often officiated. The palace itself is in no sense a grand one; and, in fact, the whole town of Carpineto has little to boast of, apart from being the birthplace of the Pope, as it is composed mainly of miserable houses, all of which are built of stone, and appear to be hanging to the rocks which serve them as foundations. Since the accession of the present Pontiff to the throne of St. Peter, the place has had its attractions for travellers and tourists; and it will well repay a visit, as the scenery in and about it is truly beautiful. The town itself stands upon a height, and is flanked on either side with deep ravines; while the Volscian Mountains, which surround it, are one of the most picturesque ranges in all Italy. It may be mentioned in passing, that, at the time Pope Leo was born at Carpineto in 1810, Pius VII. was in captivity.

Young Pecci's childhood was spent in a home not less pious and happy than noble and refined. Sweetness of temper, readiness to oblige, and, withal, a quiet and serious behavior, marked his early as his later life. When old enough, he was sent to the Roman College conducted by the Jesuits, who had recently been brought back to Rome and the world, to the joy of all sincere Catholics. He made his final studies in the Academy of Nobles, where those of high birth are prepared for the ecclesiastical state. The Church, in bestowing her dignities, recognizes no aristocracy but

that of virtue and ability; yet she is too just not to make provision for the rich and the noble as well as for the poor and the obscure. While she has been glorified by thousands who have risen to her highest honors from abject poverty, she has ever welcomed the genius inherited from a long line of distinguished ancestors when it has come accompanied by worth and good intentions. The young nobleman from the first had given proofs of his piety and talents. His taste and aptitude for learning, in spite of his modesty, made him known to Gregory XVI., always ready to detect genuine merit. As soon as he was ordained, he was appointed a domestic prelate. It was not long before a task was given Monsignor Pecci, that had been too much for older and more experienced men. Benevento, though in the midst of the kingdom of Naples, had for centuries been an appanage of the Holy See. Independent of Naples, to which it naturally belonged, and far from Rome, to which it was nominally subject, its people, noble and common, had been used to laugh at the authority of the delegates set over them by the mild and easy Roman government. For years it had been given over to smuggling and brigandage, and on these many of its proudest families subsisted. The learned and courtly young Monsignor Pecci was kindly received by these brigand nobles, who brought him an honored guest to their castles. They were really glad of his coming; for they

had been used to see in their delegate men who, while helpless in the presence of flagrant crime, yet rendered themselves hateful by a parade of empty severity. Here was a civil and pleasant-faced scholar, who would bury himself in his books, and let every one attend to his own welfare. Suddenly, without the customary warning from their Roman friends, the brigands were attacked in all their fastnesses on the same day. This was without precedent; and expostulations arose even in the Vatican, but in vain. The Pope stood by his delegate, and brigandage and smuggling were stamped out in Benevento. Rome and Naples together thanked Monsignor Pecci for his achievement. From mountainous Benevento he was sent as delegate to Perugia in lovely Umbria. In this country of blue skies, yellow hills, and dark-leaved olive-trees, he spent some time pleasantly enough. But he was needed elsewhere; and, having been made Archbishop of Damietta in part., he went as nuncio to the court of Brussels. Here his skill, as well as his agreeable manners, endeared him to King Leopold, who parted from him with regret, and, it is said, recommended him for the cardinal's hat. In 1846 Archbishop Pecci was appointed to the see of Perugia, and he was warmly hailed by its citizens, who had not forgotten him. Though strongly sympathizing with the yearnings of his countrymen, he did not countenance the radical desires of the atheists. These sought to pervert a

lawful fondness for the beautiful land into a blind passion that would lead it to ruin. By his firm and dignified attitude in the face of all the troubles that came to Umbria during his residence there, Archbishop Pecci showed that religion is the best promoter of patriotism, and that in becoming a priest he did not cease to take pride in the glory of his country. He was made a cardinal Dec. 19, 1853. When the Italian government took possession of Umbria, he counselled his flock to peace, and kept on in the work of his diocese undisturbed by the political troubles around him. At the death of Cardinal De Angelis, in July, 1877, Cardinal Pecci was made camerlengo, or chamberlain. Appointment to this office has generally been thought to work as a practical exclusion of a cardinal from all chance of succeeding to the papacy, and history furnishes grounds for this belief. But when Pius IX. died, amid universal mourning, Providence evidently designed him for Pope. Mr. O'Byrne, in his "Lives of the Cardinals," says of his Holiness, "Possessing unmistakable literary talent, he never became a littérateur. The turmoil of his time left him little opportunity for literary pursuits. An elegant Latin poet, his imaginative power found expression in Latin hymns, -models of purity and eloquence and of exalted feeling. His classic compositions in Latin and Italian will by and by find a place in the literary history of the

conflict between faith and unbelief-between Church and State-in Italy. No more cogent piece of reasoning will be found in modern Catholic literature than his reply to Renan's daring impeachment of the divinity of the Saviour; and our time has not seen an abler statement of the mission of the Church in the world than his now famous pastoral on The Church and Civilization." He was elected Feb. 20, 1878, and crowned Pope on March 3. In making himself the thirteenth Leo, Cardinal Pecci chose a name suggestive of piety, learning, and statesmanship.

The Pope was only eight years of age when his father sent him, with his oldest brother, Joseph, to the Jesuit College at Viterbo; and it was there that he made his first communion on the feast of St. Aloysius, June 21, 1821. His mother died in 1824, three years later; and after her death the future Pope removed to Rome, where he took up his residence with his uncle in the Palazzo Muti, continuing his studies at the Roman College, which his namesake Leo XII. had just restored to the Jesuits. He studied rhetoric under Fathers Ferdinand Minini and Joseph Buonvicini; and philosophy and mathematics he learned from Fathers Pianciani and Carafą, under whom he was for three years. His professor of theology, of which he took a four-years' course, was the renowned Father Perrone, though he had other instructors as a matter of course, among them Fath