The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-03-03

 BEING PREPARED

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 background that was to win him ad- miration among great diplomats and statesmen, yet from the first he summed a social life.
 He was thin, almost frail child with high forehead from which thick hair flowed back in a soft black wave. His glowing eyes were deeply set and his wide mouth a firm straight line. Even then his thin face was grave and his atti- tude serious, although he could en- joy good company and his laugh broke brightly through his normally stern expression.
 No Interest In Sports
 Eugenio had no interest in sports in his youth, but he loved to walk and usually he walked alone as he walked alone in recent years in the public parks of Rome. It was customary at that time for the prominent Catholic families in Rome to avoid sending their sons to public schools, but Eugenio attended them and almost every afternoon when classes were over he went for long walk.
 He needed the exercise to main- tain his physical strength, but to his comrades he seemed mostly to want to be alone and to think. He Sought Knowledge His school was the Scuola Appoli- naris. He was always, his school mates recall, asking questions and frequently he wanted to know things that were beyond the Knowledge of his instructors. Economies and politics interested him, but his great love was the Church. His knowl- edge of religion and his questions about it were profound.
 When he completed his studies with high honors, he had already decided he wanted to become a priest. His fther had planned for him to study law at the university, but when Eugenio told him of his strong desire to enter the priest hood approved his decision.
 He entered Capranica Seminary, but his health interfered with his studies and he was evenually forced to transfer to the Roman Seminary of Saint Appolinaris, where he dedi- cated himself to the study of Canon Law in Theology. At one time he also attended the Gregorian Uni versity.
 Wore Dress of Priesthood
 Early in his studies, Eugenio be- gan wearing the dress of the priest hood. Despite his illnesses, he fairly radiated strength and determination in intellectual discussion and was soon marked a brilliant student. Here, too, he began studying foreign tongues and eventually became a fluent conversationalist in English, German and French, while speaking Polish less easily.
 It was 1900 and Eugenio was "A when he was graduated with hon. ors, winning gold medal for a treatise on modern history. The following year he was ordained and his first mass was celebrated in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Turn In His Career
 Then came the turn in his career which was to lead him to the Throne of St. Peter, the first Roman to become Pope in two centuries He became an apprentice in the Department of Diplomatic Affairs in the Congregation for Extraor- dinary Ecclesiastical Affairs.
 His career as a diplomat was started and, although later he was to try to relinquish 1t, for purely ecclesiastical work in some Italian See, it was to continue as the out standing labor of his life and one of the chief factors in his elevation to the Papacy.
 The work in the congregation con- cerns affairs of the Papal secretary of state and is close to the heart of the Vatican administration over which Pope Leo XIII, then was ruler.
 Six feet in height, bespectacled and studious, Eugenio progressed rapidly in the work to which he was assigned and became undersecretary of state in 1912 when Cardinal Merry Del Val was secretary of state and Plus x was Pope. But it was when P.etro Cardinal Gasparri became Papal secretary of state that the future Pope began to come into real prominence.
 Professor of Canon Law
 Cardinal Gasparri immediately recognized the ability of his under secretary and, upon his urging, Eu- genio relinquished other duties in- cluding a profesybrship of Canon law in the Pontifical Institute of the Appolinaire to devote his tme entirely to his duties at the Congre- gation.
 It was in these busy years that America lost out on the possibility that the brilliant young man would carve out career in the United States. Even then the love of travel that later sent him to distant parts of the world was in evidence. He received an offer to become pro- lessor of Canonical law at Catho- lie University at Washington, D. O. He wanted to accept the post. But | it was said that the Pope himself tn-