The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1914-08-28


created him cardinal, and three days
later appointed him patriarch of Ven
ice. He was cardinal priest of the
title Of San Bernardo ale Terme.
In his Office he had proved himself
a strong and competent administers
tor. He had been generated in his
diocese as sanity man, whose whole
life had been given to the care Of his
flock.
While administering the affairs ol
the Treviso diocese he began the col
lection OF what has since become one
of the finest private Libraries of Ven.
ice.
During the nine years Of his incum
bency at Mantua Bishop Sarto led a
life as abstemious as that of the poor
est parish priest. sHe devoted many
hours each day to scholarly applica
ton. In 1880 he wrote several trea
tises on the authenticity Of relics Of
the martyrs. He also prepared q
manual OF prayer and wrote mum
Der Of poems dedicated to the Ma
donna.
An Unwilling Pontiff.
Giuseppe Sarto was elected Pope
against his own voice on August 4
1908. In the eonclave it appeared thai
he was the only member Of the Sa
cred College who did not realize thai
he was the man to succeed that mas
ter of statecraft, the elegant and
scholarly Leo XIII. For four days the
vast Roman throngs had watched the
smoke that curled at intervals from
the chimney Of the Sistine Chapel in
the Vatican palace, and when the
seventh ballot had been taken and
Giuseppe Sarto was declared Pope the
newly-elected pontiff swooned away
and had to be borne up by two of his
distinguished colleagues. He did moi
desire the great religious office; hi
did not feel able to assume the cares
and responsibilities of the papacy II
was his wish to go back among his
own people. with whom he had spent
more than half a century. and by whom
he was known and honored. Indeed
with the firm conviction that he would
return to his archdiocese after the
conclave, he had bought return tick
ct to Venice But he never went bach
to his people. Some of them have
journeyed in pilgrimages OF the Eter
nal City to SEQ their former patriarch
and they have gone away from the
audience full OF confidence that Plus
x. would rather be In Venice as ar
archbishop. doing the work OF par
ish PRIEST =. than wear the triple crown
of the papacy.
The new Pope was crowned in the
basilica Of st. Peters by Cardinal
Machhi, dead of the cardinal deacons
on August 9, 1903. There were i'm
portant questions to be settled, i'm
portant financial problems to be solv
ed. There was no trouble, no hitch
anticipated, So was Plus x. viewed
And while there might have been dis
appointment, there certainly was sur
prise.
Bomb for Modernism.
A highly significant pontificate had
UScn pc6 I'LL CuS VI al lAc SucyCi
Gals that have come from the Holy
See in decades it was generally con
coded that the condemnation Of mod
ernism BY Plus x. was the most far
reaching, the most sweeping. This en-;
cyclical was issued on September 8,
1907. and three years later another
order, renewing the condemnation and
laying down precise laws regarding
ecclesiastical and secular studies. was
sent out. There was an instant stir
Of all so-called advanced thinkers,
and Plus x. was arraigned by many
preachers, professors and publicists
as an enemy OF progress and al scien,