CARDINAL GASPARRI

Hokitika Guardian, 11 January 1930, Page 6

CARDINAL GASPARRI

RHIRING PAPAL SECRETARY.

CODIFIER OF CANON LAW,

Cardinal Gasparri, wlio has resigned the position of Papal Secretary, was born in 1852 in a farmhouse in Ussita, a hamlet perched on the Umbrian Apennines, his family being well-to-do sheep-owners. He went to Nepi to study for the priesthood in the seminary there, and thence to Rome to the Pontifical Seminary. It was here one afternoon that Cardinal Mertel, Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church happened to hear him reciting canon law, says “The World Today.” Something about the young student made a deep impression on the old Cardinal, and he made him his secretary, later supporting his successful candidature for the Chair of Theology at the seminary where he first hoard him speak. Mertel was the last Cardinal in history to have received the purple without being ordained a priest, and the young Gasparri had to get up at fi o’clock every morning to say "Mass for him.

GRASP OF CANON LAW

After teaching at the Pontifical Seminary, Gasparri was appointed Professor of Canon Law at the famous Collegio di Propaganda Fide, where pupils from all over the world are trained 'for missionary work. It was at this point that his grasp of the intricacies of canon law began to make an impression. Mhile still a simple priest he was appointed to the Chair of Canon Law at the Catholic Institute of Paris, a. post he held for eighteen years. He was the most highly appreciated legal counsellor to the Bishopric of Paris and to the Nunciature.

As great a jurist as he is a diplomat, Cardinal Gasparri had carried on the two lines of action simultaneously for nearly half a century. When the political high lights of his day have been obliterated by perspective, he will lie remembered for his codification of canon law. For centuries this work had boon the dream and hope of Popes, bishops, and clergy, but no one had dared attempt the task on account of its magnitude. The law of the Church was a huge chaos of decrees, bulls, decisions of councils, sentences of the Rota, of tlie Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature and of the various Roman congregation. When it became known that Gasparri was going to try to bring order out of this confusion people wondered if he would live to see the completion of his task. Under , his direction the codification of canon law was accomplished in thirteen -years during the busiest. part of his diplomatic career.

After being elected archbishop in 1898 Gasparri went to Lima, as apostolic delegate for Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. In 1901 he was called to the important post of Secretary of the Congregation of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, which is the brain of the Papal State Department. After the Secretary df State himself, Gasparri was the leading adviser of Leo XIII during the last years of his reign and later to Pious X.

RECONCILIATION WITH FRANCE. His work and influence in effecting a reconciliation with France and the resumption of diplomatic relations was recognised by his elevation to the Cardinnla'te on December 16, IPO7, bv f’ious X. Soon after the outbreak of the Great War Cardinal Gasparri succeeded the late Cardinal Ferrata as Secretary of State. On the death of Benedict XV Cardinal Gasparri found himself among the likely candidates for the Papacy and it is said that he received 28 votes at his first ballot, after which lie withdrew in favour of Cardinal Ratfci, his protege. Cardinal Ratti, who assumed the pontifical mantle under the name of Pious XT, retained Cardinal Gasparri as Sererotary of State. Cardinal Gasparri is the only- Secretary of State to have held office under two Popes, instead of retiring upon the death o»f the Pope who appointed him. THE LATERAN TREATY.

The Lateran Treaty is the climax of Cardinal Gasparri’s career. He personally directed the complicated and delicate preliminary negotiations with Signor Mussolini, and when the negotiations reached a satisfactory conclusion he was suffering from influenza, but against the advice of his doctors he left his bed to go and sign the treatv.