AN APPRECIATION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 30, 23 July 1903, Page 1 (Supplement)

AN APPRECIATION.

f TELEGRAM in Tuesday's daily papers announced the death of Pope Leo XI II., one of the most illustrious of the long line of Pontiffs that ha\e occupied the Chair of St. Petkk. Leo XIII. was fur past the ordinary «pan of human existence, and his declining years were, in KeMjK'n words, marked with •Such calm old a#e as conscience pure And self-commanding hearts ensure ; Waiting his summons to the sky, Content to live, but not afraid to die.' Now the Grand Old Man has passed to his reward — ' Life's race well run, Life's work well done, Life's victory won : Now comes rest ' — and, let us pray, rest eternal !

For several years past the world knew that the cord must soon snap, and Protestants as well as Catholics watched the closing days of the great Pontiff with a profound intuest and friendly sympathy which has once more found eloquent voice in the almost universal chorus of eulogy the ncn-Catholic press has devoted to the memory of his name and work. Perhaps no one that had a hold upon the world's ear had such peculiar opportunities of studying what may be called the inner life of Pope Leo XIII. as the eminent Italian-born novelist, Mr. Marion Crawford. And, speaking of great men, Mr. Crawford says that 'in some rare high types, head, heart, and hand are balanced to one expression of power, and every deed is a function of all three. Leo XIII. probably approaches as nearly to such superiority as any great man now living. As a statesman his abilities are admitted to be of the highest order ; as a scholar he is undisputedly one of the finest Latinists of our time, and one of the most accomplished writers in Latin and Italian prose and verse. As a man, he possesses the simplicity of character which almost always accompanies greatness, together with a healthy sobriety of temper, habit, and individual taste, rarely found in those beings whom we might well call '' motors " among men. . . . It is commonly said,' Mr. Crawford gots on, 'that the Pope has not changed his manner of life since he was a simple bishop. He is, indeed, a man who could not easily change either his habits or his opinions ; for he is of that enduring, melancholic, slow-speaking, hard-thinking temperament which makes hard workers, and in which everything tends directly to hard work as a prime object. e\en with persons m whose existence necessary labor need play no part, and far more so with those whose little daily tasks hew histoiy out of humanity in the rough state. . . . For he is a great Pope,' says Mr. Crawford. ' There has not been his equal intellectually for a long time, nor shall we presently see his match again.'

It was quite in keeping with the life and character of Pope Leo Xlli. that he should pass away, so to speak, in harness. In the quoted words of Kehle, he was 'content, to live, but not afraid to die.' But he had, even in the slow twilight of his long day, much beneficent work to doand neither extreme age nor weariness presented him work, ing while yet it was light, lie was of the kind who wear out, but never rust out. And he was a ver\ hero of dut\. 'The Pope, in fact, 1 si)s a distinguished writer, 'had made up his mind not to be an in\alid. So long as there was work to be dime he was quietly determined to do it. He was much happier in that way than many great princes and prelates The shadow of death gets w ltheringly on man} men in gieat positions, ,nid makes them incapable of oi indifferent to the business of their high place. The story oi emperois and kings is full of pathetic and pitiful accounts of the manner m which this or that scneicign collapsed and became cowed when it was made clear that only a short time could interpose, between him and his death There was no weakness of this kind in the moral and mental constitution of I-ho (he Thirteenth. So long as there was a year, so long as there was an hour left to him, he meant to do the work of that year or of that hour. When he must go he must, but, in the meantime, let work go on. . . . £o long as

he lived he lived, and so long as life lasted to him, his duty to life lasted too.'

Leo's mental and moral activity knew no flagging, and to his latest day his eye swept the whole horizon of human affairs. 'It would seem,' said Cardinal Satolli, in his summary of the purpose and results of the late Pope's reien, 'as if from the time when Lko XIII. succeeded Pius IX,, he had formed a grand plan, in which he took cognisance of all the needs of humanity, and determined on the provisions lie would make for those needs during the whole course of his Pontificate. We can,' he continues, ' best distinguish this design of the Pope in three particular directions : Firstly, in the Holy Fathei's ardent zeal for the development of studies ; secondly, in the continued inteiest which he has shown in social science ; and thirdly, in his untiring efforts to bring peace into the Christian countries by the spread of civilisation, the teaching of religion, and the promotion of concord between the Church and the State.' It is unnecessary here to enter into any detail of what the great and scholarly Pontiff did for the study of classical literature, of philosophy and the natural sciences, of theology, of Biblical exegesis, of ecclesiastical history, and of Koman and comparatne civil law. By the masses of the people he will, perhaps, be best remembered as the Pope of the working man. The late Mr. Gladstone once said that the most striking characteristic of Daniel O'Connell was ' a passion for philanthropy.' 'The words,.' says Justin McCarthy, 'would apply with absolute accuracy to Pope Leo the Thirteenth. Philanthropy, indeed, appears to be with him a passion. There have been political Popes and theological Popes, but Leo the Thirteenth is above all things a philanthropic- Pope. Some of the great social movements which came up during his time might well have intimidated a less heroic spirit. Some men in any position at all resembling that of Lko might have turned away in mere affright from certain of the developments of Socialism which we have all seen during these later years. The Pope had no fear. He looked boldly and searchingly into each new phenomenon, and calmly endeavored to unders and its actual significance. He seems to have brought to bear no prejudices, no unalterable preconceived opinions, to the task of examination. He had, apparently, made up his mind to the recognition of the fact that where tlure is an impassioned demand, there is also a claim which has a right to a hearing." His bod and weighty encyclical of 1878 against Socialism, Communism, and Nihilism ; that of 1888 on Liberty ; and that of 18'.)l on the Condition of the Working Classes, excited univer.sil attrition, pro\ed him both a statesman and a churchman of the highest order, and received from politicians, preacher*, and wri i eis outside the Fold a warmth of commendation such as had probably never before been accorded by them to a papal utterance. In the words of the Anglican Bishop of Manchester, Lko 'put his ringer on the sore part of our social system, and his word must be listened to, or otherwise the world would ha\e to expiate its neglect by some terrible calamities.' He pleaded for the slave both in Africa and Brazil ; he was the constant and bountiful friend of the poor and the afflicted ; and, in the words of a great writer of our day, ' it is only just to Leo XIIL to say that no cry of a wounded soul ever reached him which did not arouse his compassion, and his best efforts to five relief.'

The deceased Pontiff was a strenuous, though prudent, defender of the rights and liberties of the Church. Against the usurping Italian (io\ eminent he combined the dignified ' non /lossuMH*' of Pit -s IX. with the passive principle of nr clclti lie rid /on'—' neither electors nor elected,' so long as an Italian Parlia'nent sat inside the violated walls of the Kternal Cits. The long struggle of the Church in Germany against the infamous Fa Ik Laws forms a memorable incident m the pontificate of Lko XIII. The first chapter of the struggle ended in the downfall and resignation of Dr. Falk m I<s7!f — ' the mewi.ible tesiik, 1 says ati historian of the period, 'of the discouragement which had come over his polic\ in the strife with the Vatican.' Such, in effect, was the admission made b) Bimiviuk m the Imperial Parliament •It is,' said he, 'the part of a brave man to fight on when the conditions demand it ; but no real statesman desires to combat a permanent institution.' The Pope insisted that the Church must be perfectly free in its spiritual

influence, and in the discharge of its ecclesiastical functions. It was a long struggle. But in the end Leo won. The second and final chapter in the struggle ended in the dismissal of Bismarck, as the first had ended in the fall of Dr. Falk. The Kultur-Kainpf was closed; peace settled don n upon the Church in Germany ; and within the past few weeks the crowned head of that great Empire went in state to the Vatican to do honor to the aged I'ontift" who brought 4 the Man of Blood and Iron ' to Canossa.

It is unnecessary in this place to do more than refer in passing to the marked influence which the late Pope exercised, even outside the limits of his own Fold, in Germany, England, the ' / nited states, and e\en Kussia;to his great policy of pacification ; to his successful mediation in the dispute about the Caroline Islands and other international difficulties ; to his re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in Scotland ; to his affectionate letter to the English people ; and to the strong missionary spirit and the gratifying success with which he watched over the interests of the Faith in every land, but especially among the ancient

Churches of the East. All these things are tolerably fresh m the minds of our readers. His was, indeed, a noble life, brimful of good deeds. And 'it is hard indeed,' says his ablest biographer, Justin McCarthy, 'not to grow enthusiastic as one studies the records of such a career. Statesmanship and philanthropy are combined in it, each at its best and highest. Pope Leo loved the working people and the poor, and strove unceasingly with all his power to lighten their burdens and to brighten their lives. He bhuwed to others the best and most practical way to the accomplishment of such objects. He spread the light of education all around him. As a leader of men, endowed with unrivalled influence, he made it his task to maintain peace among his neighbors. Better praise no man could ha\e earned; better life no man could have lived.' Death cannot carry away the good that he has done. For (as John Boyle 0 Kkiixy has said) behind the passage of death • lives on the faithful labor of the dead man, and the truth, the kindness, the public spirit, the noble example, the good name. These remain as a blessing and a pride, e\eu whtn the dear hand of the priest elo&es the eyes, and his prater ascends over the senseless clay.'