LUMEN IN CŒLO.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 260, 26 April 1878, Page 15

LUMEN IN CŒLO.

Joachim Pecci, Laving completed hia studies at the Roman College, entered the Academy of Noble Ecclesiastics, and devoted himself with profit to the study of Law and Theology. Gregory XVI., wha had a keen knowledge of men, became deeply interested in him, and attached him to his person by appointing him Prelate of his Household and Signature Keferendary (March 16, 1837). Shortly afterwards he sent him as Delegate to Benevento, then to Spoleto, and afterwards to Perugia. In these cities Mgr. Pecci displayed uncommon ability and attracted public admiration. He possesses, at "the same time, a holy charity, incorruptible integrity, and unyielding firmness. His first act of adminstration is deserving of mention. He was at Benevento, a place then in a deplorable condition ; situated as it waß, far from Rome, which could give it but little attention, and hemmed in by the kingdom of Naples, which was the resort and asylum of smugglers and brigands. The government of this Province presented all manner of difficulties to the Delegate. There were families there with feudal notions, powerful in rank and fortune, despising authority, but timidly yielding to Neapolitan brigandage, which they protected against authority itself ; just aa Sicily is at the present time. Mgr. Pecci had then to combat two powers united against him. And let it not be forgotten that the brigands committed acts of cruel ferocity, and that these families had influential support at Borne. Mgr. Pecci, grieved at the deplorable condition of the Province, resolved to make a change for the better — even at the risk of his own future prospects. He began by obtaining from the Pontifical Government an efficient officer, Sterbini, who reorganized the Custom House business. He then went to the King of Naples, informed him of his designs, and prevailed upon him to enact severe measures against the violators of the law. This done, he secured the good will of the officers of the army and of the police force, and then went to work. It became necessary to fight regular battles, to follow the brigands to the castles in which they entrenched themselves, and enter these citadels by force ; because their strange hosts, the Lords of the manors, claimed that the Delegate was violating their lands and their demesnes, and they, therefore, showed resistance. The most powerful of them sought Mgr. Pecci, and, with threats, told him that he was going to Home, and would soon return with an order for his recall. " Very well, Signor Marchese," coldly replied Mgr. Pecci. " But before going to Rome, you will spend three months in prison, and I will give you black bread for your food, and water for your dxink." The Marquis 1 castle was, in the meantime, taken by assault, the brigands either killed or captured, and the people loudly applauded the Delegate. In a few months the whole province was cleared of brigands ; ihe Lords submitted ; the Pope publicly congratulated Mgr. Pecci, and Ferdinand 11. summoned him to receive the marks of royal consideration. The Delegate was, about this time, stricken down with a dangerous malady, the clergy and the people were filled with alarm, and the streets of Benevento witnessed processions of penitents who walked bare-footed and their heads covered with sackcloth, and offering np prayers for his recovery. Mgr. Pecci's administration over Spoleto and Perugia was marked by the same energy and promptness of action. In the latter city, which has a population of some twenty thousand inhabitants, and which was the chief town of the Province, the prisons under his administration were empty ; there was not a single person under arrest. To the great regret of the Pcrugians, Gregory XVI. recalled him in 1843 ; he preconised him Archbishop of Damietta (Egypt), although he was only thirty-three years of age, and sent him as Nuncio to Brussels. Mgr. Pecci won golden opinions not only from the Belgian Court, but from all conditions of society. Leopold 1., a wise monarch, delighted in consulting him, and in manifesting every mark of affection towards him. But the climate— and perhaps the labours of bis charge — affected his health so much that, at the advice of his physicians, he was obliged to ask for his recall. Leopold I. was sorely grieved at this : he conferred the Grand Cordon of his Order upon him, and requested him to carry a sealed package from him to the Pope. The Prelate inquired whether the commissions of the king were very urgent, as he desired, before returning to Rome, to visit some portions of Europe, and to study their political institutions, as he had. done in Holland and Belgium. " It will suffice, Monseigneur," replied the king, " for you to deliver my message to the Holy Father on your return to Rome." When Mgr. Pecci reached the Eternal City, Gregory XVI., after reading the royal letter, said to him :—": — " The King of the Belgians extols your character, your virtues, and your services ; and he asks something for you that I will grant with all my heart ; the purple. . . . . But here is a deputation from Perugia that has come to ask me to confide to you the administration of the Diocese. Accept, thon, the See of Perugia ; you will soon receive the Cardinal? % hat." Mgr. Pecoi preoonized Archbishop-Bishop of Perugia, at the Consistory of January 19, 181G, was, at the time, created Cardinal, and reserved 'mj>etto. But Gregory XVI. died in the course of the year, and he did not receive the Cardinal's hat until it was given him by Pope Pius IX., of holy memory, on December !>, 1853. Dining all this time, Mgr. Pecci never left his Diocese. Cardinal Pecci has passed through some veiy trying tiroes, and has alway proved equal to the occasion. He is a man of great Catholic learning and of great political common sense. The new masters of Italy took his Seminary from him. " I need only a few rooms," said the Cardinal. He opened his palace to the Seminarians, he lived with them and spent his recreation amongst them. He invited them to his table. He founded for the priests of his Diocese, an Academy called St. Thomas', he presided over, their theological discussions, encouraging the labours of each one, and brought forth men worthy of the better

days of the Church. 16 was through his efforts that the same scientific movement wns inaugurated at Perugia that Cardinal RiarioSforza inaugurated at Naples. He ia himself endowed with the most varied culture, and was, at times, a poet. In dealing with Syndics, Prefects, and other Italian authorities, Cardinal Pecci, like Caidinal Riario-Sforza, rose above all parties. There was never any doubt about his devotion to the Holy See, and he is incapable of weakness ; but he is known to be submissive to the decrees of Providence. He has never permitted an officer of the present regime to cross Ms threshold or to come into his presence, and yet the civil power honoured his virtues, and occasionally tempered some of its measures pub of regard for him. — JV". Y. Freeman's Journal.