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Published by the
Catholic Lay
men’s Association
of Georgia
“To Bring About
a Friendlier
Feeling Among
Neighbors Irre
spective of Creed”
VOL. XX. No. 2
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, FEBRUARY 25, 1939 ISSUED MONTHLY—52.00 A year
Remains of the Holy Father, Pope Pius XI,
Are Laid to Rest in St. Peter's Basilica
PRAYER FOR PEAGE
HOLY FATHER'S LAST
CONSCIOUS THOUGHT
Deeply Affecting Scenes at
Vatican as Great Pontiff
Takes Leave of the World
(Radio, N. W. C. News Service)
VATICAN CITY—It was with his
mind concentrating upon a prayer
which his lips could not form, that
His Holiness Pope Pius XI passed
to his reward at 5:31 o'clock on the
morning of February 10.
The Holy Father, one of the great
figures of all times, was unable to
speak as his end drew near. The
Pontiff, to whom the world looked
with admiration and affection, had
to show by movements of his head
and hands that he joined in the
pious ejaculations which those gath
ered about his deathbed were utter
ing.
At precisely 5:30 o'clock, Bishop
Alfonso Camillo De Romanis, Sac-
vistan of the Sacred Palaces, sug
gested to His Holiness this pray
er: “Jesus, Mary and Joseph may my
soul expire in peace with You.’’
Pope Pius showed by a sign that
he adopted this prayer as his own.
The next minute the two hundred
and sixtieth successor to St. Peter
died tranquilly-.
The Sacred College of Cardinals
automatically assumed administra
tion of the Church’s affairs. Meeting
daily to formulate decisions on mat
ters relating to the Church, the Sac
red College entrusts the execution
of its findings to a committee of four
of its members. These four mem
bers of the Sacred College are His
Eminence Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli,
who is both Camerlengo of the Holy
Roman Church and Camerlengo of
the Sacred College of Cardinals; His
Eminence Gennaro Cardinal Granito
Pignatelli di Belmonte, senior Cardi
nal in the Order of Cardinal
Bishops; His Eminence William
Cardinal O'Connell, Archbishop of
Boston, senior in the Order of Priests
and His Eminence Camillo Cardinal
Caccia Dominioni, senior Cardinal in
the order of Deacons.
Personal contracts on Church
matters are made with Cardinal
Pacelli, who circulates about the
Vatican with an escort of Swiss
Guards. Messages of condolence
and all other communications are
addressed to the Sacred College or
to Cardinal Pacelli. Such messages
are communicated to all the Cardi
nals at once, while they are meeting
in one of the general congregations.
The Holy Father’s condition took
a turn for the worse at 4 o’clock in
the morning, add'Dr. Filippo Rocchi
of the Vatican City health depart-
(Continued on Page Three)
Pilgrimages to Tomb
of Holy Father Start
(Radio, N. C. W. C. News Service)
V ATIC AN CITY.—Pilgrimages to
the tomb of Pope Pius XI began al
most immediately folowing his bur
ial, and have continued at such a
flood tide that it has become neces
sary to regulate the flow of persons
into the crypt beneath St. Peter's
Basilica.
Throughout each day, from the
earliest possible morning hour until
the great Basilica is closed in the
evening, throngs of persons came to
St. Peter’s, some of them from great
distances, descend to the grotto, and
kneel in silent prayer at the last
resting place of the late Pontiff.
Vatican officials permit the pilgrims
to enter the crypt in groups of 20.
U. S. ENVOY AT MASS
FOR POPE IN ROME
Ambassador Phillips Also
at Funeral of Holy Father
(Radio, N- C. W. C. News Service)
VATICAN CITY.—William Phil
lips, United States Ambassador to
Italy, and members of his staff were
present yesterday morning at a Sol
emn Mass of Requiem celebrated in
the American Church of Santa Su
sanna for the repose of the soul of
Pope Pius XI. Mr. Phillips also at
tended the funeral of the Holy Fa
ther.
The services were in charge of the
North American College in Rome,
and the Most Rev. Ralph L. Hayes,
Rector of h'te North American Col
lege, was celebrant of the Mass.
Among those present at the Mass
were the Most Rev. Edward J. Han
na, retired Archbishop of San Fran
cisco; the Rev. Vincent A- McCor
mick, S. J„ an American priest who
is Rector of the Pontifical Gregorian
University, the Very Rev. Joseph
Hickey, O. S. A., Assistant to the
Prior General of the Augustinian
Fathers; Alfred Noyes, the English
Author; Edward L. Reed, Counsel
or of the American Embassy; Sam
uel Reber, Secretary of the Ameri
can Embassy, and Graham H. Kem
per, United States Consul General in
Italy. With virtually all of the
American Colony in Rome in at
tendance. the church was filled to
overflowing.
MASSES FOR POPE PIUS
SAID IN ALL CHURCHES
Masses for the Holy Father were
said not only in the Cathedrals of
the Southeast but in every parish,
with congregations receiving Holy
Communion for the deceased Pontiff.
Changes in Electing Pope
Were Authorized by Pius XI
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
The Conclave to select a successor to
Pope Pius XI will see three important
changes in the organization of these
solemn and important meetings.
From 1904 it had been required that
the Conclave start, at the latest, on the
tenth day following the Pope’s demise,
or, in other words, immediately after
the nine solemn functions for the de
ceased Pope, called “novendialia,”
were completed. But, in 1922 Pope
Pius XI altered the Constitution Va-
cante Sede Apostolica so that it is
now possible to wait 18 days after the
death of the Pope to inaugurate the
Conclave. This change was made to
permit the attendance of Cardinals
living some distance from Rome, par
ticularly the American and Australian
Cardinals.
At the same time Pope Pius XI
changed the requirement that the
Cardinals should not celebrate Mass
on the first day of the Conclave, but
should assemble in the Pauline Chap
el that morning for the Mass of the
Cardinal Dean to receive Holy Com
munion from his hand. It is now pos
sible for each Cardinal to celebrate
Mass. Also, a Cardinal may now enter
the Conclave attended by his valet
alone. Previously each Cardinal en
tered the Conclave attended by a valet
and a Conclavist.
Cardinals alone have the right to
vote in the Conclave. Confessors,
physicians and servants of various
kinds are examined or appointed by a
special commission and all are equally
sworn to secrecy and not to hinder the
election.
A large part of the Vatican Palace,
two or three floors, is walled off for
the Conclave, and the space is divided
into apartments, each with three or
four small rooms or cells, in each of
which are a crucifix, a bed. a taole
and a few chairs. Access to the Con
clave is through one door only, lock
ed from without by the Marshal of
the Conclave and from within by the
Cardinal Camerlengo. Once the Con
clave begins the door is not opened
again until the election is announced,
except to admit a Cardinal who is late
in arriving. All communication with
the outside is forbidden under pain of
loss of office and ipso facto excom
munication.. Every precaution is ob
served to exclude those who have no
right within the enclosure and also
unnecessary communication with the
outside. Papal legislation has forbid
den a: y ante-election agreements
binding on the new Pope, and it also
has forbidden the Cardinals to treat of
(Continued on Page Twelve)
Latest Photo of Holy Father
Taken Only a Short Time Before His Death
HIS HOLINESS LAID
TO REST AS DUSK
ENSHROUDS VATICAN
Burial Is in Tomb He Him
self Selected, Next to That
of the Saintly Pius X
(Radio, N. C. W. C. News Service)
VATICAN CITY.—Pope Pius XI
was buried on the Feast of St. Val
entine as dusk settled over Vatican
City.
As the climax to solemn cere
monies rendered colorful by the uni
forms of the Papal armed forces, the
vestments of ecclesiastical digni
taries and the formal dress of mem
bers of the diplomatic corps, the
body of the late Pontiff was lowered
into the grotto of St. Peter’s Basilica,
to be placed in a tomb next to that
of Pope Pius X.
Notable Tributes Are Voiced
to His Holiness, Pope Pius XJ
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
Non-Catholics in all walks of life
joined with the flock of His Holiness
Pope Pius XI in mourning the passing
of the Vicar of Christ and extolling
his glorious career as a leader of
mankind. Among expressions from
all sections of the country were those
of:
Bt. REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN.
Episcopal Bishop of Washington:
“The diocese of Washington, through
me, express its deepest sympathy to
the members of the Catholic Church.’’
GOV. HERBERT H. LEHMAN of
New York: “I am shocked and deeply
grieved to learn to the death of His
Holiness Pope Pius XI. His passing
is a great loss to the entire world,
which needed him so sorely at this
time. His was a clear, plain, fatherly
voice in a frenzied and angry tumult.
The Catholic Church and its 400,900,-
000 communicants will miss a great
spiritual and administrative leader.
All of us have lost a powerful cham
pion of freedom, tolerance and hu
manity.
DR. NICHOLAS MURRAY BUT
LER, president of Columbia Univer
sity: “His Holiness was not only a
great ecclesiastic, but a great states
man as well. The Pope was a true
philosopher of peace—not emotional,
but rational. On the occasion of my
last audience in March, 1934, His Hol
iness uttered a sentence which ought
to pass into the world s literature end
be carved in a hundred places where
laws are made and public policies
formulated. He said: 'La guerre est
la chasse de 1’homme pour tuer
l’homme. (War is the chase of man
after man to kill man). What words
could more perfectly define war?”
REV. ZeBARNEY T. PHILLIPS,
Chaplain, United States Senate: “The
passing of His Holiness comes as a
real shock to me. I had the privi
lege of meeting Pope Pius in Rome
and receiving his blessing. I had al
ways admired him as a very great
and godly man.
REV. JAMES SHERA MONTGOM
ERY, Chaplain, United States House
of Representatives: ‘The death of
I Pope Pius is a loss which will be felt
throughout the civilized world.”
REV. WILLIAM H. BEST, presid
ing elder, Methodist Episcopal
Church, South: “We are in sincerest
sympathy with the Great Church
which today mourns the death of
Pope Pius XI. We very earnestly
pray that a worthy successor may
come into his place of honor and re
sponsibility.”
RABBI EDWARD I,. ISRAEL, Har
Sinai Congregation, Baltimore: 'I
believe that the entire world that
has any humanitarian feeling
mourns the passing of His Holiness
because his courageous defense of
(Continued on Page Twelve)
This was the burial of the Holy
Father. His formal funeral took
place without the presence of the
remains. A magnificent catafalque,
surmounted by the Papal tiara, was
in place in the apse of St. Peter's
Basilica, between the Papal altar
and the Choir of the Prince of the
Apostls. The solemn procession
bearing Pope Pius XI to his final
resting place passed by this catal-
falque.
As workmen prepared the final
resting place of Pope Pius XI, a
tomb selected by the late Pontiff
himself, they dismantled a wall
bearing the inscription of Francesco
Bandini Piccolomini, Archbishop of
Siena, and other fragmentary in
scriptions. When the wall was de
molished, there was discovered a
lead case contains the remains of
Archbishop Piccolomini, and a vast
space, protected by the vault, which
was filled with earth taken from
around St. Peter's tomb- Both the
Archb’shop’s remains and the earth
were carefully removed, and are to
be preserved in another part of the
same crypt. Pope Pius XI's tomb al
so is near the niches occupied by
members of the Engl : sh royal house
of Stuart.
It is the custom to bury the Pope
in the evening of the day fixed by
the Sacred College of Cardinals.
The ceremonies attending the burial
of Pope Pius XI’s body began at four
o’clock in the afternoon, with all the
Cardinals then present in Rome, all
the members of the diplomatic corps,
and all the Papal Court in atten
dance. Monsignor Alberto Arborlo-
Mella di Sant’Elia, Maestro di Cam
era, was unable to be present, be
cause he is ill.
The Dean of the Vatican Chapter
blessed the body of the late Pontiff;
and it was raised from its majestic
bier in the Chapel of the Sacrament,
(Continued on Page Three)
62 Cardinals, Three From
U. S., to Elect New Pope
(By N. C. W. C. News Service)
WASHINGTON.-The Sacred Col
lege of Cardinals, which will meet in
conclave to elect a new Pope, is a
body of papal counsellors, assistants
and electors consisting, when com
plete of 70 members, six Cardinal-
Bishops, 50 Cardinal-Priests and 14
Cardinal-Deacons.
The custom of enclosure or conclave
of the Cardinals while electing a Pope
is the result of the law of conclave
introduced in the Council of Lyons
in 1274 by Pope Gregory X, Pope
Pius XI ordered that at least 15 days
and not more than 18 intervene be
tween the Pontiffs death and the
opening of conclave. His Eminence
William Cardinal O’Connell, Arch
bishop of Boston, had just reached the
conclave when Pope Pius XI was
elected.
Instead of the full complement of
70 members of the Sacred College of
Cardinals today, there are 62. Seven
of the Cardinals died last year: Luigi
Capotosti, Carlo Dalmazio Minoretti,
Giulio Serafini, Patrick Hayes, Camillo
Laurenti, Leone de Skrbensky, and
Alessandro Kakowski. Of those re
maining six are Cardinal-Bishops, 47
Cardinal-Priests and nine Cardinal-
Deacons. No Cardinals were created
in 1938 and none has died so far this
year.
About half of the Cardinals are
Italians by birth, the remainder be
ing of various nationalities. There are
today 35 Italian Cardinals, Six French,
four German, including the Cardinal
of Vienna, three American and three
Spanish Cardinals. Each of the fol
lowing nations is represented by one
Cardinal: Belgium, Hungary, Poland,
Portugal, Ireland, Canada, Czecho
slovakia, Irak, Argentine and Eng
land.
About half the Cardinals are dio
cesan Archbishops or Bishops in vari
ous countries; those who are not are
bound to reside in Rome.
Pope Pius XI created 76 Cardinals.
During his pontificate 68 have died,
and of this number 22 were Cardinals
created by him. Of the Cardinals now
living two were created by Pope Pius
X, eight by Benedict XV, and the
remaining 52 by Pius XI. The oldest
Cardinal in age is Granito Pignatelli
di Belmonte, who will be 88 in April.
He is the deal of the Sacred College.
The youngest is Cardinal Cerejeira,
Patriarch of Lisbon, who is 59 year*
old.