HOW THE POPE LIVES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 206, 16 March 1877, Page 3

HOW THE POPE LIVES.

Audiences are by no means confined to Catholics. People of any faith, or of nore at all, present themselves to the Pope, and satisfy j their curiosity about him, and nobody asks their religious belief. It is only expected that all who come will conform to the cere- 1 monial of the occasion. Two English ladies, not long ago, -who i had scruples about kneeling before a mere man, obtained an iiudience, and remained standing when the Pope approached them Pius IX. took no notice at the time of the breach of etiquette, and - treated them with his customary suavity, but in his closing address, J he said : " I will now give you my blessing, and if there are any I here who do r.ot value the blessing of an old man, I invoice for them the blessing of Almighty God." The two ladies immediately > dropped upon their knees. I At the reception of the Spaniards, it was generally remarked I that the Pope looked wonderfully well and strong. His general ' health is, beyond doubt, good, although, as he recently said of J himself, " One cannot be an octogenarian with impunity." When ' I first saw him, at the audience I have described I found in | his face and figure as he entered the room marks of infirmity for which I was not prepared. He looks much older than any of his \ pictures, if I except a single recent photograph, which I believe is i not known in America. His lower lip droops a little, his eye has ]ost much of its lustre, his head hangs over, and his step is uncertain. His voice, too, at first, was tremulous and broken. But in a few minutes my impressions of his condition were greatly changed. , In conversation, his -whole face lighted up, his speech was firm, his ' manner was vivacious, he looked no longer a feeble old man of eighty-four, but a hale and well-preserved gentleman of seventy. When he raised his voice to address the whole assemblage, the ' tones were strong and musical, the articulation beautifully clear. He made gestures freely with both arms, and I noticed that his hand -was as steady as if he had nerves of iron. Alarming reports I of |his impending dissolution often reach the Papal court — from America and elsewhere — but the Pope's friends laugh at them. " When I look over certain of the Italian journals without finding the news of my last illness and death," said Pius IX. lately, " it ' always seems to me as if they had forgotten something." ' So far as anybody can see, his chances of living several years ' longer are very fair. He has a sturdy constitution and a, serene [ temper, and he has always led a regular and simple life. He rises, ' summer and winter, at half-past five, shaves himself, dresses without help, and spends half an hour in prayer at a little private ' chapel, by way of preparation for Mass. He never omits saying j Mass unless he is sick ; in that case a chaplain says it for him, and ' a receives Communion. Ho hears a second Mass after saying his ! a, and then attends to business. About nine he takes a bowl of bouillon or a cup of coffee. The rest of the morning is occupied with audiences and consultations with the cardinals, heads of dif- ' ferent ecclesiastical bureaus, and other officials having affairs to ) transact with him. These despatched, he takes a little exercise in ' the garden. He dines alone at two o'clock on soup, a bit of botulli, a single dish of meat with one vegetable, and fruit, He follows a universal Italian custom in mingling a little wine with the water that he drinks at dinner. It is a common white yin ordinaire which he buys from day to day, for he keeps no cellar. The delicacies which are frequently sent to him all find their way to the hospitals. ' Dinner is followed by a sierfa of fifteen minutes, after which I he reads his breviary, says the Krsary, and walks again, either in j the garden or the gallexies of the Vatican. One of his commonest resorts at this hour is a beautiful alley, shaded by orange trees, where the pigeons come to be fed from his band. He takes oreat i delight in showing himself quicker of foot then the cardinals' who I sometimes bear him company, and it is a favorite joke of his to speak of Cardinal Patrizi, who is four years his junior, as " that old man."— J. R. G. Hassard in the ' New York Tribune.' j