One of the poorest of the island parishes of Venice was Burano, which
in ancient times had been famous for its point lace. The cardinal,
moved by the misery of its inhabitants, determined to revive the
industry; but only one old woman remained who knew the art. A
benevolent lady, persuaded to interest herself in the work, got the
old woman to teach her, started a school of lace workers, and soon
had six hundred girls in training. Clubs were started for young men
and boys, not only here, but in many other parishes. There was no
difficulty, no misery for which the patriarch did not try to find a
cure. He had the art of giving without offending people whose decent
appearance covered a poverty often more bitter in that it had to be
hidden. He went one day to see a friend who had fallen on evil times,
and who was in dire need of help. "I am so sorry," said the
patriarch, "I have absolutely nothing left, but take this," giving
him an exquisite ivory crucifix which had been given him as a
present; "it is valuable, and will realize a good sum."
Although unflinchingly firm in everything that concerned the faith
and the rights of the Church, the frank courtesy of Patriarch Sarto
and his conciliating spirit kept him always on good terms with the
government. He bade his priests and people respect all lawfully
constituted authority, recognizing that "the powers that be are
ordained of God." "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's,
and unto God the things that are God's," he would often say. When
King Humbert of Italy was assassinated he ordered that a requiem
should be sung for him in St. Mark's; and when the widowed queen came
to Venice for rest and change of air, he visited and consoled her
with the most heartfelt sympathy. "The restoration of society in
Christ is the only cure for all the world's evils," he would
constantly repeat. "No good is good which is not rooted and founded
in Christ." He had the gift of inspiring others and rallying them to
his own charitable schemes, filling them with a fire and energy like
his own.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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