the cause of Christian education. When about to leave Brussels,—which he was forced to quit, as his delicate health could not endure the Northern climate, - King Leopold conferred upon him the grand cross of the Order of Leopold, as a token of his friendship and of the high esteem in which he held the young archbishop. He received other marks of favor from several of the noble families, especially from that of the Count de Merode, at whose house he paid frequent visits during his stay in Belgium; and from the Archbishop of Liège, Mgr. Montpellier, who was a fellowstudent with him at the Roman College, and with whom, as might be expected, the nuncio spent many pleasant hours while he was stationed at Brussels.

The following incident will serve to show what manner of man the nuncio was in Belgium:

When Lever, the Irish novelist, resided at Brussels, his house was near the ambassador's, Sir Hamilton Seymour. Receptions at the embassy closed for the public at eight P.M.; and none remained later, save on special invitations which constituted them private guests. Lever always opened his house on the reception evenings at eight P.M., when all who could not remain at the envoy's poured in on him. Strangest meetings were the consequence. Dr. Whately, the Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, when his guest, would have no one near him for the evening but the papal nuncio. Stranger still, this nuncio was no other than the present Pontiff, Pope Leo XIII., better known, perhaps, as the genial Cardinal Pecci, whose relations with a Protestant king were so cordial and conciliatory. He sat beside Queen Victoria one day at dinner, and after

wards attended her drawing-room, presented by Lord Palmerston, -the only pope of whom such things can be told. . . . Some of these conversations have been recorded, from which it is clear that Cardinal Pecci added the grace of the courtier to the culture of the ecclesiastic. Leopold said, "I often forget Pecci is an Italian; and his French is so fluent, that, if I were not a German, I should certainly find myself some day converted by the charm of his diction as well as by the logic of his reasoning." Leopold one day said to him at Laeken, "I am sorry I cannot suffer myself to be converted by you, but you are so winning a theologian that I shall ask the Pope to give you a cardinal's hat."-"Ah," replied the nuncio, "a hundred times more grateful than the hat would it be to me, to make some impression on your heart." "Oh, I have no heart," exclaimed the King, laughing. "Then, better still, on your Majesty's mind."

When the nuncio left Brussels, he went to Liège to visit his old college-mate, Mgr. Montpellier, the archbishop of that place; and after spending a short time with him, he went to see some of the famous cathedral towns of the Continent, returning to Brussels for a brief period of rest. Later on, he paid a visit to England, spending a few days at London, from which city he again returned to Brussels for the final leave-taking. Just as he was quitting that city for the last time, the King, true to his promise, handed him a despatch for the Pope, in which he probably recommended his elevation to the cardinalate; but, as Gregory XVI. died before the nuncio reached Rome, the contents of the despatch were

not learned, though the Pope, prior to his death, in naming him to the vacant archbishopric of Perugia at the request of the inhabitants of that place, had also preconized him a cardinal, reserving his nomination in petto, as it is styled, -a nomination which his death afterwards delayed from receiving confirmation for some time. Mgr. Pecci, on his way back from Brussels to Rome, travelled through the principal French cities to Marseilles, where he took ship for Civita Vecchia; arriving in Rome only to find, to his inexpressible sorrow, that his Papal patron was dead, and the See of St. Peter vacant.

IT

CHAPTER IV.

ELEVATED TO THE CARDINALATE.

T was on Sunday, the 20th of July, 1846, that Archbishop Pecci took formal possession of his see of Perugia. His entrance into the city, as may readily be imagined, was a grand triumph. The people remembered him as the civil governor who, a few years previously, had given them such an excellent administration; and now they were overjoyed to welcome him as their spiritual guide and father. The whole populace turned out to greet him, and the town arrayed itself in holiday attire to welcome him again to its precincts. The archbishop found that the good works which he had inaugurated three years beforehand were still bearing fruit; but he lost no time in planning and executing other tasks for the amelioration of his people. He began by instituting, for the benefit of the clergy, the Academy of St. Thomas, in which he took especial delight in attending all the meetings; giving these, by his presence, an additional charm that did not fail to attract to them an increased attendance on the part of the

clergy, who were only too glad to enjoy the familiar intercourse with their archbishop which these reunions afforded.

When he was nuncio at Brussels, he was particularly struck by the great merit and unselfish devotion exhibited by the Ladies of the Sacred Heart in their care and education of their pupils. He lost no time in fulfilling a promise he once made to the venerable head of that order, Madame Barat, whom he visited at Paris, that he would do what he could to introduce the Ladies of the Sacred Heart into Italy. Now, as Bishop of Perugia, the opportunity to do so was in his power; and he consequently applied to Madame Barat to keep her part of the promise. The result of the application was, that a band of the Sisters was forthwith sent to Perugia; though this was not the first colony to enter Italy, as one had been in existence for eighteen years previously at Rome, where they had possession of the Church and Convent of Trinita de Monte.

The archbishop, who had always been a zealous worker in the educational cause, early undertook the building of a seminary; and he also repaired and beautified the cathedral, which had fallen somewhat into decay. He presided over numerous councils of the bishops of the Umbrian province, often writing out the acts with his own hand, and doing every thing he could think of calculated to advance the