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EFBRUARY 29, 1936 THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION Of’ UEUKUlA
i nin i noLiN
Holy Father
s 14 Years of Pontificate
His Holiness Pope Pius XI on Feb. 12, began ihe 15th year of his pontificate, gloriously reigning in Vatican City, (1) the Papal State revived by the signing of the Lateran Treaty,,
Feb. 11, 1929: (2) Photo taken in late January 1932, of the Archbishop of Milan, Achilles Ratti, one week before his election to the Papacy: (3) Pope Pius XI, ' The Pope cf Science,
photographed in the garden at the inauguration of the Vatican's hydraulic plant, in 1933; (4) The Holy Father. ‘The Pope of Missions,” absorbed in prayer, in the chapel of tile new
home of Propaganda Fide, which he consecrated, in 1929; (5) The Sovereign Pontiff, “The Pope of Catholic Action,” wearing the triple tiara, raising his hand in blessing, a scene which
occurred often .during the Holy Year of Jubilee and on the many occasions of Beatification, Canonizations and the elevation of new Cardinals. ,
Achievements Make Pius XI
Greatest Figure of the Age
His Settlement of Roman Question Would in Itself Make
His Place in History Secure, But It Is Only One of
Numerous Distinguished Accomplishments
(Continued from Page One)
dies, and especially the clergy, to a
most careful and accurate study of
Oriental discipline in the intention
of opening more easily the ways for
return of the separated brethren of
the Orient to unity with the true
Church; Mens Nostra of December
20, 1929, recommending Retreats,Quin-
quagesimo Anno of December 23,
1929, marking the 50th anniversary of
his ordination; Divinis Iflius Magistri
of December 31. 1929. on the Chris
tian education of children; Casti Ccn-
nubii of December 31, 1930, on Chris
tian marriage; Quadragesimo Anno
of May 15, 1931, with which the social
doctrine of Leo XIII was repeated,
confirmed and related to the prob
lems of the moment; Non abbiamo
bisogno of June 29, 1931, on Catholic
Action; Nova impendent of October 2,
D-
reflected not only by his remarkable
Encyclical and other pronounce
ments on this subject, but also by his
sponsorship of the Missionary Expo
sition at the Vatican, and later, the
establishment of the Latteran Mis
sionary Museum; his zeal for the pro
motion of native clergy; his conse
cration of six native Chinese Bishops
at the Vatican in October, 1926: his
consecration of the first native Japa
nese Bishop at the Vatican in Octo
ber, 1927.
Parish Publications
in Vatican Exhibit
CI
O-
DIPLOMATIC DOCUMENTS
A
The Lateran Treaties, signalizing
the settlement of the Roman Ques
tion, were signed on February 11,
1929, almost seven years to the day
from the coronation of Pius XI as
Pope.
Previous to this, the Pontificate of
Pope Pius XI had seen the conclu
sion of Concordats with Latvia in
1922, with Bavaria in 1924, with Po
land in 1925, and with Lithuania in
"1927. Subsequently Concordats were
concluded with Roumania and Prus
sia in 1929, with the Grand Duchey of
Baden in 1932, with Germany in 1933,
with Austria in 1934, and with Jugo
slavia in 1935.
In addition, two conventions were
f ifned with France in 1926, two in
’ortugal in 1928 and 1929, a modus
vivendi with Czechoslovakia in 1928,
and a convention with Roumania in
1932.
In all 19 diplomatic pacts were con
cluded in the first 14 years of Pope
Pius XI’s Pontificate. This appears
to be a rcord, since history reveals
that even in the long reign of Pope
Pius IX—32 years—only 18 diplomatic
pacts were signed.
£
ON CATHOLIC ACTION
-n
His zeal for the spread of “Catho
lic Action” has been a mark of Pope
Pius XI’s Pontificate. He gave it
decided impetus, defining it in his
first Encyclical as the participation of
the laity in the Apostolate of the
Hierarchy. He expressed the wish
that it be spread in every land, and
brought about that it was recognized
and sanctioned by the civil authori
ties in Concordats concluded with
the various nations. His Holiness
made it emphatic that “Catholic Ac
tion” is detached from dependencies
of a political nature, but under the
strict and immediate dependency of
the Bishops and restricted to the
field of activity of spiritual interests.
Pope Pius XI’s great interest in
Catholic Missions has been strikingly
□
| CANONIZATIONS !
u — □
It has been said that no other Pon
tificate has been as rich as that of
Pope Pius XI in Beatifications and
Canonizations. Among the Saints
canonized by His Holiness are:
St. Therese of the Infant Jesus, the
Little Flower of Lisieux; St. Peter
Canisius, Jesuit, who at the same time
was declared a Doctor of the Church;
St. Margaret Postel. Foundress of the
Sisters of Mercy; St. Madeleine So
phia Barat, Foundress of the S’sters
of the Sacred Heart; St. Joseph Bap
tist Mary Vianney, Parish priest of
Ars: St. John Eudes, Founder of the
Congregation of Jesus and Mary; St.
Catherine Thomas, Augustinian Sis
ter; St. Lucy Filippini, Foundress of
the Religious Teachers; Sts. John de
Brebceuf and Companions, American
Martyrs: St. Robert Bellarmine, S. J.,
Cardinal, who was proclaimed a Doc
tor of the Church; St. Theophilus of
Corte, Friar Minor; St. Albert the
Great, who was proclaimed a Doctor
of the Church; St. Andrew Hubert
Fournet, Founder of the Daughters of
the Cross; St. Bernadette Soubirous,
to whom the Blessed Virgin appeared
at Lourdes; St. Joan Antide Thouret,
Foundress of the Sisters of Charity;
St. Louise de Marillac, Foundress of
the Daughters of Charity; St. Mary
Michaela of the Blessed Sacrament,
Spanish Foundress of the Sisters of
Perpetual Adoration; St. Theresa
Margaret Redi, a Carmelite nun; St.
Pompilius Maria Pirrotti, of the Reli
gious Teachers; St. Joseph Cotto-
lengo, St. John Bosco, Founder of the
Salesians; St. Conrad of Parzham,
Capuchin, and Sts. Thomas More and
John Fisher, English Martyrs.
Pope Pius XI has paralleled a deep
and practical interest in science with
a staunch patronage of the arts. His
constant promotion of the Pontifical
Academy of Science, his erection and
personal use of the Vatican City radio
station, his transfer to Castelgandolfo
and re-equipment of the Vatican Ob
servatory, and his numerous other
advancements of technical know
ledge, have been matched by the
building renovation of Vatican City,
his restoration of the Papal Villa at
Castelgandolfo, his construction of
the new Vatican Art Gallery, his
splendid renovation of the entrance
to the Museums, the re-equipment
and recataloguing of the famous
Vatican Library, and other artistic
monuments of his inspiration.
Remarkable also have ben the Holy
.. The International Exhibition of the
Catholic Press to be held in Rome in
May will include a display of parish
publications, and parishes having
publicatiens and wishing them en
tered in the exh'bit are requested
to send them to The Bulletin which
will forward them to Charles H. Rid-
dcr of The Catholic News, New York,
secretary-treasurer. The Most Rev.
Hugh C. Boyle, D. D., Bishop of Pitts
burgh, and chairman of the Depart
ment of Press of the National Catholic
Welare Conference, is honorary
chairman of the United States Com
mitte, Joseph J. Quinn, editor of The
Southwest Courier and president of
the Crthol'c Press Association is
chairman, and Frank A. Hall, direc
tor of the N. C. W. C. News Service
and Richard Reid, editor of The Bul
letin. with Mr. Bidder, are the other
members.
Holy Father as Vigorous at
79 as in His Earlier Days
Rumors of His 111 Health Amuse Him—He Never Com
plains of Fatigue and Ne ver Loses His Majestic Calm
and His Fatherly Kindline ss
Jacksonville Scouts
Entertain Knights
Pope Pius XI has completed 14
years of his Pontificate without ap
pearing hi the least to feel exhaus
tion despite the extraordinarily hard
work he* has done. To convince one
self that his 14 years of labors have
been anything but slight, it is suf
ficient to reflect on the unusual con
ditions of the world agitated by for
midable post-war problems and by
the dangers and the anguish of new
wars, and on the three Jubilees
(Holy Year 1925, Jubilee Year of his
priesthood of 1929-30, and the Holy
Year of the Jubilee of the Redemp
tion 1933-34) which Pius XI cele
brated and which have never before
occurred in any one Pontificate.
(Special To The Bulletin)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Troop 41,
Boy Scouts of America of St. Paul’s
Church presented “Time Versus Boy
Scouts of America” before Father
Maher Council at the Carling Hotel
Ballroom recently, adding a new tri
umph to the achievements of the
troop.
Father's labors for the intensifica
tion and extension of the Hierarchi
cal, disciplinary and scientific gov
ernment of the Church; his establish
ment of new ecclesiastical provinces;
his interest in the field of ecclesias
tical studies and education, a monu
ment to which is the Apostolic Con
stitution Deus Scientiarum Dominus;
his establishment of a half-dozen
colleges in Rome; his erection of
splendid new quarters for old and
and established colleges; his multi
plication of seminaries throughout
Italy; his erection of new Apostolic
Nunciatures and Delegations; the
numerous royal personages and heads
of States that have visited him at
the Vatican; his appeal to the charity
of the world, early in his Pontificate,
for the starving people of Russia; his
expedition of help sent to that coun
try, although the anti-religious sen
timents of the Soviet Government
were well known.
No review of the last 14 years, how
ever cursory, could overlook three
other events outstanding in the Pon
tificate of His Holiness Pope Pius XI.
These were the Holy Year of Jubilee
of 1925, the twenty-third in the his
tory of the Church, which brought
hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to
the Vatican; the celebration in 1929 of
the fiftieth anniversary of the Holy
Father’s ordination to the priesthood,
and the Extraordinary Holy Year of
Jubilee which began in 1933 to com
memorate the Nineteenth Centtnary
of the Redemption.
Pope Pius XI’s Pontificate is aptly
characterized by a phrase which the
Holy Father adopted from a friend of
his youth, a friend whom he later
enrolled in the Calendar of Saints —
Saint John Bosco. The phrase is
this: “Always wish to be in the ad
vance guard of progress.”
As evidence of the freshness of
strength and energy with which Pius
XI has faced the formidable work of
the last 14 years, one may refer to
the daily chronicles which tell of the
audiences, receptions, speeches, .cer
emonies that the Pope holds, with
out a moment of fatigue or truce.
The Holy Year Extraordinary for the
Nineteenth Centenary of the Re
demption, for example, was though
of and proclaimed exclusively by
him, when no one expected it, and it
was his desire that it should be car
ried out with the same solemnity or
the Holy Years,although he well
knew from the experience of the
Holy Year Ordinary of 1925, what he
had to face.
Those who have the fortune to
live in Rome and frequent the Vat-
can every day, at the hours of the
audiences, see the Pope making the
round of the large halls of the Pa
pal Palace, always with the same
majestic calm, always with the same
fatherly smile, in the act of giving
his right hand to be kissed by the
innumerable crowds, or stopping to
speak, to exhort, to encourage, to
console, to bless. All have seen him
indefatigable in this which is one of
his practical daily occupations. No
one has ever heard him mention fa
tigue, or refuse to see his Children.
One of the ordinary phrases of his
discourses and generally the first
with which he begins to speak, is
that of the joy he feels as Common
Father of the faithful.
In 1922, a few months after Pius
XI ascended to the Papal Throne,
Monsignor Hermengild Pellegrinetti
who had been his secretary and au
ditor when he was Nuncio in Poland,
was created Archbishop of Adana
and sent as Apostolic Nuncio to
Belgrade, a post that he still holds
today. On coming to Rome for his
consecration, the new Archbishop
visited the Pope more than once and
one day told a friend that on seeing
Pius XI so absorbed and intent on
work, he had respectfully asked him
to moderate it, to reserve his
strength. But the Pope in reply
looked at him smiling calmly and
said that from the moment of his
election as Supreme Pontiff he had
considered his life as ended and had
resolved to give it all, without limi
tation or restriction, to the new of
fice to which God had called him; if
Providence wished to grant him
some more years of life, well; other
wise he willingly sacrificed i; to the
duties of his office.
Many years after the conversation
wiih Archbishop Pelligrinetti, and
precisely at the conclusion of the
twelfth year of his Pontificate, the
Pope said to one of his daily collab
orators, Mcnsignor Alfred Ottaviani,
then Substitute cf the Secretariat of
State and new Assessors of the Holy
Office- “I must really thank Provi
dence, Who, during these twelve
years has never permitted me to be
ill even for a day. Who has never
obliged me to remain one day in bed.
Yes, I must really thank Provi
dence.”
Now, two more years have again
passed and Pius XI can repeat his
words. Notwithstanding his age and
work. Pius XI shews a vigor, a fresh
ness, which many young men would
not have. A few evenings ago, at five
minutes to ten Engineer Castelli, Di
rector General of the Technical Of
fice of the Vatican City, was at the end
of an audience with the Pope that
had lasted more than two hours, and
he felt really tired out. The Holy Fa
ther perceived it and. dismissing him,
said, as if it were the most normal
thing in the world: “Yes, I also feel
a little tired now towards evening.”
"Notwithstanding this rumors of
some imaginary illness of his continue
being periodically spread. Those who
work in the field of the press and
have the possibility of seeing the Pope
every day, are every now and then
asked by telephone whether it be true
that the Pope is ill? This newspaper
or this agency has published news of
the illness of the Pope, is it true? This
has happened on days when we our
selves have seen Pius XI at some
ceremony, or have heard him speak.
We have hard work to persuade our
questioner that the Pope is really well
and that his health seems to challenge
the passing of the years without giv
ing any sign of weakness. Once, dur
ing the Holy Year of the redemption
when there were two sanctifications
(the longest and most fatiguing papal
ceremony) within a week both per
sonally presided over by Pius XI, an
“Information Bureau” sent from
Rome the news that the Pope was ill
and that five doctors were at his bed
side!
“Pius XI knows all this and it is a
subject of amusement for him. More
than once he has said in his private
conversations and sometimes also in
his public ones that from all parts
come to him advice on health, offers
of services by doctors, packets of
medicine and that all this touches him
because it is a sign of the interest the
world takes in the life of the Pope,
but that, thanks to God, he has no
need of any of it. His life and health
he says, are first of all in the hands
of divine Providence in which he so
fully trusts.”