope Plus Y, is the formal
reception of students in Rome This re-
cepton takes place at the beginning of
! the new year, and is held. not In one
Of the great halls where stately func-
| tons occur. but In a more homelike Vat
lean apartment Not all students are re-
Ce!Ved at once, and so there is closer
! touch by each man with the Supreme
| POntiff of the Church.
These students number thousands. IL is
| to be remembered, and since not all can
! be received. picked men are invited
| based on scholarship. This year an un-
usual number of American young. men
were received and honored. These young
| men are in Rome studying for the priest
! GOOD OF their church. and returning 10
America are more than likely to become
| prominent in their church and nation
| The largest number of these Americans
! are in the College OF the Propaganda.
This is, of course. the school in which
missionaries are trained. and after grad
uation they go to all parts Of the world.
IhlS month some Americans were in
the reception given by the Pope to the
! students OF the International College of
tine Minor Franciscans Some of these
| Young triars, born in the United States,
| will so to the Holy Land Others will
| go to China, where the Franciscans have
/ long had important work. The young
men from the best families in Italy and
10 some extent from Austria and France
were IN the student body received from
the College OF Noble Ecclesiastics The
| Pope had nearly the same story to tell
| TO all. 1t was the supreme place of the
| Church in the duty to make the world
Christian, and that after all the church
must depend upon its men. of whom the
Americans and others were the best Sc
lected types to bring salvation TO the
world. This year Plus Y bade the young
men not to concern themselves over the
troubles of the Vatican. which are many
because Of the vast world interests in
volved but loyalty to do the work as
signed to them. The picture OF the ven
cradle pontiT surrounded by the fresh
young faces of the American young men
and others was one that the Pope has
himself referred to several times within
the last few days, as giving him par
tcular encouragement.
The reelection OF Mayor Nathan of
fomc. after he had gone out of his way
to make speech offensive to the church,
and TO do so on the very eve of election
day. gives special annoyance to the Vat
lean. 4 Jew by descent, and an Eng
lishman by birth. the long rule and the
strong hold of ErnestO Nathan in the
principal city of the Catholic world is
one of the singular incidents of the time
| The Pope went so far as to issue an an
swer to some of the statements made
| by the mayor concerning the temporal
power. In spite of ALL the mayor again
! had his way, ffty-nine out of seventy
c"unselors voting for him. The church
| is cOnsoling itself, however, by the fact
that the power of the mayor is not great
outside of mis- speeches. and the fact that
he won. The Vatican did not expect to
elect its own candidate for mayor. but
hon hot.
tory spirit might be chosen. Acting un-
der orders from the Vatican, Catholics
refrained from voting.
Pope Plus x is in his eighthy-eichth
year and in good health, but were he
to fall critically i'll a situation demand
ing immediate action would exist con-
Cerning his temporary burial Were
nothing done, an ancient custom of the
Catholic Church would have to be broken
When the late Pope Leo XIII died his
body was placed in sarcophagus, which
can be seen by all visitors to st. Peters
prominently placed above a door leading
to the great dome, and at the left of
the entrance to the chapel where the
canons of the cathedral hold daily serv-
ices. This is the sarcophagus wherein
have been temporarily laid the bodies Of
dead pOpes of Rome for centuries
sometimes during their lifetime. but
Oftencr by directions left in their Wills
Depes provide permanent resting places
for their bodies. which are removed to
these permanent places after they have
lain a time in the historic papal sar-
cOphagus. What was at first a con-
vcnienCe has come 10 be custom, hard
to be broken. Pope Leo XIII ordered.
through his executors, TadOlini. of Rome
to make n monument. This was long
ago completed and for two years has
embelished the chapel at the right of
the main altar in the Church of ST.
John Lateran.
1t is customary not to remove the
body of a dead pope from the temporary
sarcophagus until three years have
elapsed. This was the rule followed for
generations down to Pope Plus IX, whose
body was taken to the permanent tomb
at San Lorenzo outside the walls three
years after his death. The body of Pope
Leo XIII has now lain for nine years
in the provisional tomb in St Peters,
while the monument in st. John Lateran
is empty.
The explanation for this state of things
is said to be the fear that disorders may
arise such as marked the translation of
the body of Pope Plus TX from ST. !
Peters to San Lorenzo in 1881. The cleo |
ton once more of Mayor Nathan of
Rome, Catholics refraining from voting. }
does not indicate that there may be /.
such disorders, but IL does show that
the anti-clerical sentiment is no more |
absent now than it was nearly thirty |
years ago. At that time, as may be re- !