ers Manera and Patrizzi. He sustained on several occasions, at public examination, both in the Roman College and in the Sapienza, theses in a manner to win him the warmest applause from his teachers and all present.

From the Jesuit College he went to the Academy of Noble Ecclesiastics, where he studied law and diplomacy. It was here that his brilliant talents first won him the recognition he received later on from Gregory XVI., who, seeing in young Pecci a student of remarkable abilities, as well as an ecclesiastic of eminent piety, great modesty, and true priestly spirit, attached him to himself, and named him a household prelate on March 14, 1837, at the same time appointing him Referendary of the Segnatura, at a period when he was barely twenty-six years of age, a time when very few ecclesiastics have ever succeeded in gaining such eminent distinction. In the beginning of the same year, 1837, he was ordained to the subdiaconate and diaconate by Charles, Cardinal Odescalchi, in the Chapel of S. Stanislaus, in the Church of Sant' Andrea, which stands on the Quirinal. At the ember days of December, the same year, or, to be precise in the date, on the 23d of December, - the same cardinal conferred upon him the order of the priesthood; and he celebrated his first Mass in the same Chapel of S. Stanislaus, being assisted at it by his eldest brother Joseph, who had previously

joined the Jesuits, and been ordained a priest. It was thus that young Pecci entered into the sacred ministry in which he has won so many and such renowned honors; and, in selecting him to be one of his own household, Gregory XVI. probably little thought that the youthful monsignor would one day rise to the eminence he himself then so worthily occupied. Such, however, was what was destined to take place.

CHAPTER III.

AT BENEVENTO AND PERUGIA.

ONSIGNOR PECCI, however, was not destined

M to remain long a member of Pope Gregory's

household. On the 15th of February the following year, 1838, that Pontiff appointed him his delegate to the province of Benevento, where, owing to the prevalence of brigandage, it was necessary for some firm hand to take the reins of government and restore order. This was the first step that young Pecci made on that ladder of eminence, the topmost round of which he now holds; and it was no easy task that the Pope assigned him when he sent him to Benevento as his delegate. Brigands and smugglers had literally overrun the province to such an extent that the authorities were absolutely powerless, and even the noble families were obliged to connive at their misdeeds in order to save their lives and properties. The common people were completely terrorized, and the authorities found the execution of the laws im

peded at every step. Monsignor Pecci, nothing daunted, however, set himself resolutely at work to

accomplish the difficult task intrusted to him. His first move was to secure the hearty co-operation of the King of Naples, whom he induced to re-organize the public forces, reforming the custom officers, several of whom were suspected of being in league with the smugglers, and enlarging the powers of the authorities. These preliminary matters having been satisfactorily settled, he went to work determinedly, and attacked the brigands and robbers so vigorously, assailing them in their very strongholds, and arresting all who were known to harbor or assist them, that he succeeded, in a comparatively brief time, in ridding the province of their pestilential presence. Within fourteen months from the date that he came to Benevento, armed with Pope Gregory's authority to restore order, he had purged the district of its many malefactors, restored peace to its inhabitants, and regained for the law and authorities that respect and confidence which both before lacked.

As an evidence of the ways the monsignor employed to carry out this reformation, the following story is told: After he had succeeded in driving out most of the brigands, he was informed of the existence of one band of twenty-eight, who were the most daring and reckless of all, and who were protected by a rich marquis of the province, who profited by their ill-gotten gains. This individual came one day to Monsignor Pecci, and said to him,

"I am about to start for Rome to procure an order for your expulsion from the province, and if I do not succeed in getting it I will have you carried away."

"Oh, very well," replied the Papal delegate; "but in the mean time, before you start for Rome, permit me to intrust you to these carabineers, to whom I now give orders to keep you in prison for the space of three months, and to feed you on bread and water."

The marquis had no choice in the matter, and to prison he accordingly went. The very first night of his incarceration there, Mgr. Pecci had his castle surrounded; and the twenty-eight brigands who had enjoyed his protection were all either killed or arrested.

Such decision and prompt action won for young Pecci the admiration of the people of Benevento, who had long groaned under the exactions of the brigands; and it also acquired for him the thanks and good-will of Pope Gregory, who lost no time in congratulating his representative on the good work he had accomplished, as well as the esteem of the King of Naples, Ferdinand II., who publicly praised him on the excellent results of his labors. In what esteem and gratitude Benevento held him, can be judged from the fact that when, at a later date, the monsignor was attacked with a fever which threatened to terminate fatally, the people of the place marched in public procession to the church, to im