PONTIFICAL PETS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 150, 17 March 1876, Page 14

PONTIFICAL PETS.

Chateaubriand has immortalised in his memoirs (says the ' Globe ') a humble servant and favorite of the Pontiff Leo XII., which -would otherwise doubtless have been consigned to obli vion in spite of the extreme honor and happiness he enjoyed in the Vatican. This was the cat Micetto, which was perhaps entitled by right of nativity to special distinction, having been actually bom in the palace, or in true* Byzantine phrase, porphyrogenitus. A correspondent of the ConstUutionnel reports in that paper that Pius IX. is no less partial to a feline protege. The name of his favorite, " Morello," is too like that of the cat of Leo XII. for any one to doubt that the example of the latter was present in the mind of the present Pope when Morello was named. But Micetto was a grey cat, stupid, tiger-like, with bands of black, whereas Morello is black, and of a corpulent habit, although nowise less active and impudent than his predecessor at the Vatican. He is said to be on the best terms possible with his august master, and to be present invariably at the table of His Holiness, who always dines without other company. Here he promenades with impunity upon the table cloth, and even meddles with the dishes served up. Nay, if report is to be believed, he has been known actually to forget his respect so far as not to keep his paws from picking and stealing out of the plate of the Holy Father. Micetto, who survived Leo XII., passed into the possession of Chateaubriand, who took him to France, and treated him till his dying day with all the reverence due to his august birth aud antecedent history.