The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-12-04

1.-THE MOST INFLUENTIAL POPE
SINCE THE REFoRMATIoN"-DE.
scRIPTIoN OF LIFE AND HABITS
OF WAR PoNTIFF.
The November issue of Current
opinion has an interesting article on
the Holy Father 1t is entitled "Bene-
dict XIV: The Most Influential Pope
Since the Reformation" It quotes
many foreign papers and gives a good
summary Of the Pope's public and
private life. The article in part is as
follows:
A Powerful Court.
The Sovereign Pontiff who in less
than six years has made the Vatican
the most powerful court in Europe is
described in the London Mail as a
little sallow, STOPPING, bespectacled
ngure,' not bowed down by any weight
OF years-Benedict XIV is young as
Popes go-but dropping, sorrowful,
solitary. All the journalists of Erl-
rope who have seen him recently
dwell upon the contrast between his
sprlghtly attitude when he was Bishop
OIL Bologna and the melancholy in
which his soul now seems steeped. In
those old days at Bologna the man
was cheerful, smiling, ready with ges-
lures In the vivacious Italian way.
notes the Action of Paris: but now the
attitude is usually reserved, the words
are few, the expression of the counter
nance is serious, the eyelids droop
heavily. The rapid, nervous walk has
grown deliberate The flesh-and the
rope was never plump-has wasted
the hair has become quite gray, The
voice, which was always, next to his
manner, the mans supreme charm.
seems richer, more flexible, more re-.
sponslve than ever to each shade of
meaning as his countenance relaDses
INTO passivity. One reads in the
french press that his Holiness has the
most expressive voice in Europe. the
most gracious gravity and an limo.
cence of expression when his face is
IN repose that can scarcely be recon-
clled with his fame as the greatest
living master of the art of diplomacy.
A Lonely Pontiff.
descriptions of his daily routine. as
set forth in the London newspaper.
emphasizes the fact of the Pope's
loneliness. He seldom goes to bed I'M
I'll midnight, and he has been toilinc
'heh Tor hVe hours-ever since he ate
the frugal supper in little room all
alone He may have had a very quiet
afternoon, the monotony of it broken
by an hours walk in the gardens, or
perhaps by carriage ride-the OnIv
open air exercise he usually gets. #
is the period of relaxation, of recre-
alton. He seems able then and only
then to dismiss from his mind the
anxieties of the ponti6cate, TO listen
TO the anecdotes or stories of which
he is found and to talk with men who
have visited strange lands and fshed
IN distant rivers. Conversation can
scarcely be said to take place on such
occasions, for the Pope is by natural
propensity listener and by tempora-
ment shy.
His Daily Activities.
Although the Pope is seldom in bed
before midnight, he is up and dressed
every morning at five o'clock. and vet
ne Will not begin his daily Mass for
an hour. He spends the interval in
prayer and in reading either the Scrip
lures or one of the fathers-always in
Latin. He celebrates his own Mass in
the strictest privacy although he will
assist at another Mass very soon.
kneeling humbly as if he were an altar
boy. This brings the Pope along to
eight o'clock, when a cup of black
coHee, quite hot, is served. There may
be fruit on the tray, or a dry biscuit,
but the Pope does not often consume
anything for his breakfast but this cup
OF coffee. He is served by valet, an
elderly man who has been with him
for years and who is as reserved. as
solitary and as self-effacing as his mas
ter.
''For period of five hours, extend
ing to one o'clock in the afternoon. the
Pope is working. He may have an
enormous mass of correspondence on
his desk. He may have a series of
important audiences with prelates or
pilgrims from all over the world. He
may have plan to announce, cere-
mony to conduct in st. Peters, a con-
sultation with reference to some crit
ical appointment. These details are
always according to schedule and the
arrangements must be made quite in
advance. The only mania the Pope
has, we read in the Giornale of Rome.
is for thoroughness. For instance, he
is keen on the subject of his letters.
II he cannot read them all-and some
times hundreds arrive in the course
of single day-they must become the
subject of a memorandum or series of
annotations. The Pope runs his eye
over the jottings on the sheets of
paper and if the entries are not salts
factory he directs that every letter be
brought to him instantly. He will read
every one of the letters after that for