Leo XIII: A Light from Heaven

By William Kiefer

A biography of Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903), who served as head of the Catholic Church from February 20, 1878 to his death on July 20, 1903. At age 93, Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci was the oldest reigning pope, and had the third-longest confirmed pontificate, behind those of Pius IX (his immediate predecessor) and John Paul II.

Pope Leo XIII was well-known for his intellectualism and his attempts to define the position of the Catholic Church with regard to modern thinking. In his famous 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum, he outlined the rights of workers to a fair wage, safe working conditions, and the formation of trade unions, while affirming the rights of property and free enterprise, opposing both socialism and laissez-faire capitalism. He influenced Mariology of the Catholic Church and promoted both the rosary and the scapular.

Leo XIII issued a record of eleven papal encyclicals on the rosary earning him the title as the “Rosary Pope”. In addition, he approved two new Marian scapulars and was the first pope to fully embrace the concept of Mary as Mediatrix. He was the first pope to have never held any control over the Papal States, after they had been dissolved by 1870.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barakaldo Books
• Release date: May 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781839744969

Book preview

© Barakaldo Books 2020, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

LEO XIII

A LIGHT FROM HEAVEN

BY

BROTHER WILLIAM J. KIEFER, S.M. (MARIANIST)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 2

DECLARATION 3

DEDICATION 4

INTRODUCTION 5

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 7

CHAPTER ONE—YOUTH AND STUDIES 8

CHAPTER TWO—GOVERNOR AND NUNCIO 16

CHAPTER THREE—BISHOP AND CARDINAL 28

CHAPTER FOUR—TEACHER AND PASTOR 33

CHAPTER FIVE—CONCLAVE AND CORONATION 52

CHAPTER SIX—DIPLOMAT AND SHEPHERD 66

CHAPTER SEVEN—PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE 76

CHAPTER EIGHT—THE CHURCH EAST AND WEST 81

CHAPTER NINE—CONDITIONS OF EUROPE 87

CHAPTER TEN—NATURE OF THE STATE 101

CHAPTER ELEVEN—THE CITY OF GOD AND OF MAN 108

CHAPTER TWELVE—LIBERTY AND SLAVERY 117

CHAPTER THIRTEEN—LABOR AND THE WORKING CLASS 122

CHAPTER FOURTEEN—AMERICA AND THE POPE 130

CHAPTER FIFTEEN—THE POPE OF THE ROSARY 138

CHAPTER SIXTEEN—BIBLICAL STUDIES AND THE EAST 143

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN—ENGLISH UNITY 149

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN—THE DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT 153

CHAPTER NINETEEN—LEO—THE MAN AND THE POPE 160

CHAPTER TWENTY—THE GLORIOUS TRIUMPH 164

CHRONOLOGY OF POPE LEO XIII 169

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SELECTIONS 170

BOOKS 170

PERIODICALS 175

DECLARATION

IMPRIMI POTEST:

JAMES M. DARBY, S.M.

Provincial

NIHIL OBSTAT:

MATTHEW KOHMESCHER, S.M., S.T.D.

JOSEPH BRUDER, S.M., S.T.D.

April 23, 1960

NIHIL OBSTAT:

JOHN A. SCHULIEN, S.T.D.

Censor librorum

IMPRIMATUR:

William E. Cousins

Archbishop of Milwaukee

August 31, 1961

Conforming to the decree of Pope Urban VIII, the author declares that all he has written in this biography is based only on the certitude of human testimony. Since the Church has not declared herself, the author makes no claim to supernatural manifestations.

The nihil obstat and imprimatur are official declarations that a book or pamphlet is free from doctrinal or moral error. No implication is contained therein that those who have granted the nihil obstat and imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions, or statements expressed.

DEDICATION

FOR

SISTER MARY OMER, O.S.F.

AND

MY BELOVED PARENTS:

THE INSPIRATION AND PILLARS

FOR MY DEDICATION TO

THE MOTHER OF GOD

INTRODUCTION

At first it seems unbelievable that no biography of Pope Leo XIII has appeared in America since 1903, and that was a translation from the Italian. The surprise comes in an era when biographies are a large part of our book publications. Actually there has never been an adequate biography of the great Pope written in English.

Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that the longer a genius lives, the more difficult it is to evaluate him and to summarize between the covers of a book his long life and activity. Archbishop-Bishop Edward Hoben of Cleveland remarked to this author, Pope Leo, indeed, lived a very long life. No one book could tell all that he accomplished in such difficult times as we had had at the close of the last century. The more difficult the times, the longer the interval, it seems, must elapse before a clear evaluation can be made. The Church considers fifty years to be sufficient before investigations can be inaugurated for beatification of a servant of God. Such a time has elapsed for Pope Leo XIII.

During his lifetime, biographies, pro and con, poured forth from printing presses all over the world. Some were written with the best of intentions; others to exploit the people who, filial to the Holy Father, wished to read all about him. Some of the writings were mere paraphrasing of newspaper accounts or of other books. In many cases there were no attempts to document the facts. But with time and patient research, the materials boil down to a rather clear picture of what Pope Leo XIII’s character was, what his method of administration involved, and what he actually accomplished in twenty-five years as Vicar of Christ.

Although the Vatican archives to the period of Leo XIII remain closed to the historian, still we are fortunate for two events. The Pontiff, heeding advice, appointed Bishop Charles de T’Serclaes, rector of the Belgium College at Rome, as his official biographer. In this way the Pope hoped to forestall the rise of legends concerning his difficult pontificate. As if to have the two Biblical witnesses, the Pontiff also appointed at a later date Count Eduardo Soderini to write an official record of his Pontificate. For both men he gave orders that the archives should be opened, so that they might gain exact knowledge of the documents involved. Unfortunately, Soderini, the more methodical of the two men, died before he could complete his contemplated work of four or five volumes. It is obvious that any biography written about the Pope at this time must in great part be based on the writings and research of these two men.

Some years ago when I planned to write a biography of Pope Leo XIII, I discovered that a certain Mr. Francis Furey, editor, historian, and journalist, wrote a long history of the Pope. Furey rightly explained that he based his work on the three volume biography of Bishop T’Serclaes. This fact led me to annotate, correct, and delete when necessary the work of Furey as I read more and more writings and dependable histories. I used Furey’s work as a loom on which to weave my findings and eventually my biography of Leo XIII. The more one studies the era and realizes the value of opening once more the Vatican archives, the more an author becomes convinced that a definitive biography cannot be written at this time. This biography, therefore, can only be an attempt to refocus our attention on a great Pope of modern times.

Much was attempted at the outset of the book, but not all was accomplished. The author begs forgiveness for any shortcomings. If this biography causes better appreciation of the Pontiff and his pontificate with a better understanding of his influence on our present-day world, the laborer was worthy of his hire. It is also hoped the book will stimulate more historical research, so that some day a definitive portrait can be traced of His Holiness Pope Leo XIII.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Gratitude is due to so many wonderful people who have encouraged, researched, or assisted in the writing of this biography that it is quite dangerous to acknowledge a few individuals. However, I am indebted to the following individuals and establishments in many ways: To Very Rev. James M. Darby, S.M., Brother John T. Darby, S.M., Bishop John J. Wright of Pittsburgh, and Father Bertrand Clemens, S.M., for their constant encouragement. To the faculty of North Catholic High School (1957-1961) for their patience with me during the writing days. To the libraries and librarians of Dayton (Ohio) University, Duquesne (Pittsburgh) University, Library of Congress and Virginia Daiker, Catholic University of America, Villanova (Pa.) University, St. Vincent Archabbey (Latrobe, Pa.) Library, and St. Joseph’s Seminary Library (Yonkers, N. Y.) for their invaluable assistance in research. To Father Matthew Kohmescher, S.M., of the University of Dayton, and Father Joseph Bruder, S.M., of the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, for guidance and editorial help.

Although the following members of the photography team began with an assignment and nothing else, they came through splendidly with more materials than we could use. They are: Very Rev. William Ferree, S.M., and Brother Leo Murray, S.M., at Rome, Brother Donald Dahlmann, S.M., and Martin Burkhardt in the United States. In a special way we owe thanks to Countess Heleda Pecci and Father Renato Valenti, S.M., natives of Leo XIII’s Capineto for their gracious and invaluable assistance.

Finally, we have a warm thanks to Sister Mary Omer, O.S.F., of St. Francis Hospital, Pittsburgh, for her eight years of prayerful assistance and to my parents who encouraged, but did not think their little boy could really do it.

Grateful acknowledgments are made to the following publishers for their permissions to quote from the works indicated.

Bruce: The Church and the Nineteenth Century, by Raymond Corrigan; The Life of James Cardinal Gibbons, by John T. Ellis; Social Wellsprings, edited by Joseph Husslein—Burns, Oates: The Pontificate of Leo XIII (2 volumes), by Eduardo Soderini—Hanover House: The Catholic Church in the Modern World, by E. E. Y. Hales—Macmillan: A Popular History of the Catholic Church—Sheed and Ward: Leo XIII and the Modern World, edited by Edward T. Gargan.

CHAPTER ONE—YOUTH AND STUDIES

On a bitterly cold March 2, 1810, Vincent Joachim Raphael Louis Pecci, the sixth of seven children, was born of noble and extremely religious parents. His native village of Carpineto, once the outpost of a warring anti-Roman tribe, now numbered some five thousand souls. Vincent Joachim’s father, Colonel Count Louis Pecci,{1} and his mother, Anna Prosperi-Buzi of Cori came of a long and distinguished ancestry.

The history of the Pecci family at Carpineto dates back to 1531, when Antonio, the Pope’s direct ancestor, and a friend of Pope Clement VII came there from the city of Siena.{2} Vincent Joachim belongs to the eleventh generation of this branch.{3} As jurists, prelates, and magistrates, the Peccis of Carpineto had a love for the public weal and were also known for their truly religious spirit.

Carpineto was in the diocese of Anagni, and at that time was twelve miles from the main highway between Rome and Naples.{4} It was reached by an almost continuous ascent, for the town was built on a cliff nearly two thousand feet above sea level.

The town itself, at first sight, appeared confusedly in the distance, like a crag over a precipice where fell shadows of houses, belfries, and ramparts in ruins. Close to the town the valley changed into a narrow gorge. High above, Carpineto spread picturesquely on the eastern slope of the Lepini hills, while to the right rose the Augustinian convent (later entirely rebuilt in Gothic style by Leo XIII). From the distant summit of Semprevisa, over five thousand feet high, both the Adriatic and the Mediterranean can be discerned.

The houses of the town were grouped on two levels. On the higher level, and the nearer to Mt. Capreo, stood the Pecci mansion and eventually the church of St. Leo, an edifice in Greek style built by Leo XIII. On the other elevation stood a ruined castle-prison. Between and all around these two points the town was clustered. Among the houses narrow steep streets, or rather lanes, were drawn like little paths, for the most part giving the appearance of crooked stairways. Along these lanes swarms of children in brightly hued clothes shouted and played, while at the doors old women spun flax and hemp. Robust mountaineers, in knee breeches and leggings, passed along leading donkeys laden with wood or farm produce. Young girls would carry on their heads the classic copper pitchers which they had filled at the nearest well.

Today the town has changed in building conditions, but little else. Vincent Joachim brought about this change himself once he became pope. Many were the gifts granted by Leo XIII to his native Carpinetans. Besides the new parish church of St. Leo, erected and endowed by him, he had St. John’s and St. James’s churches completely rebuilt, and the collegiate church adorned with stuccoes and paintings suitable to its architectural excellence. The white marble statue of Leo XIII presented by the famous Franco-American Count Loubat{5} of New York is today a focal point for visitors. The Pope also built at Carpineto a large school for girls, which was entrusted to the French Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament; a home for the aged and the sick, conducted by the Belgian Brothers of Mercy; a new convent for the Franciscans; and, in the Pecci mansion, a meteorological observatory, a museum of natural history and ethnography; and, adjoining the mansion a very fine library. Much more than points of interest, these buildings offer a fine indication of the character of Pope Leo XIII.

When only two days old, Vincent Joachim Pecci was baptized in the private chapel of the Pecci mansion by special dispensation, because of the bitter cold March winter.{6}

The baptismal register at the cathedral of Anagni shows the following record. In the year of our Lord 1810, on the fourth day of March, at the sixteenth hour the very Rev. Michael Catoni, Canon of the most holy cathedral church of Anagni, baptized, by permission of the undersigned, a child born two days before, to the most illustrious Lord Louis Pecci and Lady Anna Prosperi, residents in this parish of St. Nicholas (Carpineto), in the names of Vincent Joachim Raphael Louis. The sponsors were the most illustrious and most Rev. Joachim Fosi, Bishop of Anagni, who appointed as his representative the Rev. Hyacinth Canon Caporossi, from whom I have received his authority in due form; and the most illustrious Lady Candida Pecci Calderozzi. In witness, whereof, I, Zepherin Cina, vicar of this parish, place my signature and the seal of the church.{7}

One can only surmise what the child’s early years were like in such peaceful religious surroundings. He was always called Vincent by his mother, who had a great devotion to St. Vincent Ferrer. Only a considerable time after her death did he sign his name, Joachim, the name given him by his godfather, the bishop of Anagni.

The future Pope’s brother, Joseph, long afterward wrote of their mother, She was a woman devoted to the poor and to good works. She was ever doing something for the needy. In the years in which the harvests had failed, she had bread baked and distributed at her door, or sent to the infirm and the sick. She was also the soul of all works of charity and zeal in the town and its neighborhood. But this external activity did not make her neglect anything that concerned the care of her family and the education of her children. She took too much trouble upon herself and consequently shortened her days.{8}

The Countess was the perfect strong woman of the Bible, who brought up her seven children with great love and in accordance with her own extremely strict principles. As for their father, Count, and Colonel, Louis, he was a severe but generous man who loved most tenaciously his family and the noble things of life.{9} He was conscious of the fact his house was the only noble one in the town, and would not tolerate anything that was not in accord with patriarchal living. His love of literature, wholesome curiosity for science, and the cultivation of the arts, for which his ancestors had so often been noted, he esteemed as the noblest occupations of a gentleman’s life.

When the Count recognized the rare intellect of his fifth and sixth children, he made up his mind to do all in his power to provide them with the best possible education. Vincent was more reflective and more studious than Joseph, but both boys had imbibed a great sense of duty. Both gave reason to hope for the best, but that best Carpineto could not give. It was finally decided that the two boys attend the Jesuit college at Viterbo. In the autumn of 1817 the two of them, hardly more than nine and seven, were brought to Rome, where they spent a year with their uncle Antonio Pecci, who then escorted them to Viterbo.

They found masters worthy of the former renown of the great Society which had been restored by Pius VII only four years before.{10} Nearly all the students belonged to the Italian aristocracy, and the disasters of the Revolution{11} had made them grow up in the school of adversity at home. In these surroundings the intellectual and moral training of the Pecci brothers acquired marvelous development.

At the age of twelve Vincent Joachim was already adept in Latin versification and in the year 1822, he complimented the Jesuit provincial, Father Vincent Pavani, at an academic session of the college, with an elegant Latin quatrain suggested by the coincidence that both bore the same name.

Ad Vincenzo Pavani, S.J.

Nomine Vincenti, quo tu, Pavane, vocaris,

Parvulus atque infans Peccius ipse vocor.

Quas es virtutes magnas, Pavane, secutas,

O! utinam possem Peccius ipse sequi!

Dear namesake, Vincent, from my birthday, too,

Even as Pavani, Pecci bears that name;

Oh, that Pavani’s wealth of merit, too,

Following that Vincent’s light may Pecci claim.{12}

Such was the beginning of Vincent’s Latin poetry which one day would include hymns in the Breviary. Poetry was a joy to him. It offered beauty and a challenge to write. In fact, this hobby remained even to his deathbed.

On August 22 of the same year the delegate to Viterbo, Msgr. Carmin Lolli,{13} wrote to the Countess Pecci, On Saturday last I presided over a philosophical discussion which took place in the church of the Jesuit Fathers, in honor of His Eminence, Cardinal Galleffi. On that occasion I distributed the prizes to the students of the college, and I had the consolation and joy of delivering the first prize for rhetoric to our dear Joseph, and the second prize for humanities to our dear Vincent.{14}

As a boy of just eleven, he wrote this letter to his mother; it is the first of the known letters of Vincent Pecci.{15}

Viterbo, Mar. 11, 1821

Dear Madam and very dear Mother,

Your gifts have pleased both me and my brother very much. This mark of your attachment can only make us strengthen our own for you, as it is our duty to do so, in proportion to your desire. Yes, we will do this, but we need your prayers to help us in order that we give you full satisfaction, so grant us those prayers.

For some time you have kept us in hope that you would come and embrace us, but the moment has not yet arrived. Imagine how sad your absence makes us. Images of saints, whoever they may be, will always be pleasing to us, but the prettier they are the more we shall like them.

Remember me to papa and others. Give me your blessing and let me kiss your hand with tender affection, and sign myself,

your most affectionate son,

Vincent.

On September 11, Msgr. Lolli wrote again to Vincent Joachim’s parents and said prophetically, I was more than persuaded that you, Madam, would feel greatly consoled, as would also the Colonel and your whole family, on learning of the progress made by your dear children in their studies. If God preserves their health, these two boys will become the honor and the glory of their name, their home and their country.{16}

A classmate of Vincent’s said that they had often changed places at the head of the class.{17} When his rival was successful, Vincent seemed deeply impressed and showed his disappointment. This classmate years later wrote to the Civilta Cattolica about Vincent and himself while at Viterbo. In part the letter reads: I can bear witness to the fact that while yet at Viterbo he won our admiration not only by his quick intelligence, but still more by the singular purity of life. During our humanities course (music, art, classical literature) we were rivals, and each time I saw him he impressed me as being all life and intellect. All through his studies in Rome he never sought social gatherings, idle conversation, diversions, or sports. His work-table was his world; it was paradise to him to be plunged in the study of sciences. From his twelfth and thirteenth years upwards he wrote Latin prose and verse with a facility and an elegance that were wonderful in one so young.

To be nearer to her sons, the Countess temporarily took up residence in Rome. After one of these visits, on February 10, 1822, she wrote to her husband, Father Rector and Father Grannolio have spoken to me of the boys, who are doing perfectly well. You cannot imagine the praise I have heard of them, of both alike. My heart so rejoices on this account that it is impossible for me to tell how much. While at Viterbo, however, Vincent was attacked with an inflammation of the intestines which brought him to the point of death and affected his constitution ever after.{18}

The two brothers went to spend the vacation of 1823 at their home in Carpineto where the mountain air benefited them. At this time, two seemingly strange interests crowded Vincent’s time: intense study and a love of the outdoors. Still to be seen at the Pecci palace is the collection of hunting guns Vincent had used.

The happy carefree life of the boys was ended abruptly when their mother fell seriously ill with malaria. By the doctor’s advice, she went again to enjoy the milder climate of Rome and to be closer to medical specialists, but nothing could stop the progress of the disease. Meanwhile her sons were sent back to Viterbo from which they were hastily called to witness the death of their mother on August 5, 1824, at Rome. The loss made an ineffaceable impression on the two young students.

Detached from all worldly things, Joseph soon afterward begged of his father permission to enter the novitiate of the Society of Jesus. Vincent Joachim’s feelings were similarly inclined, but his vocation was different. God would call him by different means.

In November, 1825, Joachim left to take up studies in the famous Roman College, which had just been reopened by the Jesuits and had already as many as fourteen hundred students enrolled. The Roman College, better known as the Gregorian University, was established in 1582, by Pope Gregory XIII in accordance with the decrees of the Council of Trent as a major move in the Counter Reformation. It was the model university within the walls of the Vatican. However, from 1804 to 1814, Napoleon’s troops had suppressed the school when they seized Rome.

Beginning here in the rhetoric class, he won the first prizes for Latin and Greek. He shone no less brilliantly during his philosophy course, which lasted three years. In 1828, Joachim won the first prize in physics and chemistry, thus displaying an aptitude for entirely different kinds of knowledge.

While studying philosophy in Rome, a chance circumstance brought him in contact with Pope Leo XII. It was the jubilee year. Joachim had made the visit to St. Peter’s along with his fellow students, so as to gain the indulgences. This ended, all the young men were admitted into a court of the Vatican, to receive the Holy Father’s blessing. A deputation of students was then presented to His Holiness. It was, no doubt, on account of his acknowledged talent that young Pecci was asked to be the spokesman. Certainly the aged Pontiff hardly suspected that the youth addressing him would one day occupy St. Peter’s chair under the same name of Leo. (It was Joachim’s special veneration for and attachment to the person and memory of Leo XII that induced him, it is said, when elected to the papacy, to choose the name of Leo.)

A pure and studious boyhood had prepared him admirably for receiving the grace of a vocation to the priesthood. Already at Viterbo he had donned the cassock and taken the tonsure at the hands of the bishop of that diocese. His father gladly gave his consent to the minor orders and it had been his mother’s dearest wish.{19}

At the end of the three years of philosophy, then twenty years old, he was chosen to represent his school in a solemn academic tournament of debates in philosophy in which even cardinals were permitted to enter. Joachim’s intense preparation caused a recurrence of intestinal illness and the doctors forbade him to debate.

But the professors were unwilling that one who, in the judgment of the students and faculty, was pre-eminently distinguished for talent and proficiency should be deprived of all the honor he so well deserved. At the next faculty meeting the professors decreed that a solemn testimonial diploma should be given the young Pecci to mark his achievements.

Here is a translation of that document carefully preserved at the Pecci mansion in Carpineto.{20}

Roman College of the Society of Jesus

We hereby attest that the distinguished young gentleman, Joachim Vincent Pecci, has studied philosophy in this Gregorian University during three years, and that his proficiency therein was such that in judgment of the Faculty, he was chosen as fit to maintain a public disputation on a selection of theses from the entire philosophical curriculum at the close of the year 1829. But inasmuch as he has been prevented by illness from so doing, we desire to bear witness to the fact itself by this written attestation, and bestow on a youth of such excellent promise the honor and praise he deserves.

Given in the Roman College, Oct. 30, 1830.

Francis Manera, S.J.

Prefect of Studies.

After his course in philosophy and literature, he took up the study of theology at the Gregorian University. During his theological course his intellectual strength and capacity for work became ever more manifest. Here he had as professors men of worldwide renown.

At the close of his first year’s theology, Joachim wrote a thesis on the various subjects he had been studying. The college register for the year 1830 makes mention of it in these terms: This young man has furnished such proofs of talent as to warrant the hope of his attaining the highest eminence. Of this event he himself wrote a characteristically modest account to his brother John Baptist. The University Annual, enumerating the laureates of the year, says