PIUS IX. AND HIS FAMILY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 133, 19 November 1875, Page 13

PIUS IX. AND HIS FAMILY.

We take the following translation of an Italian letter from one of our foreign exch.au.ges :—": — " lam at Sinigaglia, and, as you may well suppose, I do not forget to make use of the opportunity thug ailorded me of collecting all the facts concerning the e*rly history of the Holy fatlier which yet remain in this place. The palace of the Mastai family is noble in its elevation, but very simple withal. It is built in red brick with marble steps before the entrance, and is five stories high, with five windows to each. The room in which. Pius IX. was born is on the second floor, and is tenented by his sister-in-law, the Countess Vittoria, -who ia the same age as the Pontiff. In ascending the staircase a Madonna may be seen, before which burns a lamp with which the Pope replaced an old one last year. On the first floor, in the chapel, is a beautiful painting of great value. Here the youthful John Mary Mastai used to attend Holy Mass, and here he offered the Holy Sacrifice twice after being 1 raised to the Holy See. The house of Count Jerome, father of Pius IX., passed to his eldest son, Count Gabriel, who was a benefactor to the city. After his death Count Louis, his son, who married a Countess del Drago, became the proprietor. Outside the Capuchin gate, on the let' b of the fountain raised by Count Gabriel, mtty be seen a modest little cottag-e, in the niche of the wall of which, stands a Mater Dolorosa with the following inscription in. Italian — ' MDCCCXLVI. Learn, O passer by, that, within this cottage, my mother, Marianna Chiavani, gave suck to Pius IX., p. o. M., and me, Dominico Governatori. Oh, if the dear old lady were alive, what a consolation ! what a feast this would be for her/ The foster-brother of Pius IX. still lives, his health is robust, and he works as a laborer in the fields as Pius IX., himself -works in the fields which God has given him to cultivate. The tomb of the Mastai family is in the Church of St. Mary Magdalen, before the altar of St. Anthony of Padua. The inscriptions bear the folio-w-ing record : ' John Mary, great grandfather of Pius IX., lived 73 years. Hercules, his grandfather, 93 years. Jerome, his father, 83 years. His mother, 89 years. 3 As for his three brothers, Joseph, died at 76 years, Gabriel at 88, and Gaeton at 89 years of age. The latter restored the Church of St. Magdalen, and left a legacy to the hospital for the support of ten men and ten women in perpetuity. This longevity, which is a privilege of the Mastai family, ought to inspire us with a great confidence. Pius IX. will be yet, we hope, for a long time preserved to the Church."

What becomes of old Bank Notes. — Bank of England notes are never re-issued, but when paid in for gold they are at ence cancelled. They arc then preserved for seven years, to that inquiries relative to forgeiics or frauds on which the notes may throw light may he answered. The slock of paid notes for seven years numbers 94,000,000, and ill's 18,000 boxes, which if placed side by side would reach three miles. Pile the notes one on the other, and the pile would. be cighr miles long. Join them end to end, and you will have a ribbon 1,500 miles long. Arrange them side by side, and you may more than cover Hyde Park with them. Finally, their original value was over £3,000,000,000 sterling, and their weight more than 113 tons.