The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-03-23
FUNERAL OF
POPE'S SISTER
Simplicity Of Second Class Service Is
Still the Talk Of the
People OF
Rome.
WHEN CANDLE EXPIRES
Pope Plus Tells Relations That They
Must Not Expect Anything
After Hls
Death.
by Henry Wood. Rome correspondent
of the limited Press

VI Inc united PreSS.
ROME, March 22.--Not few people
at Rome, especially of the old black"
!papal aristocracy and mobility, looked
ia trifie askance when Pope Plus X
ordered second-class -uneral for his
sister. On the other hand, an equal
| ly large portion of vatican followers
did not have their sensibilities unduly
/! shocked by the act. But whether ap-
proving or disappearing of this pre-
cedent, it was generally admitted by
all in Rome that Pope Plus acted In
perfect harmony with the policy he
has consistently followed from the
moment that he succeeded to the
holy see.
| In America where "nepotisms Is re-
! garded as little less than a crime 1t
may be difficult to realize what it
meant for Pope Plus to announce that
he would put an end to a practice SO
deeply rooted and so firmly supported
by centuries of tradition in the Catho.
lie church as to be regarded practic-
ally as one of the divine rights of the
supreme pontiff of the world. In fact,
the church itself actually provides
that if the newly elected pope does
not come from noble family, his cleo
ton makes him noble, and he is at
once entitled to confer upon every
member of his family patents of nobil-
| ity and provisions for their material
| welfare.
Until the succession of Pope Plus X
this was thing SO firmly established
that no predecessor had ever failed
to take advantage of it. Pope Leo
XIII. the immediate predecessor OF
Pope Plus X, although coming hipsself
from family of the provincial nobil
ity, accepted the prerogative as a
matter Of course. A brother who I'm,
til the time of the election of Pope
Leo had shown no inclination what
ever for the religious life, entered a
religious order and shortly after
wards was elevated by his papal
brother to the sacred college and Civ
en- the cardinals robes of prince OF
the church-a dignity which thus
made him eligible to be elected sue
cessor to the throne of st. Peter.
When, therefore, Pope Plus failed
Immediately upon his election to con
fer upon his brother and six sisters
1 the titles of prince and princesses, OIL
count and countesses. 1t was merely
regarded in the vatican circle as the
natural oversight of a man who, com
ing from peasant family, was hard
i ly fitted at first glance to see just
what was expected of him in the most
exalted position In the Catholic world
Then, as time went on, and his holi
ness not only failed to correct this
error, but even failed to appoint any
/ of his relatives to lucrative sinecures
in the vatican administration, the
vatican aristccratic world knew less
than ever what to think. But wher
at last, Pope Plus finally gathered to
gether at the vatican the members OF
his family and delivered to them il
his soft, Venetian dialect his now
famous but short discourse, Rome go,
its first inkling Of a. new order Of
things at the holy see.
Listen, Children he said. "As
long as the candle continues to burn
as long as | may live, there will al
ways be fer you a pot of polenta
(corn meal mush) but remember thai
when the CANOE is spent, / can sent
you nothing
This was Pope Plus affectionate
notice to his family that while none
of them should ever go hungry as Ions
as his life should last, yet none Of
them must ever expect to profit by {
single cent because of his exalted
position In the church, and that none
of them must expect to receive any
provision for their welfare after his
death.
1t was this policy, consistently fol
lowed in every act of his private life
that had its logical sequence in the
ordering of second class funeral fol
his sister. and it was thus, that fol-
4 ~. -