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PAGE 2—The Southern Cross, June 8, 1963
John XXIII--Pope Of The People
(N.C.W.C. NEWS SERVICE)
His Holiness Pope JohnXXIII
may be remembered by Church
historians as the Pope of the
Second Vatican Council, but to
thousands of others throughout
the world he will always be
“II Papa Simpatico.’’
Pope John’s vigor in promo
ting the affairs of the Church
has amazed those who re
garded him on his election to the
papacy at age 77 as a “com
promise’’ pope or a pope of
“transition.” For he has
brought to the agelessness of
the Church the stamina associa
ted with youth, and at the same
time has captured the hearts
of the multitude with his ex
traordinary simplicity and
warmth.
Historians will recall that
at an age when many men are
expected to retire from pub
lic life, Pope John did the
following: convoked an ecu
menical council, the first such
council since 1870; upped the
number of members in the Sa
cred College of Cardinals to
87, the highest in history;
canonized ten saints; issued
8 encyclicals; named the first
Negro and Japanese cardinals;
and appointed a Vatican secre
tary of State for the first time
in 14 years.
But thousands of other people
not so interested in statistics
will remember his friendly
smile; his ability to laugh—
when the joke was on him; the
occasions when he committed
a faux pas—and quickly admit
ted it; his surpriae visits to
the poor, sick and imprisoned;
his engaging manner of breaking
papal protocol; and his readi
ness to substitute praise for
censure.
And if you asked them to sum
up their impression in a few
words, they would exclaim, as
so many have after an audience
with Pope John, “He’s so nat
ural!”
Rare Combination
Pope John had a dual nature
in which the simplicity of a pea
sant was combined with the dy
namic drive of an administra
tor. Tje worked as a farmer
and as a diplomat and was as
.much at home among rural peo
ple as he was among heads
of state.
Pope John XXIII was born
Pope’s parents Giovanni Bat
tista and Maria Anna (Mazzola)
Roncalli.
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli on
November 25, 1881, in Sotto
il Monte, Italy. He was the
third of 13 children and the
first son of Giovanni Battista
Roncalli, a poor farmer, and
of Maria Anna Mazzola.
At the age of six he re
ceived his first schooling from
the parish priest of the near
by village of Cervico. Five
ydars later he entered the minor
seminary at Bergamo.
In his early years, Angelo
Roncalli was a normal but un
distinguished student, but even
then he was noted for his
amiable disposition and for his
common sense. His growing
talents were first recognized
when at 16 he became dormi
tory prefect of his class, a dis
tinction reserved to students of
scholastic merit.
It was in this modest farm home in Sotto il Monte, 1 Under
the Mountain” in Lombardy, Italy that the future Pope John
XXIII was born, November 25, 1881. The Roncalli family
has lived in Sotto il Monte, for more than 500 years.
Birth certificate of Angelo Roncalli.
In 1898 he received minor or
ders and by 1900 his preuni
versity- training- - was complete.
By this time young Roncalli
had found his way and had deve
loped into a brilliant student.
He won a scholarship to Rome’s
major seminary, but his studies
were interrupted for a year
of military duty in 1901. He
returned to Rome to continue
in the seminary and was or
dained a priest on August 10,
1904.
Father Roncalli had earned
his laureate in theology and
had just started to earn a doc
torate in canon law when Bishop
Giacomo Radini-Tedeschi of
Bergamo called him to be his
personal secretary, a position
he was to hold for the next 10
years.
Scholar and Soldier
It was during this time that
he found a set of old documents
pertaining to the diocesan visi
tation of St. Charles Borromeo,
Archbishop of Milan (1595-
1631), and decided to edit and
publish them. He persisted in
this work off and on until his
elevation to the papacy, and the
fifth and final volume of the
project was published after he
was pope.
While serving as secretary to
Bishop Radini-Tedeschi, from
1905 to 1914, he also taught
Church history and apologetics
at the Bergamo seminary.
With the outbreak of World
War I, Father Roncalli was re
called to military service
in June, 1915. He was at first
a sergeant-major with the
medical corps of the Italian
Army, and in 1916 was assigned
as a hospital chaplain. Years
later he wrote that his mili
tary service gave him great
insight “in the understanding
of life and the priestly apos-
tolate.”
After the war, Father Ron
calli returned full time to the
Bergamo seminary. He organi
zed the first students' house
in Italy at Bergamo. It pro
vided free assistance to-middle
class children attending public
schools. He was also instru
mental in founding the first
organization of young Catholic
women in the Bergamo diocese.
In 1921, when Father Ron
calli was 40, Pope Benedict
XV called him to Rome to be
president of the Italian Society
for the Propagation of the
Faith and to work in the Con
gregation for the Propagation
of the Faith.
One day Father Roncalli de
cided to spend a short vacation
at the summer villa of the semi
narians attending the Pontifical
Urban College for the Propaga
tion of the Faith. When he was
ready to retire, the seminarians
handed him a key and assured
that his room was very cool
and comfortable. '
Father Roncalli opened the
door and found himself in a
broom closet that had a small
bed in it. He decided to go along
with the joke, settled down on
the bed and went to sleep quick
ly-
Father Roncalli’s task in the
propagation congregation was to
help coordinate the activities
of national missionary societies
throughout the world. He did
considerable traveling in this
post, visiting missionary so
ciety centers in Italy, France
Belgium and Holland.
Administrator And
Diplomat
Father Roncalli became a
monsignor on May 7, 1921. He
demonstrated his administra
tive ability in the tasks assign
ed to him, and his intellectual
talents by working as a pro
fessor of patristics at the
Roman Seminary. He was the
chief organizer of the mission
exhibit held in Rome during the
1925 Holy Year.
On March 19, 1925, he was
consecrated Titular Bishop of
Areopolis with the personal title
of archbishop and named Apos
tolic Visitor to Bulgaria. It was
the first time the Church had
sent an official representation
to that country since the 13th
century.
In his first sermon in Bul
garia, Archbishop Roncalli
evinced that long view toward
Christian unity which was to
become familiar in the discour
ses and writings of Pope John
XXIII. His role in Bulgaria
was to protect the interests of
the nation’s 50,000Catholics,to
encourage the growth and
development of the Church there
and to represent the Holy See
on a nondiplomatic level.
When he was transferred
from Bulgaria to Turkey 10
years later, he had visited every
part of the country. The success
of his mission in Bulgaria is
shown by the fact that in 1932
Pope Pius XI was able to raise
the Sofia office to the rank of
an apostolic delegation.
Archbishop Roncalli was
reassigned as Apostolic Dele
gate to Greece and Turkey on
November 21, 1934. At the same
time he was transferred from
the titular diocese of Areopolis
to the titular archdiocese of Me-
sembria. He was appointed also
as Apostolic Administrator of
the Latin Rite Vicariate Apos
tolic of Constantinople. His tour
of duty in Greece and Turkey
was distinguished by his zeal
in assisting the underfinanced
Catholic schools and by his
ability to create cordial rela
tions between the Church and
government circles.
World War II was in progress
then, and a great part of Arch
bishop Roncallfs duties con
sisted in directing works of
charity made necessary by the
tragedies of war. The Apostolic
Delegation hummed with acti
vity, much of it dealing with
receiving and sending informa
tion in collaboration with the
Vatican’s Information Bureau
on Prisoners of War and Refu
gees.
The Archbishop was so active
in aiding Jewish refugees flee
ing from Hitler’s Germany that
his efforts were recalled
years later by the Grand Rabbi
of Israel, Dr. Isaac Halevy
Herzog. When Cardinal Roncalli
was elected Pope, the rabbi sent,
a message in which he stated;
“I am persuaded that your noble'
faith in the highest values:,-; as
shown during the time of the
nazi atrocities, will guide you
in your new and important
tasks . . .”
Unit Through
Charity
Archbishop Roncalli’s efforts
in Greece in this same period
created a climate in which the
Catholics and Orthodox put
aside their differences to work
together in a humane effort
directed against the threat of
widescale starvation.
It was through Archbishop
Roncalli’s cooperation with Or
thodox Archbishop Damaskinos
that arrangements were made
with the Vatican to bring in a
shipment of 350,000 tons of
wheat, thereby savingthousands
from hunger. The project was
accomplished through the com
bined efforts of the Britist gov
ernment, U. S. Catholics and
Greeks living in exile.
By 1944 Archbishop Ron
calli’ s time in the ancient cra
dle of Christianity had run out.
Rome decided that the post for
the 63-year-old Archbishop,
now recognized for his knack
of getting along well in diffi
cult assignments, was in
troublesome Europe. He was
assigned as Apostolic Nuncio
to Paris and arrived there on
December 31, 1944.
France had just been libera
ted and there was strong resent
ment among the nation’s new
leaders that the Vatican repre
sentation and some members
of the Hierarchy had supported
or at least tolerated the Vichy
government. With superb tact
the new Nuncio corrected what
errors had been committed. He
moved with ease among the na
tion’s leaders and diplomats,
and also visited 85 of France’s
87 dioceses.
But his busy schedule some
times made him forget his so
cial obligations. One day Fran-
cisque Gay, the postwar Deputy
Premier, arrived at the nun-
★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Angelo Roncalli, seminarian (center), with two Jriends.
In these early photos the Fu
ture Pope John XXIII is shown
as he appeared on his ordina
tion day, August 10, 1904; in
the uniform of a medical ser
geant in the Italian army dur
ing World War I in 1915 (the
only time he wore a mustache);
and as he looked on March 3,
1925, when Pope Pius XI rais
ed him to the episcopate.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★
ciature and expressed his plea
sure at being invited to dinner
along with other VIPs.
“Mon Dieu!” exclaimed
Archbishop Roncalli, ‘ ‘I had
forgotten.”
He quickly talked the French
official into helping him make
preparations for dinner. “Here
put on this apron,” he said,
“You have to help me make
polenta” ( a thick porridge of
broth and meal).
Prudence in
Delicate Problem
While in France the Arch
bishop was confronted with the
problem of worker priests,
clergy who had gone into the
working man’s world to labor
and live alongside him in an
effort to reduce the Church’s
loss of souls in wholesale num
bers.
The Nuncio advised the Vati
can to wait and move care
fully in seeking a solution to
the problem. Eventually, it be
came necessary for the French'
Bishops to issue orders for
the modification of the move
ment, but it was largely through
the Nuncio’s tact and prudence
that what could have been a
tragic episode in the history
of the Church in France was
avoided.
Later, after Archbishop Ron
calli had become Pope, the
priest worker movement was
stopped by official order of the
Congregation of the Holy Office
on July 3, 1959.
During his stay in France,
Archbishop Roncalli was ap
pointed by Pope Pius XII in
1951 as the Holy See’s first
permanent observer at the
United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organi
zation (UNESCO). OnNovember
29, 1952, he was named to be
come a member of the College
of Cardinals.
The French government de
corated him as a Commander
of the Legion of Honor. At 71,
with a full and satisfactory
career behind him, the Arch
bishop prepared to leave Paris
for Rome and new work in the
Church’s central administra
tion in Rome.
Patriarch of Venice
A few days after the publica
tion of the list of new cardinals,
Archbishop Carlo Agostini,
Patriarch of Venice, who had
been named to receive the Red
Hat, died. Cardinal Roncalli was
named to succeed him pn Jan
uary 15, 1953. He received the
appointment to Venice on the
same day that French President
Vincent Auriol presented to him
the red biretta of the cardi-
nalate.
Cardinal Roncalli took pos
session of the Patriarchate of
Venice on March 15, 1953, and
immediately set to work. He
renovated the ancient basilica
and the patriarchal residence,
personally visited every parish
in the archdiocese, organized
instructions in Christian doc
trine on every level, convoked
a synod and began construction
of a new seminary. And all dur
ing this activity, he was a stick
ler for details. This charac
teristic was evident even
outside his administrative func
tions.
One of his newphews, now a
chaplain in a parish in Italy,
tells this story: “When he was
Patriarch of Venice, after I had
served his Mass, he told me he
wanted to serve mine, and when
I protested, he said to me, ‘No,
no, I want to serve you myself
because I want to see whether
you know how to celebrate it.’’
Although he was now in a pas
toral role, Cardinal Roncalli
continued to be called upon to
represent the Holy See. In Octo
ber, 1954, he went as Papal Le
gate to the Marian Year Con
gress held in Deirut, Lebanon.
In March, 1958, he was sent by
Pope Pius XII to consecrate the
new underground basilica of St.
Pius X at Lourdes.
After the death of Pius XII
on October 9, 1958,. Cardinal
Roncalli left for Rome, stating
that he expected to return to
Venice within 15 days. On Octo
ber 25, he entered the 78th
conclave of the Catholic Church
along with 50 other cardinals.
Whirlwind Start As
Pope
On October 28, 1958, he ap
peared on the central balcony
of the facade of St. Peter’s
basilica to be presented to the
world as the new Pope, taking
the name of John.
The day after his election,
Pope John XXIII filled the office
of Vatican Secretary of State,
naming Monsignor Domenico
Tardini to the post, which had
been vacant 14 years.
Within a month he announced
his intention of creating 23 new
cardinals, breaking a 400-year-
old tradition which had limited
their number to 70 and raising
the total membership of the
College of Cardinals to 75.
Msgr. Tardini was amongthose
named.
Hardly three months of his
pontificate had elapsed when he
electrified the world by an
nouncing his intention of sum
moning an ecumenical council.
Pope John gave immediate
evidence that he would not reign
from an ivory tower. On the
afternoon of his election, he
made an unannounced visit to
the Vatican Radio station. After
taking possession of his Cathe
dral of St. John Lateran, he
made visits outside the Vati
can’ s walls to several of Rome’s
major universities.
On Christmas Day he captur
ed the hearts of the humble by
visiting several of the city’s
hospitals, and on the following
day he visited the city jail.
On January 21, 1959, police
were taken aback when, without
informing them of his plans, he
visited a home for retired and
infirm priests accompanied
only by two members of his
household.
Before the first year of his
pontificate was completed, he
also distributed Communion to
the streetsweepers of Rome,
and even left the Vatican to goto
a church in Rome’s toughTras-
tevere district to give Corn-
continued On Page 3)
When Archbishop Roncalli was elevated to the College of
Cardinals late in 1952 the French Republic gave him a memo*
rable farewell. Following a 400-year-old tradition President
Vincent Aurioi placed the red biretta on the Nuncio's head.
Significant Dates
Life Of John XXIII
The following are significant dates in the life and ca
reer of His Holiness Pope John XXIII:
1881, November 25; Born as Angelo Giuseppee Roncalli
in Sotto il Monte in the province and Diocese of Ber
gamo. The third of 13 children of Giovanni and Maria
Anna Roncalli and their first son.
1892: Entered minor seminary at Bergamo.
1898: Received minor orders.
1900: Began theological studies at Cerasola College in Rome.
1901: Studies interrupted by one year of military service.
1904, August 10: Ordained in the Church of Santa Maria in
Monte Santo.
1905-1914: Served as private secretary to Bishop Giacomo
Radini-Tedeschi of Bergamo and as professor of Church
history, apologetics and patrology at the Bergamo
seminary.
1915: Recalled to military service as a private in the
medical corps of the Italian Army. Promoted to sergeant-
major and then to a chaplaincy with the rank of lieutenant.
1918-1920: Returned to teaching at Bergamo seminary.
1921, May 7: Named monsignor (domestic prelate) by
Pope Benedict XV, and president of the Italian Society
for the Propagation of the Faith.
1925: Organized the Mission Exhibit in Rome for the
1925 Holy Year.
1925, March 19; Consecrated as Titular Bishop of Areo
polis with the personal title of archbishop and named
Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria.
1931, October 16; Appointed first Apostolic Delegate to
Bulgaria.
1934, November 21: Named Apostolic Delegate to Greece
and Turkey and appointed Apostolic Administrator of the
Latin Rite Vicariate Apostolic of Constantinople.
1944, December 22: Appointed by Pope Pius XII as Aposto
lic Nuncio to France.
1951, June: Named by Pius XII as the Holy See’s first
permanent observer at the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
1952, November 29: Named to Sacred College of Cardinals.
1953, January 15: Appointed as Patriarch of Venice.
1954, October: Served as Papal Legate to the Marian Year
Congress in Beirut, Lebanon.
1958, March 25: Went to Lourdes, on the 100th anniversary
of the apparitions of St. Bernadette there, to conse
crate the underground Basilica of St. Pius X.
1958, October 25: Entered 78th conclave to elect a pope.
1958, October 28: Elected as pope. Took name of John XXIII.
1958, November 4: Crowned as pope in St. Peter’s basilica.
1958, December 15: Created 21 new cardinals and named
two more “in secret.”
1959, January 26: Announced intention to summon an
ecumenical council.
1959, April 12: Canonized SS. Charles of Sezze and Joa-
quina de Vedruna de Mas.
1959, June 29; Issued his first encyclical, "Ad Petri
Cathedram.”
1959, August 1: Issued his second encyclical, "Sacerdotii
Nostri Primordia.”
1959, Setember 26: Issued his third encyclical, "Grata
Recordatio.”
1959, October 11: Presided at centenary celebrations at
the North American College in Rome.
1959, November 28: Issued his fourth encyclical, "Princeps
Pastorum.”
1959, December 14: Created eight new cardinals.
1960, March 28: Created seven new cardinals, bringing
college of cardinals to record total of 85 members.
1960, May: Consecrated 14 missionary bishops in St.
Peter’s basilica.
1960, May 27: Canonized Gregory Barbarigo.
1960, June 12: Canonized John de Ribera.
1961, Jan. 16: Created four new cardinals.
1961, May 11: Canonized Bertilla Boscardin.
1961, July 14: Issued his fifth encyclical. "Mater et Magis
tral’
1961, Sept. 29; Issued Apostolic Letter on the Rosary.
1961, Nov. 11: Issued his sixth encyclical, Aeterna Dei
Sapientia (The Eternal Wisdom of God).
1962, Mar. 19: Created ten new cardinals, bringing the
college of Cardinals to a new record total of 87 members.
1962, May 2: Canonized Blessed Martin de Porres, Negro
Dominican brother.
1962, July 1: Issued his seventh encyclical, Paenitentiam
Agere (Practice of Penance by the World).
1962, Oct. 11: Opened Second Vatican Council In Rome.
1962, Dec. 9: Canonized Blessed Francis Maria Croese,
Blessed Peter Eymard and Blessed Antonio Pucci.
1963, Jan. 20: Canonized Blessed Vincent Palotti.
1963, Apr. 11: Issued encyclical Pacem in Terris (Peace
on Earth).