PIUS IX. IN THE VATICAN.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3921, 1 June 1877, Page 2

PIUS IX. IN THE VATICAN.

(Abridged from the " World" of April 4.) Since Friday, the 16th of September, 1870, the white figure of Pius IX. has never been seen in the streets of Rome, On that day, for the last time, he walked along the Corso from end to end to disprove the report that he had secretly escaped from the city. He came as usual down the middle of the road, an attendant cardinal on each side, his chaplain with two other prelates following, and behind them a few of the noble guard, walking at a brisk pace, blessing the people who knelt before . him with affectionate reverence, stopping from time to time to put his hand on some child's head who had run forward to kiss his ring. Then he crossed the threshold of the Vatican lie has never since repassed. Pius IX. sleeps in one of the smallest of the eleven thousand rooms at his command. A narrow humble bed without curtains or drapery — something similar to those used in seminaries for schoolboys — a sofa, two or three common chairs, and a writing-table are all the articles of furniture : few and simple enough for a Capuchin. There is not even a rug by the bedside to cover the floor of red tiles, not in the best repair. ' Take care how you step ; there is a brick loose,' said the Pope to a Turinese ecclesiastic, who was admitted to his presence the other day when he was confined to bed, and whose eyesight he knew was not as good as his own. Winter and summer alike the Pope gets up soon after five o'clock, seldom or never later than halfpast, and after he has finished dressing remains about an hour and a half alone, passing his time in prayer and meditation. At half-past seven exactly he leaves his room, and accompanied by his attendants proceeds to the private chapel near his apartment, where first he celebrates a mass himself and then attends another said by one of his chaplains. At halfpast eight he takes a cup of black coffee with some dry bread, and by a quarter to nine, or thereabouts, he has entered his study (a small one-windowed room looking towards the Piazza of St. Peter's, and commanding the view beyond the Janiculum) and commenced the work of the day. The floor is covered with a common carpet : there are some red chairs ; and the one principal piece of furniture, the large writing-table, on which, amid a mass of

papers, stand a crucifix, a statuette of the Immaculate Conception, a timepiece, and an inkstand. As soon as the Pope has seated himself in his straight-backed chair, the Cardinal-Secretary of State, fttQ ascetic Simeoni, enters with the correspondence of the day, and the oblations, often amounting to thousand of francs, laid the day before at the feet of his Holiness. Pius IX. has never been given to posing ; he used to take Ins snuff and unfold his blue-checked-linen handker* chief with perfect indifference while seated upon his throne, the centre of the grandest ceremonials ; but he might almost be conscious of the effect he produces as he pauses in full sight of everyone for a moment on entering the Loggia. He stands a venerable figure, clothed entirely in white — no scrap of color save the tips of his red slippers, and the plain gold chain and cross hanging from hist neck — the very picture of a grand, good old man whose heart is overflowing with benevolence, set on a background of scarlet and purple-draped stately cardinals and violet monsignori. It is a tableau once seen never to be forgotten. According to the etiquette of the Papal Court, the visitors kneel as Ms Holiness approaches. By his side walks the monsignore in attendance, who, armed with a4ist of names, presents each person iiy>furn. "Santita, Monsieur c Madame Tela c Mademoiselle Aye, Inglese ;" and while Mr and Mrs Taylor and Miss Harvey kneel and kiss the ring upon his finger, the Pope says a few land words. .But woe betide those whose hot Protestant prejudices accompany them into the Pontifical presence-chamber ! "I perceive we have some new additions here to the Vatican gallery of statues," was th<3 remark made by Pius IX. as, on one occasion, he passed by some ladies whose consciences forbade them to kneel where their curiosity ought never to have taken them ; and pungent indeed is the Pope's wit whenever he feels called upon-ip use it in reproof. Soon after he had Ifeued condemnations of the excesses in female attire, some Italian ladies appeared at an audience with their heads dressed remarkably high. " Santita, le Signorine Guerrieri" (An ff lice, Warriors), said monsignore. "I had already recognised them by the helmets," replied his Holiness. He is Italian to the core, and witty, as hi fact are all his clever fellow-countrymen, even when trenching upon the sacred. Many of his witticisms are historical, as when, on being asked by a devout lady, who was tearfully lamenting the misfortunes of the Church, if he did not fear for the the " Barque of Peter," he replied that he wes under no apprehension on account of the barge, but he felt some doubts as to what might be the fate of the crew. When Cardinal Antonelli told him on one occasion that he had been recommended to try the Bagni baths for his gout, the Pope, jestingly alluding to the well-known false reports of Antonelli'a brigand origin, said he thought his eminence would do well to act upon the ad-* vice, for he had heard it said the bagni (which in Italian also signifies "the hulks") had more than once been found efficacious for members of his family. When the business of the day is over, the camerieri segveti participanti enter ; the Pope reads aloud from his breviary what might well be called family prayers ; and then, it being half-past 8, he goes to supper,*a frugal meal of one dish and a little wine! Pius IX. then retires to his study, on the table of which four wax candles are burning — no oil, still less the more modern substitutes are ever used in his apartment — and spends the rest of his waking hours, xmtil ten — his customary time for going to bed — in strict seclusion and meditation. Then no doubt it is that he thinks over the arguments he shall use, and the biblical parallels he shall employ, in those discourses the consideration of which would be out of place in this sketch of the inner life of this successor of SL Peter, who has been the first to attain and pass those years which all Pontiffs are warned at their coronation they shall not see." '