Among the articles recently presented to the Holy Father were some curious and beautiful baskets made of the inner bark of trees, the work of the Indian tribe of Abenikis in Maine, U.S. Two pairs of elaborately ornamented mocassins were also presented to the Pope from the same tribe by the hands of Dr. James Healy, of Portland, Maine. His Holiness inquired minutely into the condition of this interesting tribe of Abenikis, who some centuries ago were converted to Christianity by Catholic missionaries, one of whom, Father Sebastian Rastes, was martyred by the new Englanders. An apostate was never known among this tribe. Leo XIII. gave to Bishop Healy a splendid medal for the chief of the tribe, and also wore a pair of the mocassins the evening of the day when they were presented, when Bishop Ryan, of Buffalo, took farewell audience. A beautiful carpet, the pattern of which represents the dome of St. Peter’s, was presented to the Pope by a society of French ladies. A deputation of the clergy and chapter of Fano had audience of his Holiness. On Monday, November 25, there was the customary reception of visitors in the Consistorial Hall. Mgr. Paolo Scapaticci and Commendatore Egidio Dati, the President and Vice-President of the Roman Diocesan Council for the Pious Work of the Propagation of the Faith, were received in private audience.
Consistorial Hall, Vatican
On Wednesday, the 27th November, Leo XIII. gave audience in the Throne Room to the Professors of the Gregorian Pontifical University, established in the German and Hungarian College under the direction of Jesuit Fathers. The professors belonged to the Chairs of Theology, Canon Law, and Philosophy, and were headed by Father Cardella, Provincial, Father Molza, Rector, and Father Kleutgen, Prefect of Studies. Father Cardella read an address in Latin, expressing the constant affection and firm devotion of the Company of Jesus to the Apostolic See. He mentioned that from the University on whose behalf he spoke had issued nine Pontiffs, of whom the reigning Pontiff was the last. He rejoiced in being enabled to make that statement, and returned thanks to God. He then declared the unalterable obedience of the University to the desires of Leo XIII., and especially with reference to the wish of the Pope that the theological and philosophical course of teaching should be rendered more efficacious for the contests against error. His Eminence Cardinal Parocchi, Archbishop of Bologna, was received in private audience by the Pope on the 27th. His Eminence laid an offering of Peter’s Pence at the feet of his Holiness, from the parish priests and some pious Institutes of Bologna.
THE ROYAL ENTRY
King Umberto I and Queen Margherita
King Humbert and Queen Margharita made their entrance into Rome on Sunday, the 24th, amid great official rejoicings. The Royal Family were well guarded from the danger of assassination. Their carriage, in passing from their Palace to the railway terminus in Naples, was surrounded with troops. The terminus was strongly guarded. The entire line of railway from Naples to Rome was protected by sentinels stationed at intervals to give the alarm in case of danger. In Rome the Questor, Signor Bolis, made some hundreds of arrests, and, it is said, discovered some terrible plots against the life of the King. Several regiments of infantry were called to Rome to keep order. The houses along the route between the railway terminus and the Quirinal were carefully examined by police agents, and all suspicious persons removed. A number of officers, not on regimental duty, were selected to walk on either side of the King’s carriage during the drive from the railway station to the Quirinal. A squadron of Cuirassiers rode in front of the Royal cortege. King Humbert looks wretchedly ill, and had a severe fit of coughing just before entering his carriage at the station. In the carriage with his Majesty sat the Queen, the young Prince of Naples, Prince Amadeo, and Signor Cairoli. The Via Nazionale and the Via Quirinale were lined with soldiers. Their Majesties arrived at the Quirinal in safety and without any disturbance of the public peace. On the evening of the 24th, and also of the 25th, the Corso was illuminated and also the public buildings. On the latter morning soldiers from every regiment in Rome were supplied with torches, and marched, with the torches burning, from the Piazza del Popolo to the Quirinal.
STATE OF PUBLIC SECURITY.
The condition of Italy is at present truly alarming. The Internationalists seem determined to force on a revolution. They are said to have obtained the two and a half millions of francs which were so mysteriously stolen between Ancona and Genoa, and to have bought some thousands of rifles. The accounts of explosions of bombs, and of seditious demonstrations at Pesaro, Pisa, Genoa, San Sepulcro, Bologna, &c., &c. prove the fact that almost all Italy, and notably the Romagna, is ripe for revolt. In Rome the windows, or gratings, in the basement story of the Home Office were walled up, to prevent the Internationalists from blowing up the Palace by dynamite, or burning it with petroleum.
ENGLISH SERMONS IN ROME
By the wish of the Cardinal-Vicar, the Rev.H. Morgan, of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, will preach every Sunday at three o’clock in the afternoon, in the church of S. Andrea delle Fratte, commencing on Sunday, the 1st of December, being the first Sunday in Advent.
THE SCOTS’ COLLEGE
Scots College, Rome
The Feast of St. Andrew, the Patron of Scot-land, was duly commemorated in the Scots’ College in Rome. The church was beautifully arranged with festive hangings, and the external front was repaired and freshly decorated. Dr. Campbell, the Rector, sung the Mass, the music being plain, with voices only. Among those present at the commemoration were the Bishops of Beverley, Liverpool and Armidale, Lady Margaret Howard, Lord Ralph Kerr, Miss Clifton, Mrs. Vansittart, Mrs. Savile Foljambe, Mrs. Kinloch Grant, Monsignor Stonor ; Monsignor Agnozzi, Secretary of Propaganda; Monsignor Kirby; Monsignor Cretoni, Sub-Secretary of State ; Very Rev. Dr. O’Callaghan, Rector of the English College ; Monsignor Rinaldini ; Very Rev. Dr. Hostlot, Rector of the American College ; Father Mullooly, Prior of St. Clement’s ; Professor Dr. Bernard Smith; Rev. Dr. English ; Mr. Winchester ; Mr. Bliss ; Mr. Plowden ; Mr. Hugh Gladstone ; and Cavaliere Fontana.
THE PROPAGANDA
Monsignor Achille Rinaldini, who was Sostituto in the Secretariat of the Propaganda and for a long time was Minutante for British affairs at Propaganda, has retired from those offices and has taken possession of his canonry at Sta. Maria Maggiore. He is succeeded in the office of Minutante by the Rev. Signor Zonghi.
The above text was found on p.17, 7th December 1878 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .
1878 was a busy year in Rome. Vittorio Emmanuele II died on the 9th January. The Pope died five days after this was published, on 7 February 1878 at 5:40 pm, of epilepsy, which led to a seizure and a sudden heart attack, while saying the rosary with his staff. Pius IX was the longest serving Pope ever, and the last pope who held temporal powers, although Lazio, and Rome itself were absorbed into the Kingdom of Italy in 1870. Meanwhile, the still at this point, Rev. Dr Henry O’Bryen seems to be settled in splendidly, having stopped being a parish priest in Lancashire five years earlier at the age of thirty eight, and moved to Rome. He doesn’t become a papal chaplain until 1881. But he is already preaching at S. Andrea della Fratte, which he continued to do for the next seventeen years.
Rome from our own correspondent Rome Jan 27th 1878
Reports were current in Rome on Thursday the 24th of January that Pius IX had been suddenly taken ill and was at the point of death. For these reports there was absolutely no foundation. His Holiness all through the week held his usual audiences lying on the couch in his private library. On Monday he blessed the two lambs whose wool is intended for the palliums. On that day he received many Cardinals and prelates, and on the following day some laymen of distinction were admitted to special audience in the library. Cardinals Manning and Howard were among the visitors this week to the Vatican. On Thursday a distinguished person, who had an interview with his Holiness for half an hour, found the Pope considerably improved in health and spirits. The wounds in the legs are healing up naturally, new flesh growing in a wonderful manner. The Holy Father was unusually cheerful, and expressed a hope to be able to leave his bed in a month or so when the severe weather shall have disappeared.
GARIBALDI: It is known that General Garibaldi wrote a letter of congratulation to King Humbert on his accession to the throne. It was not published, because Garibaldi, at the close of his letter, advised his Majesty to dismiss all his “reprobate Ministers.”
Umberto I
KING HUMBERT I. : On the 19th of January the new King took the oath to observe the Constitution before the senators and deputies assembled in the Parliament House in Montecitorio. On the same occasion the senators and deputies swore allegiance to the King. The Queen, the young Prince of Naples, and all the Royal visitors and envoys, were present in the diplomatic box, or gallery, where seats were arranged for the ladies. The Archduke Renier, the Prince Imperial of Germany, the heir to the Portuguese throne, and the Queen of Portugal were all close to Queen Margherita. The young Portuguese Prince, a pretty boy of fourteen years, was much admired. But the Prince Imperial of Germany, with his broad shoulders, was the prominent figure, and had the post of honour near the two Queens. The new King made a speech, which was much applauded, but which did not contain a single word in reference to God or the Church, nor did it ask, directly or indirectly, the blessing of Heaven. Perhaps Humbert I., who separates himself by the numeral I. from his ancestor Humbert III., the Blessed, was conscious that any appeal to Divine Providence would be out of place in the declarations of a monarch who succeeds to the usurped patrimony of the Church. King Humbert, rightly or wrongly, is believed to be less religious than his father. Signor Mancini, the present Minister of Grace and Justice, was once his teacher in international and criminal jurisprudence, and from Signor Mancini it is not likely that much reverence for the Catholic religion could be learned by the young Prince. So far as can be inferred from recent events, King Humbert willrely on the army and on the German alliance to support his throne against all Republican attacks. To keep Germany on his side he must obey the behests of Prince Bismarck, and he must adopt a policy of antagonism towards the Holy See more pronounced and severe than that adopted by his father. In this anti-Catholic policy Signor Mancini will be his willing guide.
Cardinal Manning
CARDINAL MANNING: His Eminence Cardinal Manning has lately occupied much attention on the part of the Italian press. Fanjulla devoted to him a long article denouncing him for his want of respect to the memory of Victor Emmanuel, and particularly for refusing a high Mass to be sung for his late Majesty. Of course, it is well known in London that Cardinal Manning granted permission for the High Mass, although he hesitated and required additional in-formation concerning the intentions of the applicants. Other Italian newspapers claim Cardinal Manning as their friend and champion, and gravely assert that his Eminence alone among the Cardinals encourages the Holy Father to condone the loss of the temporal power, and come to terms of amity with the revolution ! He is said also to urge the selection of Malta for the next Conclave, and to have raised the resentment of all the Italian Cardinals against him. In all these statements there is not one syllable of truth.
OUTRAGES AGAINST THE CLERGY: In various cities of Italy the revolutionists have taken the opportunity of the King’s death to insult the Bishops and clergy who do not at once comply with the demands of political partisans. For instance, two members of the municipality of Piacenza waited on the Bishop of that city, and asked the use of the Cathedral for a funeral service for the late King. The Bishop replied that he could not himself pontificate, but would grant the use of the cathedral provided the laws of the Church were observed. He suggested the use of the Church of S. Francesco in Piazza, as more central and better adapted for the occasion than the Cathedral. He desired them to report his remarks to the municipal council, and to return the next day to arrange everything. The members of the municipality, however, misrepresented the words of the Bishop as an absolute refusal of the Cathedral, and inserted a statement to that effect in a local journal. The consequence was a riotous assemblage of roughs, who mobbed the Bishop, broke into his residence, and filled the town with tumult. The military had to be called out to quell the disorder. At Viterbo, Bologna, Venice, and other places, the clergy have been insulted and attacked by mobs of revolutionists. At Parma the Bishop was assailed the citizens were compelled to close their shops as a sign of mourning, and a tricolour flag was hoisted over the episcopal residence.
MILAN: At the funeral service in Milan Cathedral, on the 24th, in honour of the late King, the crush was so great that five persons were killed, and many others were injured, and had to be carried to hospitals.
PERE RATISBONNE: On Sunday, the 20th, the Church of S. Andrea della Fratte was magnificently decorated with red satin damask bordered with gold, and an infinity of lights for the anniversary of the miraculous event in the life of Pere Ratisbonne, who, on the 20th of January, 1842, was there converted from Judaism by an apparition of the Blessed Virgin. Masses were said during the morning, and at five p.m. Cardinal Franchi gave solemn Benediction. Padre Giovanni, who possesses perhaps the finest tenor voice at present known, sang; and there was hardly standing room in the church. On Wednesday, the 23rd, the Rev. Dr. O’Bryen preached a sermon on the conversion of Pere Ratisbonne to a crowded audience in the same church. [ Alphonse Ratisbonne who was Jewish, converted to the Church, became a Jesuit, and went on to found the Congrégation de Notre-Dame de Sion, on of whose founding aim was the conversion of the Jews.]
APOTHEOSIS OF VICTOR EMMANUEL: An amusing cartoon has appeared representing the late King rising heavily heavenwards—his well-known features appearing above the white sheet that envelopes his body. In the clouds is seen the Piedmontese Walhalla ” The Superga,” and out of it are issuing the deceased members of the house of Savoy. This cartoon has been considered sufficiently curious for the Bodleian library, to which a copy has been sent.
THE CLERGY HISSED: It appears, unhappily, certain that the small party of clergy who surrounded the Crucifix in the procession of the King’s funeral were hissed. People who saw the procession at different points all assert the same.
Palazzo del Quirinale
OVATION AT THE QUIRINAL: On the return of the King from the Chambers on Saturday, the 19th, there was a great burst of cheering on the part of the crowd assembled in the Piazza del Quirinale; the King, the Queen, their Royal visitors, and the little Prince of Naples all appeared on the balcony—the Prince Imperial of Germany, taking the little Prince of Naples in his arms, held him up, to the great delight of the crowd, and then kissed him.
A PROPHECY: An astrologer of the Apennines, named Barbanera, in whom the Romans have great faith, made a lucky guess this year in his prophetic almanack. He says, ” On January 11th a great catafalque will be erected in Rome !” He also says, ” another will be required on February 10th.” [ I rather like the slightly sneering tone of this, being written before the Pope’s death as obviously ridiculous, and the astrologer being almost spot-on. But given that the Pope was eighty six, it’s not a bad guess.]
THE LATE KING’S DEBTS: The late King, it is stated, unified his large debts some two years ago, and borrowed of a bank at Turin 15,000,000 lire, of which 7,000,000 have been paid. King Humbert takes this debt on himself, and will not burden the country with it.
ROYAL ECONOMY: It would appear that economy is to be studied a little by the new King ; 1,000 horses are to be sold at once out of the Royal stables, and the estate also at Castel Porziano. The Royal stables, built at an enormous cost by the late King, are one of the sights of the city, on account of their vast size and completeness in every respect. It is said that, all told, 2,000 persons are employed in them.
SACRILEGES IN ROME: During the great concourse of strangers into Rome for the late King’s funeral no less than three churches were broken into, and the tabernacles were robbed of the sacred vessels, the consecrated hosts being strewn about.
FEB. 2, 1878: The anniversary of the First Communion of the Holy Father, February 2nd, will be the 75th anniversary of the Holy Father’s first Communion, made at Sinigaglia, his native city. The Cardinal Vicar of Rome invites all the faithful, and especially the young, to make a Communion on that day. There will be a grand function at the Gesù.
MONUMENT TO VICTOR EMMANUEL: The proposed monument to Victor Emmanuel has set all the painters, architects, sculptors, and engineers to work, and many designs are already exhibited ; they all bear evidence of the haste with which they have been drawn, and nothing at all remarkable has been produced. They talk much of a grand façade to Sta Maria degli Angeli ; and that the hemicycle in front should become a colonnade, crowned by the statues of the statesmen and others connected with the unification of Italy, the new street, the Via Nazionale, to be entered under a grand triumphal arch.
THE REQUIEM FOR KING VICTOR EMMANUEL.—On the 9th of February a funeral service will be celebrated in the Pantheon for the repose of the soul of the late King Victor Emmanuel.
The above text was found on p.16, 2nd February 1878, in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .
The Osservatore Romano of Thursday last announced the Secret Consistory [restricted only to Cardinals] as to take place Monday, June 7th, for the creation of six new members of the Sacred College, whose names have been already given. Several Cardinals will, it is whispered, be reserved “in etto”. On Wednesday, 19th inst., the Holy Father named the Noble Guards who are to be Messengers Extraordinary to convey to the five foreign Archbishops the formal announcement of their promotion to the sacred purple. Count Naselli goes to Rheims, Count Salimei to Rennes, Count Folicaldi to Sens, Count Muccioli to Baltimore, and Count Gazzoli to Quebec. Yesterday the five Guards above named were admitted to private audience by the Pope to return thanks for the honour accorded them.
The choice of the Ablegates to bear the Berretta to the new Cardinals has fallen on Mgr. Straniero for Baltimore, Mgr. Henry O’Bryen for Quebec, and Monsignori Vico, Misciatelli and Grassi for the three French Cardinals. The name of Father Mazzella, S.J., Prefect of Studies in the Gregorian University is now added to the list of future Princes of the Church. The Ablegates and the Noble Guards start on their respective missions immediately on the close of the Secret Consistory. Thursday, June 10th, is the day fixed for the Public Consistory, wherein the cardinalitial hat will be conferred on Mgr. Theodoli, and on the Cardinals Patriarch of Lisbon, and the Archbishops of Vienna and of Valencia, created in 1884. The Archbishop of Seville, likewise of the same promotion, is prevented from private reasons from coming to Rome for this Consistory. Count Carlo Gazzoli, who is to be the bearer of the hat to Mgr. Taschereau, belongs to a very ancient noble family. On the mother’s side he is descended from the Princes’ Simoneth, an old baronial family of the Marche ; and from the Princes Spada of Rome on the father’s side. He is a brother of Mgr. Gazzoli, Canon of St. Peter.
The above text was found on p.29, 22nd May 1886 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .
Monday, June 7th.
This morning, as announced, his Holiness held a Secret Consistory in the Vatican Palace, in which, after the Cardinal Secretary of State, as Procurator for Cardinal Agostini, Patriarch of Venice, resigning the title of S. Eusebius, had opted for the vacant title of S. Maria della Pace, the Holy Father pronounced a brief allocution [a formal speech giving advice or a warning.] laudatory of the three countries of France, United States, and Canada in relation to the Catholic faith, and personally eulogistic of the two Italian candidates, he created and proclaimed Cardinal Priests of Holy Roman Church the Archbishops of Sens, Rennes, Rheims, Quebec, and Baltimore, U.S.A. ; and Cardinal Deacons Mgr. Augustus Teodoli, and the Rev. Camillus Mazzella, S.J.
He then preconised [approved the appointment of] titulars to the Metropolitan See of Toledo, in Spain, for Cardinal Paya y Rico, translated from that of Compostella ; to the Archiepiscopal See of Sorrento, to fourteen Cathedral Sees, and to two titular Episcopal Churches for the Auxiliaries respectively of the Cardinal Archbishop of Naples, and of the Cardinal Archbishop of Saragozza. After the Consistory the Pope imposed, with the usual formalities, the rochet [a white vestment worn by a bishop, similar to a surplice] upon the newly preconised Bishops, present in curia, who then paid the customary visits of formality to the Cardinal Secretary of State and to the Vatican Basilica ; the five Noble Guards started on their foreign mission as Extraordinary Couriers ; and the official notice of promotion to the Cardinalate was duly conveyed to the two new members of the Sacred College present in Rome. The Papal Ablegate, Mgr. Straniero, leaves Rome this evening, en route for Baltimore, to convey the berretto to Cardinal Gibbons. Mgr. Henry O’Bryen and the other three Ablegates will depart in a few days for their destinations, to Quebec and to France.
PUBLIC CONSISTORY.
The Pope in the Sala Regia
On Thursday the Pope held a Public Consistory in the Sala Regia of the Vatican Palace, in which he conferred the Cardinalitial Hat upon Cardinal Neto, Patriarch of Lisbon, created and published in the Consistory of March 24th, 1884; upon Cardinals Ganglbauer and Monescillo y Viso, created and published in the Consistory of November loth, 1884, and upon Cardinals Theodoli and Mazzella, created and published in the Consistory of Monday, 7th inst. During the ceremony one of the Consistorial Advocates argued, for the third time, the cause of beatification of the Venerable Servant of God, Sister Gertrude Maria Salandri, of Rome. The promoter of the faith thereupon made the customary protest, to which his Holiness replied : “Ad nostram Sacram Rituum Congregationem quae videat et referat.” The Holy Father then closed the Public Consistory, and, proceeding to the Hall of the Consistory, held a Secret Consistory, wherein, after closing the mouths of the new Cardinals, he preconised titulars to four metropolitan and sixteen cathedral sees, including that of Mayence for Canon Haffner, and that of Madrid for Mgr. Sandra Hervaz, translated from Avila ; the remaining fourteen sees being in France, Spain, Africa, and Mexico. His Holiness next notified the provision by brief of the metropolitan see of Posen ; of the cathedral sees of Ermeland ; of Down and Connor, of Limerick and of Kilmore ; of Savannah and of Green Bay, U.S.A. ; and of Panama ; and finally of ten titular episcopal sees for the Vicars Apostolic of Southern Tonquin, of the Congo, and of the Free State of Orange ; for the Coadjutors of Waterford, of the Western district of the Cape of Good Hope, of Ghent, and of Angra ; and for the Auxiliaries of Lemberg, of the Latin Rite, and of Trigonia . Postulation of the sacred pallium was then made for the metropolitan sees of Toledo, Port au Prince, Compostello, Burgos, Sorrento, Aix, and Posen ; for the two churches of Montreal and of Ottawa recently raised to metropolitan rank, under their present titulars, Mgr. Edward Fabre and Mgr. Thomas Duhamel, and likewise for the cathedral see ofErmeland, endowed with that privilege by Benedict XIV. The Pope then placed the cardinalitial ring upon the new Princes of the Church, assigning to Cardinal Neto the priestly title of the Holy Twelve Apostles ; to Cardinal Monescillo that of St. Augustine ; to Cardinal Ganglbauer, that of S. Eusebius ; to Cardinal Theodoli, the diaconal title of Sta. Maria della Scala ; and to Cardinal Mazzella the diaconate title of S. Adriano al Foro Romano. Finally, returning to his private apartments, his Holiness received the new Cardinals in collective audience.
SACRED CONGREGATIONS.
The Pope has assigned to Cardinal Neto, Patriarch of Lisbon, the Sacred Congregations of Propaganda, the Rites, Indulgences, and Holy Relics, and the Lauretana ; to Cardinal Monescillo, Archbishop of Valencia, those of the Council, Index, Studies, and Regular Discipline ; to Cardinal Ganglbauer, Archbishop of Vienna, those of Bishops and Regulars, Rites, Studies, and Ceremonial ; to Cardinal Theodoli those of the Council, Rites, Ceremonial, and Fabrica of St. Peter ; and to Cardinal Mazzella those of Propaganda, Index, Studies, and Indulgences, and Holy Relics.
THE NEW CARDINALS.
Gregorian University Rome
On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the five Cardinals in Curia, of those created in the Consistory of the 7th inst., received the visits of felicitation, in di calore, as it is termed. Cardinal Ganglbauer, at the Palace of Venice, the seat of the Austrian Embassy to the Holy See ; the Cardinal Archbishop of Valencia, at the Spanish Embassy to the Vatican ; the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, at the National Portuguese Establishment attached to the Church of S. Antonio dei Portoghesi ; Cardinal Theodoli, in the apartments of the Majordomo of the Papal Palace ; and Cardinal Mazzella, in the Grand Aula of the Gregorian University.
It is stated that the last-named Prince of the Church, in company with Cardinals Melchers, Hergenroether, and Ledochowski, will later be furnished with suitable apartments in the new German Hungarian College, formerly the Hotel Costanzi. On Friday the two Ablegates, Mgr. Misciatelli and Mgr. Grassi-Landi, destined respectively to convey the Cardinalitial berretta to the Archbishops ot Sens and of Rennes, were received by the Holy Father in audience of conga, and with their secretaries left Rome last evening for Paris. The Ablegate for the Archbishop of Rheims is Mgr. Vico, Secretary of the Nunciature of Paris. It is said that the imposition of the berretta upon the three new Cardinals will take place at the Palace of the Elysee early in the coming week.
BALTIMORE AND QUEBEC.Mgr. Strainer and Count Muccioli, the Ablegate and the Noble Guard appointed to convey the Cardinalitial berretta and zucchetta to the Archbishop of Baltimore, quitted Rome on Monday evening in company with the Rev.Thomas S. Lee, Rector of Baltimore Cathedral, and were to sail yesterday from England in the Servia. The Holy Father has delegated the Venerable Archbishop of St. Louis, the doyen of the American episcopate, to impose the berretta upon Cardinal Gibbons, which ceremony will take place at Baltimore Cathedral on the 30th inst. His Holiness has delegated the Archbishop of Toronto to impose the red berretta on Cardinal Taschereau, the Ablegate, Mgr. Henry O’Bryen, leaves Rome en route for Quebec this evening. He will probably be likewise bearer of the pallium to the newly promoted Archbishops of Montreal and of Ottawa, which, with the pallium for the other metropolitan and episcopal sees enjoying that honour, duly postulated in the Consistory of June 10th, were imposed with customary formalities, on Friday,by Cardinal Mertel, Vice Chancellor of Holy Roman Church and First Cardinal Deacon, the Very Rev. Don Jules Captier, Procurator General of the Father of St. Sulpice, acting as Procurator for the Archbishops of Montreal and of Ottawa ; the Archbishops of Compostella and of Sorrento being the only prelates of the ten recently promised to receive the pallium, in person, as being present in curia. The Osservatore Romano of Friday published a telegram from Quebec, bearing the signatures of the President of the Council and of the President of the Assembly, addressed to the Cardinal Secretary of State, which informed his Eminence that on reception of the news of the elevation to the Cardinalate of the Archbishop of Quebec, both the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of that city adjourned, in token of joy, and forthwith repaired in a body to present an address of felicitation to the new Prince of the Church ; which fact these officials begged might be made known to his Holiness.
Umberto I – 1844 – 1900
OPENING OF PARLIAMENT. On Thursday, l0th inst., King Humbert of Savoy [It’s quite an interesting description from the Tablet, – Umberto 1st had become King of Italy on January 9th 1878 on the death of Victor Emmanuale II, a month before Leo XIII became Pope. Describing him as King of Savoy was still not recognizing him as King of Italy sixteen years after the fall of Rome, and the unification of Italy. It does explain the tone of the report] inaugurated with customary solemnities the sixteenth legislature of the Italian Parliament. The Royal speech was received, for the major part, in icy silence ; the largest modicum of applause greeting the paragraph referring to “the providential mission confided to the House of Savoy, to give life, liberty, and unity to Italy.” Viewing the abject misery, the grinding taxation, the conscription, the ‘confusionismo’ to quote Signor Bonghi, which have fallen to the lot of Italy since it was raised to the rank of a kingdom, one is tempted to question the happy results arising from the said “mission,” and to wonder if the spoliation of the Vicar of Christ, the occupation of Rome, the progressive destruction of the Eternal City, the continued series of sacrilegious attack upon the church, upon religion, and upon the papacy, the peril to the faith and morals of the rising generation, thanks to the irreligious system of enforced public education and the unbridled license of an infidel and obscene press, fall likewise within the sphere of this ” providential mission.” Another feature of the royal address was the utter absence of the slightest allusion to the Divinity, which, for a nation claiming to be Catholic, was, to say the least, noticeable. However, as the Voce della Verita remarks, there being among the Commandments of the Decalogue—that the Name of the Lord shall not be taken in vain—the omission is rather deserving of commendation than otherwise.
Castel Sant’ Angelo
During the interval between the exit from, and the return of the Royal party to the Quirinal Palace, the cannon from Castle S. Angelo thundered forth the salute of one hundred guns, whilst in the Vatican Palace the Pope was holding the Public Consistory. A somewhat unpleasant incident marred the harmony of the proceedings : the German Ambassador to Italy being refused right of way by the troops, forced the cordon, and dashed up the Corso at full speed, regardless of consequences.—Commander Seoul, former Director-General of the Treasury and Councillor of the Exchequer, fell dead from apoplexy at his desk in that Bureau, on Tuesday evening, the 8th inst., three hours after the Gazzetta Officiate had published his name among the list of the forty new senators recently promoted to that dignity. The Government had annulled the election in two districts, by a large majority in each, of Amilcare Cipriani, one of the most active of the Communists of Paris in 1871, and who is now serving his term of twenty years in the galleys for a double homicide, perpetrated at Alexandria, Egypt, in 1867. During the term of the elections Fanfulla accused the Deputy Mussi of hearing Mass on days of obligation, and of being a member of a religious confraternity. The candidate to political honours, fearful of losing caste, hastened to deny the charge, by formally declaring that he never dreamed of attending Mass, &c.—The Senate of the kingdom are about to assemble in High Court of Justice, to judge the case of Senator Zini, author of a novel entitled La Famiglia Moscardini, a ” libello famoso ” against the late Deputy Bonchetti. Such are some of the individuals who make laws for the Kingdom of United Italy.
The above text was found on p.17, 12th June 1886 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .
