CREATION OF CARDINALS—AUDIENCES AND ALLOCUTIONS—THE POPE REALLY A
PRISONER—THE PRINCE OF WALES—ENGLAND—IRELAND.
A creation of cardinals was necessary. There were twenty-nine vacant hats.
Towards the close of 1873 Pius IX. resolved on twelve new creations. One
of these became the occasion of protesting anew against the Italian
government. The Society of Jesuits had always been a special object of its
hatred. They were the first whom it expelled from Rome, as has been the
case in more than one persecution. And now they were robbed,
notwithstanding the hopes that the European ambassadors were led to
entertain of the Roman College which was their property. The Holy Father
met this new brigandage by raising a member of the society to the dignity
of cardinal. Tarquini, professor of canon law at the Sapienza (Roman
College), was the favored member. Thus did the despoiled Pontiff condemn
the ignorance and rebuke the robbery of the new rulers of Rome. “I am
aware,” said Pius IX. on this occasion, “that the Jesuits do not willingly
accept ecclesiastical dignities. I had not, therefore, thought, until now,
of conferring the purple on any of their members. But the unjust acts from
which your society is suffering at this moment have determined me. It
appeared to me to be necessary that I should make known in this way what I
think of the ignorant calumnies of which you are the victims, and at the
same time give proof to yourself and your brethren of my esteem and
friendship.”
If, ever since the violent seizure of Rome, it was customary to speak of
the Pope as “the prisoner of the Vatican,” his enemies, on the other hand,
ceased not to insist that he was perfectly free, whilst he obstinately
persisted in remaining within the walls of his palace. It has been noticed
already that every approach to Rome and the Vatican was strictly guarded
by the soldiers of the usurping king. A circumstance which occurred on the
evening of the 20th June, 1874, further showed how close the imprisonment
was. It was the twenty-eighth anniversary of the coronation of Pius IX.
_Te Deum_ was celebrated in the Vatican Basilica, and, what rarely
happens, the spacious edifice was completely filled. More than one hundred
thousand people, as nearly as could be estimated, or two-thirds of all the
Romans who were able to leave their houses, were massed as well within the
church as on the places St. Peter and Risticucci. When _Te Deum_ was over,
all eyes instinctively turned towards a window of the second story of the
palace. It was the window of the Pope’s apartment. Suddenly a white figure
appeared at this window, and immediately a cry arose from below. It was
the voice of the Roman citizens; a voice so grand that it might be said to
express the mind of a whole people, as they saluted their king, who was a
prisoner. It continued for some time, and, although the window was at once
closed, the prolonged acclamation of the faithful Romans rose louder and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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