POPE LEO XIII.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume LIII, Issue 2798, 11 August 1903, Page 2

POPE LEO XIII.

On Sunday morning at the Catholic Churoh, Akaroa, Father Kennedy gave a panegyric address on the late head pontiff of the Catholic Churoh. Opening with a full account of the Pope's early childhood and home life, he gave a graphic description of the chief events of his life. He mentioned the great piety of Leo XIII.'s mother and the close union of the whole household. There seemed no doubt whatever that to this pure hearted mother the late pontiff was largely indebted for those rare gifts of mind which so distinguished him, and it is clear that he himself was aware of the fact; for even in his ninetieth and ninety-third years he spoke of his mother's goodness. In describing Leo XIII., holding the office of Bishop of Perugia, where the prime of his life was passed, Father Kennedy drew attention to his protection of the poor against the rioh. In those days the nobles were in league with the barditti and the poor and unprotected were robbed of their heritage ; but with indefatigable zeal, the future Pope strove against those nobles an -J relieved the oppressed. Leo XIII. was, by nature, a lover of the quiet life of the country,and the ijolitioil life in which ho engaged at various times, before he was made Pope, was under taken merely from a cense of duty. This country bishopric of Perugia was entirely to hie taste; but when he was elected the Cardinal Camerlengo, and afterwards Pope, he gave up all his great mind to the claims of his office. During his Papaoy he wrote two famous treatises. All his life he felt that manual labour was not recognised as fully as it should by men. He thought the dignity and beauty of work could not be too much exaggerated and he wrote tho famous pamphlet on work, setting forth these views. Above all things Pope Leo XIII. was a lover of peace and union, and, as he particularly admired the English and American nations, it was a matter of great delight to him when a reconciliation between the Anglican and Catholic Churchee was spoken of. However, the matter could not be ar , ranged to the satisfaction of either party, and in reply to the English demands, Pope Leo XIII. wrote his pathetic pamphlet ' Ad Anglos.' Mont beautiful of all was Leo XUl.'d death. His patienoe and calmness in that time of suffering was indeed an ex , ample to all, and he died full of years and of honours—one of the greatest figures of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.