PUTTING THE TIARA ON THE HEAD OF THE NEW POPE dition and his intimate knowledge of the history of this church, which is among the most venerable in Rome. The foundation for his really astounding erudition was laid in a private school in Genoa conducted by Fathers Novarro and Giusti. Ansaldo, speaking of his student days, says: "We were students together during our elementary course and our classics; then we were day scholars in the seminary at Genoa. And do you know with whom? With Professor Canevello, director of public schools, and Dr. De Paoli, director of Cogoleto. We both passed to the university, where both of us graduated in law on the same day, August 3, 1875. All along della Chiesa was not shy about his religious convictions, and the students whose religious principles were opposed to our own often said that we formed a society of Catholic interests. Then della Chiesa told me that he was going to be a priest." There was some small difficulty about his entrance into the priesthood. When he was thirteen years old Giacomo told his father of his desire to enter the sanctuary. Montalto says: "Monsignor had from babyhood days the vocation to become a priest. One day he spoke to me seriously about it and I seemed to see a cloud of sadness pass over his face. Later on, I learned that he had met with opposition from his father, who put him off with these words: 'I wish, first of all, to see you a lawyer.' Then the boy studied, studied, studied." To his father he never again mentioned the subject. However, on the day he received his lawyer's diploma, he said to him: "Father, I am now a lawyer. Now I ask that I may fulfill my wish." He entered the Capranica College in Rome and followed the lectures in theology at the Gregorian University. On December 21, 1878, he was ordained priest. His first Mass was said in the the Caroline Islands, and Leo XIII was appealed to by both parties as arbiter, Rampolla was sent to Madrid as Special Envoy of the Pope. He took with him as secretary Mgr. della Chiesa, who had a short time before accepted, in addition to his other duties, a post as professor of Ecclesiastical Diplomatics. When, in 1887, Cardinal Rampolla was called to Rome to act as Secretary of State to Leo XIII, della Chiesa was appointed substitute of the Secretary of State and secretary of the cipher code. He served in these difficult posts until December 22, 1907, when he was consecrated bishop by Pius X himself. MGR. BOGGIANI, O. P., SECRETARY OF THE CONCLAVE, RETURNING TO ITALY FROM MEXICO, WHERE HE HAD BEEN APOSTOLIC DELEGATE Whilst in Rome, Mgr. della Chiesa lived with his mother in Piazza San Eustachio, in an apartment which the Marchioness had fitted up. It soon became the rendezvous for artists and literati and diplomats. Every evening the best intellects in the Eternal City gathered here to listen to the brilliant conversations of the young diplomat, to sip a cup of exquisite Mocha and to smoke a good Havana cigar. Politics was the only subject barred from the conversation. One evening a diplomat persisted in trying to get the opinion of della Chiesa on a grave subject. "My friend," he answered, "why do you want to ruin your digestion and my appetite?" On another occasion he was asked whether the affairs of the Church were proceeding smoothly: "No, they limp some, like me." But these evenings of brilliant literary feasting did not interfere with the practises of an intense spiritual and pastoral life. Every morning at six o'clock the Monsignor was to be seen in the church of San Eustachio, where he made a meditation which lasted till 6:30. Then he said Mass with great devotion, after which he repaired to the confessional to hear the tales of human woe and weakness in French, Spanish and Italian. The German tongue and the English were not unfamiliar to him. His confessional was always besieged, for the news soon got abroad that he was a zealous, patient father, well-versed and enlightened in the ways of the spirit. The sick he visited and consoled, and often he was the sole mourner over a corpse that was being taken to San Lorenzo for burial. He catechized and preached and acted as director for several of the parish confraternities. So great was his humility that he insisted on acting as deacon to the parish priest who carried the Holy Viaticum to the sick. His charity to the poor was unbounded. His hands were always dispensing alms. When he was created cardinal his exch so low, owing to charity, that depend himself on charity to de necessary expenses. Another ti his tours of pastoral visitation, ited a priest who, contrary to h structions, had prepared a sumptuod banquet for his guests. After the second course had been set on the table, the Archbishop called the parish priest As regime as Archbishop of Cathedrale worked silently but effihis doct He devoted much attention to ted to .ng, for whom he was always tics, ixo do anything at his command. cializeay, after long hours of work, he care invited by the president of the ung Men's Union of Castenaso to say a few words of encouragement to them. At once the Archbishop agreed, and delivered a speech that set the hearts of his listeners aglow with love for their faith and zeal to realize it in their lives. He reorganized the curia, reformed the examinations which candidates for parishes had to undergo, assisted in person at the examination of the clergy. Frequently he himself joined in the debates, and those who heard him on such occasions were loud in their praise of his Libenter the immorality of modern dances. Indeed, he was the first European prelate to condemn these newest pagan dances. Of course his rigid prohibitions seriously affected the incomes of the dancing-masters of Bologna. When one of these petitioned him to repeal his order, he said: "Never! I will rather give you a thousand francs." And pressing a roll of bank-notes into his hand, he said: "Come for more when you need it." Bologna, which had received its chief pastor with no great show of enthusiasm, because it knew little of him, soon learned to love and venerate him. People saw for themselves that he was ready "to spend and be spent" with the Apostle for their sakes. By the time. he had been in his diocese a few Ex aedibus Vaticanis AUTOGRAPH OF BENEDICT XV competency in theology and canon law and his ability to express his views in clear terms. More than once some "parraco" who shuffled in late for these exercises met the eagle glance of the Archbishop and it is safe to say that none of these stragglers ever repeated the offence. He was ensouled with the principle that a learned clergy is the best and most edifying. He brought to a happy completion the sanctuary of the Sacred Heart which his able predecessor, Cardinal Domenico Svampa, had undertaken in a spirit of intense faith. And it was a happy and consoling moment for him when he could carry out the wish of the deceased churchman by transferring his mortal remains to this. sanctuary. He inveighed loudly against months he had made a visitation to the four hundred and more churches under his care. And they were not perfunctory affairs. On his visitations little escaped his eye. He had words of encouragement for the zealous. For the slack, his corrections were, as a rule, the beginning of a new lease on spiritual activity. and endeavor. Whilst he made few intimate friends amongst his priests, there was none who did not admire his zeal and whole-heartedness. He loved the Order of St. Dominic and was to be seen at the tomb of the great Patriarch, whose spirit was so much like his own. Hence, he soon sought to be enrolled amongst the tertiaries of the Third Order, and the manner in which he absorbed the spirit of his Holy Father was |