Year: 1872

The serious illness of the Pope is n cir
cumstance which may well excite alarm.
When man more than so wears of ACE
takes to his bed, there is reason to fear that
he may not again rise from it. Plus TX. is
a healthy, vigorous old man, but of rather
plethoric habit, and liable at any moment
to end his days suddenly.


The history of his Pontificate will GER
talnl y be most interesting, and may enlist
the talent OF great biographers yet un-
known for there can be no doubt that
around the career of Plus TX. there cluster
more important associations than around
any Pontlficate since that of Leo X.,-we
had almost said of Hildebrand. Both in
its temporal and in its spiritual aspects, it
is most notable. Its term includes the
revolution OF lS4S, with the Pontiff at the
head of the liberal movement the rise and
fall of tho second Frence Empire; the de-
yelopment of Prussia; the revival of the
German Empire the civil war in America:
the loss to the Pope Of the temporalities
and the consolidation of the King
dom of United Italy. In its religious
aspects 1t comprises the definition of the
dogma OF the Immaculate Conception, the
assembling of the Vatican Council, and the
bold proclamation Of Papal infalIiblity.
After all this career of excitement comes
the palm of martyrdom, for should Plus
In. die from the effects of his present ill.,
ness, his followers will at once claim that
his end was FASTENED by the sorrows and
rlgors attending his so-called Imprisonment
in the Vatican. OF course, everybody
knows that this incarceration is purely
nominal, and is, moreover, self-imposed,
for If Plus TX. chose to ride publicly
through the streets of Rome, or even to
take triumphal tour through the Italian
States, the government would aid rather
than hinder his progress.


Just under the dome of St. Peters
church, in front of the tomb of the saint,
and surrounded by ever-burning lamps, is
a recess, in which is 8 kneeling statue, by
Canova, Of Pope Plus VI. OF all the
stately sculptures in the great basilica none
equals this in quiet grace and the sublm-
ity of its repose. The Pope is represented
in his Pontilical robes, his hands clasped,
and his face partially upturned in prayer.
Plus TX. is known to have special admi-
ration for this mortuary monument, and, it
is said IN Rome, has given orders that after
his death similar kneellng statue of him
self shall be sculptured, and placed in
corresponding position in his favorite
church, the basilica Of Santa Maria Mag
glore, on the other side of the Tiber. This
tomb will be visited in after years as the
shrine of Plus the Great; for this title will
undoubtedly be give to the present Pope,
and may, in time, be followed by the hon
ors of canonization.


While the Christian world is waiting
with keen interest to hear of the result Of
the present illness of the Pope, and while
there can be but one general wish for his
recovery, knot of scheming priests and
cunning politicians are probably at this
very moment discussing as to who may be
his successor. In days gone by, when
this was far more important point than it
is now, the arts of diplomacy were ex-
hausted by Spain, Austria and France,
in trying to influence the election.
But to-day the very place-the
Quirinal-where the election was wont
to be held, is in the hands of the anathema-
tized King of Italy, and the Cardinals must
meet in some unaccustomed spot to select
the man who will succeed the only Pope
who has beheld ''the days of Peter.u On
which of the keen, ambitious Italian priests
this choice will fall it is of course inpossi-
BILE to say. Were Napoleonism still in
power at Paris, the young Cardinal of the
Napoleon family would probably stand the
best chance; but in the present disorgan-
lied state of affairs at Rome, speculation
as to the result becomes quite superfiu-
Gus. A change in the person of the Pom
tiff will, however, necessarily cause for a
time feeling of uneasiness throughout the
Roman Catholic world for the present gen
Grafton is so familiar with the btnignant
features Of Plus TX. that it will take some
time to get accustomed to strange face on
Papal medals or coins, or in print-shop
windows. Otherwise the change will not
have any great practical results, as the
next Pope, whatever his title, will be, in
fact, simply Bishop of Rome, for with
Plus TX. closes the long line of great Pom
tiffs-of these old men described by the
poet Rogers as bending under the weight of
the tiara, each grasping in his withcred
haad


- the keys which as he thinks


Can ope Heavens gates.


There may be other Popes in title, but
with the sweeping away of the temporal
power, the practical failure of the Ecumen-
I 81