The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-07-04
A GREAT CATHOLIC HISTORIAN

RECOGNITION FOR HIS SCROL-
ARLY "HIsTORY OF THE PoPEs"
FAMOUS ALSO AS A BloGRA-
PIER.
From writer in the Southern Guar
dian, who signs himself s." we take
the following sketch of Ludwig Won
Pastor, the occurrence of whose six
tieth birthday called forth warm appre-
citation in divers periodicals of one
achievements of this distinguished
historian.
Ludwig Pastor, born Jan. 81, 1854,
was the offspring Of mixed marriage,
the father being a Protestant. From
Aachen, the place of LudWigs birth,
his father moved to Frankfort on the
Main, where he died in 1864 This
early death Of the elder Pastor was
Of grave consequences for the future
historian of the popes. 1t caused him
to be reared in the Catholic faith.
The determining influence on Lud-
wig Pastors future career was eXer-
CIoCu NY OOAdInCO OCl1lSoSl11 Tic S3lSdJ
historian Of the German people, who
was a friend of the family. He pre-
vailed on the mother to allow her son
to pursue higher course of studies,
instead of embracing, as it was first
contemplated, the mercantile calling of
his father. In 1870 Pastor entered the
College of Frankfort, where Jansen
lectured on history. What Jansen
thought about his pupil he wrote to
the Louvain historian, Thym: Gle
was my favorite pupil, in whom every
good seed found a good soil. He is
above all genuine Catholic and thor
ough in his studies" 1t was probably
more than an accident that, on De
cember 8, 1872, the professor invited
his eager scholar to the study of
Ranke's History of the Popes. At any
rate, the perusal of this noted histori-
cal work was the proximate determi-
nant for Ludwig Pastors life work.
At the age of eighteen he conceived
the bold plan Of outstripping the
famous Ranke as historian of the Pa
pacy. 1t is only this devotion to the
work from early life, and concentra-
ton of efforts, that can explain the
gigantic achievements on which our
historian can look back on his six
tieth birthday.
And what are these achievements?
Of his History of the Popes we have
up to date six volumes, the fourth of
them being a double volume. These
six volumes comprise 6,128 pages. In
German all the volumes have gone
through four editions; the later ones
being at once printed in a number of
The whole work has been, or is in
progress of being, translated into Ital
ian, French and English. Pastor is the
first historian who had access to the
private archives Of the Vatican
opened by Leo XIII. This fact alone
UNNECESSARILY above Ranke's, and all
the rest who were cut off from the
principal source of information. Add
to this the minute treatment of per-
sons and events, the mastery of COM
position, the lucidity of exposition,
of Pastors classical work which was
originally designed to comprise six
volumes, but, as the prospect is now,
may extend to twelve or more.
In addition to his History of the
Popes, Pastor has, as literary heir of
| TOh -
various new editions of the latter's
history of the German People, a task
that required an extraordinary amount
| of work. For in order to be up to
date the new editions had to embody
all the new information which, in this
forth so profusely. And if even the
first six volumes of Janssen's history
were, in their new editions, laborfous
task, the edition of the seventh and
eighth volumes Of the same, being left
only in fragmentary condition by
their author, was almost equivalent to
so much original work At one time
Pastor had intended to carry on JAMS
sens history to the beginning of the
present century. But the world will
forgive him if he leaves other things
alone and consecrates his remaining
years to his great History of the
Popes. Many day may pass before
a genius of his capacity will approach
that subject.
Finally Ludwig Pastor has won
laurels in the field of biography Wit
ness his Life of Johannes Jansen
j (125 pages), which was originally in
tended as first sketch to larger
work; his Life of August Reichen-
berger, one of the great parliamen.
tarians of the Centre Party e Vols
1144 pages); his Life of Max von
Gogern, another German statesman OF
the last century 600 pages).
The writer in the Southern Guardian
concludes his sketch CT Pastor in the