THE VATICAN.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 May 1923, Page 4

THE VATICAN.

THE ROYAL VISIT. (A Sydney paper). AYJio would not visit the \ atieull, irrespective of birthplace or creed, if occasion offered ! J Such is the question, expressed or unexpressed, of many good people to-day. I hat any section of an educated community should object to such a visit is strange indeed. To know is to understand, or to attempt to do so, and the wider the general understanding the greater the possibility of a lasting peace. The world lias many wonders that most;, people would like to sec. And many wonderful personalities that most people would like to meet. Ihe royalties of earth, after all, are only “people wearing crowns.” They are great or small, as the ease may he, like the rest o( their icllow-mcn, and if wise, they will sec and hear all they consider necessary for the light ordering cf their own realms. There is much to he seen and heard in the \ atican. More is to be seen, however, than is generally known. The Vatican is the largest and most magnificent palace in the world. Within its walls are also gathered the most numerous and costly collections of art and literature. fit addition to the private apartments, the Vatican contains vast courts and reception liads, pictuic galleries, sculpture galleries, immense nm sen ms. libraries and chapels. I hero

are. in all, (eleven thousand apartments, and two hundred staircases. With its gardens and grounds the Vatican covers an area of thirteen and a half aeies of ground. The principal entrance into this wonderland is a gate of bronze. A sacred portal enclosing much religious and. studious .seclusion. When a Dope enters the Vatican he never leaves it again (though there is a rumour now that this regulation is likely to Be altered). Rope Leo Nil, lived in the seclusion of the Vatican for eighteen years, and during all these years he took every meal alone in solitary grandeur. It is well the \ aticnn is spacious to meet such conditions. When a pope desires an airing lie can drive two and a hall miles through the Vatican grounds. Another advantage is the fact that the Vatican stands upon a hill. From some of its windows the Dope can overlook the whole city of Rome, which IDs iihe a map spraed out before him. ( rj-ioiis eyes from without, however, cannot look hack. No one can see into Lie Vatican except by climbing the dome of St Dolor's nearby. '} hat seldom happens. Of the chapels ill the Vatican the Sistinc Glmpel is the most wonderful. .Michael Angelo covered its veiling and most ol its walls with his marvellous frescoes. He did so at Lie bidding or request oi Rope Julius If. in Kills. Emerson .-aid that the genius of Michael Angelo was ‘almost superhuman” : so was his industry and so was his sob-denial. He worked at the frescoes all day ami nearly all night for four years, living meanwhile iu the chapel, and sustaining life chiefly with. bread.

M’> hr.el Angelo. however, had his pe-i-1:ii;,: it jr,. M*. did not, like inter!er~ ()u one cccasion when he was ai work on die ceiling Rope .Julius (alee into the chapel to supervise. .MPa: 4 Angelo piomptjy dropped his large paint brush, and it just missed falling on the Rope. 11l that age and place, dire le-ults would have followed for most men. But genius is self-pro-tecting. Ami as (.he French say; “What would you?” Rope Julies wished for a chapel of surpassing beauty, and only -Michael Angela could produce that beauty. 'I hereforc, the dropped brush was wisely passed over as “an accident,” mid the sensible Julius left the chapel to interfere no mere with Michael Angelo and his great work. To the credit of Julius l ■ tin, wiitteu. Also that he was all his life a lover of art and literature. At Me Vatican there has horn a laicr figure of much interest and deep vhe .c boai l was broken by the hideous war. Of him the scanty cables of the day told many a touching story. I’ius X. would have stayed the war at the oid-ot had he ’ vcn able. There lav (he tumble. “It one time I could have stopped it with a word. he moat’od. “But now I am helpless.” In 1 !l|■! the Emperor Francis Joseph lent a I'eoiie t to linin’ that Ro| o I’ius would" hh s lbe Austrim troops in t.:,e eve of war. Dope Duis -aid he emild not do si: ; the .Austrian troops were hi; ehiulion, ‘but so were many men in other lands who ve;e arming to withstand them, 'I hey w ere all his childieii. Re emild not wish some well and others ill. “I cannot bless,” exclaimed the broken-hearted Dope Pius. “I can only pray for peace.” Toe world’s sorrows at that time weighed heavily on the Vatican, and the horrors in Belgium and Frame shortened the life of Dim, X. “My children. Oh. my poer children. ’’ weie the lamentoften heard in his ia-l days, finch was tile spirit of the Vatican in Rill. That spirit of peace, perchance, may s', ill he it. ii net tiler: l , and in conjunction with other gieat souls may promote a lasting peace in the eiviiised worl.l.