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NO. 2,914.
PERTH, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1936.
PRICE THREEPENCE.
Fourteenth Anniversary of Pope's Consecration The Holy Father's Long and Outstanding Pontificate
Burn at Desio, near Milan, in 1857, Achelles Ratti first studied at the Diocesan Seminary in Milan, and later at the Lombard College in Rome, when he was ordained priest at the age of 22. Father Ratti read a brilliant course and secured the triple doe torate, viz., in Philosophy, Theology, and Canon Law. Three years after his ordination, at the early age of 25, he was appointed to the Professorship of Dogmatic Theology and Sacred Eloquence in the Milan Seminary. His great erudition soon became known, and at the instance of celebrated the scholar, Monsignor Ceriani, he was appointed to the College of Doctors at Milan's famous Ambrosian Library. On the death of Mgr. Cgriani, Dr. Ratti was named Prefect. During this period he earned, throughout f taly and Europe, no mean literary reputation. His essays, arTHE HOLY FATHER ON THE OCCAS ticles and treatises of a literary ION OF OF HIS SACERDOTAL GOLDEN JUBILTHE CELEBRATION and scientific nature can be numEE IN 1929. bered by hundreds. But this Thursday, the 6th. inst., marked the period was not exclusively devotfourteenth anniversary of the election of Pius XI. to the Throne study. ed to Dom Achille Ratti of Peter. Despite his advanced age (theHoly Fathe achieved a power of Apostolic r will complete his 79th. year on March 31st.), the present labours at the same time. He Pontiff's reign has been characterised by astonishing vigour was the director of the Order of , fearlessness and faith. So many and so outstanding have been the Cenacle for many years, orthe achievements of the Papacy in the last 14 years ganised an Association of Cathothat none can doubt but that it vies with the most gloriou lic Schoolmistresses, sodalities of s traditions of the past. the Children of Mary for various social classes, and prepared the A splendid series of Encyclicals, on the little chimney sweeps of Milan Social Order, Marriage, Christian Charity, Education, and for their first Communion. most recently, on the dignity of the Priesthood, have been In 1911, however, this life ut issued. The layman has, for the first time since the combined learned labours and Reformation, been readmitted to share in the Apostolic labours of :\postolic works came to an the Hierarchy through Catholic Action. abrupt end. The missions have been more He was suddenly closely organised and stimulus added to the summoned to Rome as Pro-Preuniversal solution of missionary problems by the creation tect of the Vatican Library, Ind of native priests and bishops. The millenary of the Passion was gloriously assistant to Father k later Carcelebrated by an extended Holy Year. dinal) Elide, S.J., whom he sucThe Roman Question has been laid to rest by the successful ceeded two years later as Preissue of the Lateran Treaty. No modern movement which fect. In the same -ear he was tended to militate against Christianity has been suffered made Protonotary Apostolic. The to pass without r ebuke and active opposition. The holines war period put an end to Mgr s of the Catholic Church has received remarkable emphasis Ratti's career as a librarian. by the unprecedented number of canonisations. Just prior to the end of tile ar, Pope Benedict XV. sent In all things which concerned the welfare him out as Apostolic Visitor to of the Church, Pius XI. has proved a skilful and intrepid leader Poland, in order to regulate the ,' combining in his person the courage and sound judgm complicated affairs of the Church ent of the Alpinist of former years. The Catholics of Western Australia in that unfortunate country. will pray God that the Holy Father may W hen Poland finally obtained be spared yet many more years to guide the destinies of the restored independence, the Holy Church to a yet more glorious future. Father manifested his sympathy with the Catholic nation by appointing Mgr. Ratti Apostolic Nuncio to the new Republic. In o f the most disturbed portions of public. Even outside PolatTh, the Consistory of July 3, 1919, he Europe, caused univer sal surthe intrep id Nuncio exercised w as consecrated (aptly enough) prise. The situation was in important influen ce in various Titular Archbishop of Lepanto. every way most difficult and dire ctions. Through the good This sudden transference of c ritical, but the new Nuncio dis- offices of his diplomacy, he obone hitherto known almost ex- played such remar kable tact and tained the liberation of many priclusively as a scholar and a writ- diplomatic skill, and even hero- soners and hostages from the er from the tranouil life of a ism, that he played quite a lead- hands of the Russian Bolshevists. great Library passed amid anci- ing part in the final settlement Just prior to his elevation to the ent codices and bibliographical of both the political and ecclesi- Papacy, he was appointed in exresearch, to the active life of dip- astical difficulties which sur- traordinary mission as ecclesiaslomacy, in the very midst of one rounded the birth of the new Re- tical Commissioner for the pleb-
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escite in Upper Silesia at the unanimous request of Poland, Germany and the Inter-Allied Commission.. No chater in the Pope's marvellously varied career will assume greater importance than his diplomatic successes in Warsaw. In 1921, at the completion of his successful mission, he was made Archbishop of the historic See of Milan, and at the same time received the red hat. The scholar displayed in the episcopate an equal genius for activity. He assumed the pastoral care of a diocese of 800 parishes with nearly 3.000.000 subjects. His first move was to appeal for 100.000 lire to provide for religious education in the primar) schools of Milan. The amount was oversubscribed by 14,000 lire. Another great achievement was his prosecution of Cardinal Ferrari's design to found a Catholic University which Cardinal Ratti successfully completed. During this period .and during his previous sojourn in Milan, the future Pope won distinction as an Alpine climber, a sport which he dearly loved. His crossing of the Marinelli gorge in 1889. and of the Zumstein hill for the first time Qfl record, remains celebrated in Italian Alpine annals. Such in brief is the career of the scholar, diplomat, apostle, and explorer prior to his election as Pope on Februar-- 6. 1922. It is interesting to note in passing the alleged prophecies of St. Malachy concerning the characteristics of future Pontiffs. These w ere printed towards the end of the 16th. century. and though their authencity is much disput- • ed by historians, it yet remains that some of the mottoes into which the Papal characteristics are crystallised, have been uncannily verified. Of Pius IX., for instance, the prediction was "A Cross from a Cross." This may be verified by the cross of his banishment by the House of Savoy, whose coat of arms contained a cross. Leo XIII. was "a light in heaven." The supporters of the Malachian prophecies point to the star on his coat of arms, and to his great intellectual achievements. "A bi.rning fire" was the characteristic foretold of Pius N.. and indeed his zeal was his outstanding characteristic. Benedict XV.'s "depopulated religion" was only too sadly true. Of the present Pope, "undismayed faith" was announced. What could be more apposite of the leader of Christ's Church as he stands undaunted amid the ruin of Western civilisation? 4