Fiftieth Anniversary of the Bishopric of Pope Leo XIII

On February 19 of this year, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIII 1, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his bishopric. Taking into account the high position of the hero of the day in the Christian world in general, in the Roman Catholic world in particular, the need for an Orthodox person to receive anniversary gifts and celebrations that have not yet ended, and, finally, the relative rarity of fiftieth episcopal anniversaries, we consider it not superfluous to at least briefly introduce the readers of the Theological Bulletin to this major church-political event in the modern life of Western Christianity. The Western European, mainly Italian, press and numerous admirers of Pope Leo XIII started talking about the anniversary long before the day of its celebration. The end of 1891, the whole of 1892, and especially the beginning of 1893 were spent in the most active preparations for the anniversary and, as always happens in such cases, in anxious expectations. Faithful and ardently devoted Catholics to the papal throne feared for the life of the hero of the day, who turned 82 on March 2, 1892, and who had been repeatedly subjected to attacks of influenza over the past year. But dad always recovered from his illness and put an end to this kind of anxiety. Then they were not sure of the warm sympathy of the Roman Catholic world for the solemn celebration of the papal jubilee. It was assumed that the participation in the latter of the Catholic laity and especially the French aristocrats, offended by the fact that Pope Leo XIII recognized the existing republican system of government in France as legitimate, would be very insignificant. To prevent such an undesirable phenomenon and to arouse due attention among Catholics around the globe, various measures were taken by different institutions and individuals for the fiftieth episcopal anniversary of the Supreme Leader of Catholicism. At the very beginning of 1892 in Rome, under the chairmanship of the papal secret chamberlain Radini Tedeschi, a committee was formed that tried to outline in advance the main aspects of the upcoming anniversary celebration. The fiftieth anniversary of the bishopric of Leo XIII, according to the assumption of the committee, was to be marked by an abundant collection of the denarius or mite of St. Peter in the capacity of a scholarship for the anniversary mass of the pope, an extraordinary influx at the time of the celebration of the anniversary of pilgrims to Rome to venerate the Holy Father, receive his blessing and absolution, and the establishment in each diocese or ecclesiastical province of various charitable institutions that would bear the name of Leo XIII. In Rome itself, it was decided to establish a hostel for students of the Roman Catholic confession, to establish a special patronage for girls destined for teaching, and to complete the construction of the Church of St. Joachim, which in the form of an unusual anniversary gift should be given to the hero of the day, who bore the name Gioacchino Necci from birth. In order to properly acquaint Catholics with the remarkable personality of the venerable hero of the day and his enormous services for Western Christendom, since February last year the committee began to publish a newspaper under the title: Leone XIII. The actions of the committee were well noticed by those people who needed to know about them, and, as they say, put the leading Catholic clergy on their feet. Italian and non-Italian cardinals, archbishops and bishops addressed anniversary messages to their flocks; the generals of the monastic orders: Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, Benedictines and others made every effort to create a movement among their subordinates and send as many monastic brethren as possible to Rome for the anniversary celebration; primates of the most significant councils from all over the Roman Catholic world, on the initiative of the chapters of the Roman churches of St. Giovanni in the Lateran and St. Peter, offered to present the hero of the day with a golden seat, to which St. the father expressed his full consent; the sacred orators of the Roman churches and various, mainly Italian, cities began to preach sermons and opened readings about the glory of the papacy in general and in praise of Leo XIII in particular. For the latter purpose, special ceremonies were also organized before the anniversary. For example, in Rome this year, on the feast of the Epiphany, more than seven hundred children of both sexes and their parents gathered in the Vatican, where a boy and a girl stood out from among them and before the face of St. father delivered a dialogue on the topic: La vittoria del Papato. Then they were all allowed to kiss the cross on the papal shoe, after which one boy, on behalf of all the children of the city of Rome, presented Leo XIII with 2,400 golden lire. The pope, sitting on the throne, solemnly blessed the children and ordered them all to enter their names in a special album with religious signatures appropriate for the occasion. This peculiar spectacle of “the glorification of the papacy through the mouths of innocent babies” pleased Catholic believers so much that it was repeated in different Italian cities, in the presence of the highest spiritual dignitaries, and the personality of Pope Leo XIII was replaced by his portrait. In the form of increasing anniversary offerings and enriching the papal treasury with the mite of St. Peter, zealous Catholics organized lotteries with contributions of 50 and 83 gold coins: the first according to the fiftieth anniversary of the bishopric of Leo XIII, the second according to the age of the hero of the day; Appeals were written and sent from city to city, inviting donations in favor of the hero of the day. The text of these appeals was very energetic and to an Orthodox person may seem not only strange, but also downright wrong. So, for example, the title of a signed sheet passed from house to house in Naples read: “Mite of St. Peter for His Holiness Leo XIII on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his bishopric. The Pope is Jesus in His visible earthly form, living with us in order to seek us with the tender care of his fatherly love. But would we really refuse to sacrifice anything for Jesus if He visibly appeared before us, would we really not want to express and present evidence of filial love for Him? By the time of the celebration of the anniversary, many articles and notes, brochures and even entire works had also appeared in different languages, which either provided biographical information about Leo XIII, or expressed a view of him as a church-political figure, or depicted the position of the papal throne upon the accession of Leo XIII to it. All this extensive special anniversary literature, as well as all the above-mentioned events of private individuals and public institutions, had the consequence that all Catholics, from the cardinal to the last layman, knew in advance about the upcoming papal anniversary, and most of them were preparing to take one or another part in the celebration. The venerable hero of the day himself was no stranger to these preparations before all others, wanting to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of his episcopal service with some great act. At least in the foreign press it has been stated more than once that Pope Leo XIII, on the occasion of his upcoming anniversary, intends to appeal to the Christians of the East with a call to return to the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church. Even at his very accession to the throne, he expressed “fatherly” concern for the churches of the East. Noting in one of his first speeches that “in the east is the cradle of the human race and the first shoots of Christianity appeared, that from there, like an immeasurable river, all the benefits of the Gospel flowed to the west, and that the glory of the famous men of the east, whom the spirit of universal truth raised to an unattainable height, and whose holiness, wisdom and valiant deeds will forever preserve their glorious names in posterity,” Leo XIII expressed the hope “that, by the grace of God, the peoples of the East, who have so long distanced themselves from the Roman Church, will finally be reconciled with it.” Of course, the ecclesiastical enslavement of the Orthodox East to the Catholic West would be the best anniversary gift for the pope... Although Leo XIII abandoned the fulfillment of his golden dream, the mere rumor that at the end of his days he was concerned about the reunification of the Christian churches could not but favor the hearts of those to whom the peace of the Church is dear to the hero of the day. Governments and rulers of states continued to prepare for the anniversary of the Roman high priest. Despite all the tension and even hostility in the relations existing between the Roman Curia and the Italian government, the latter, on the day of the papal jubilee, decided to rebuild the old church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna, where Leo XIII was ordained bishop. Not only that. A week before the papal anniversary, lively negotiations began between the royal court and the Vatican regarding the improvement of mutual relations, which, as the anniversary celebrations later showed, did not remain without a favorable influence on the mood of the head of Catholicism. The President of the French Republic Carnot and the English Queen Victoria, the Austrian Emperors Franz Joseph I, the German Wilhelm II and the Russian Alexander III, the Turkish Sultan and Prince Ferdinand of Coburg with his mother Princess Clementine, Princess Clotilde Bonaparte and many others - all with rare unanimity equipped extraordinary embassies or appointed their representatives to congratulate Pope Leo XIII on the fiftieth anniversary of his archpastoral service, they wrote letters to the Holy Father or prepared expensive gifts for him. When one of the French radicals, a certain Mr. Gubbar, decided to protest against the pope’s congratulations and made an inquiry on February 11 at a meeting of the Chamber of Deputies regarding the nature of the emergency embassy sent by the French government to Rome for the anniversary of Leo XIII, he received a remarkable answer from the Minister of Foreign Affairs at this time: “I consider it useless and even inappropriate to speak here in defense of the government’s decision... On the occasion of the pope's anniversary, even the governments of non-Catholic states send their congratulations to Rome. German Emperor Wilheim II sends General Lohe; even the Sultan sends an envoy extraordinary to the Vatican. In view of such undeniable evidence of deep respect for the Roman Pontiff, refusal to participate in the celebration of this anniversary would be an indecent act on the part of France, and the government of the latter considered it its duty to join in the general congratulations."... And Minister Develle was certainly right. Not only the sovereigns and empresses of all European powers, but also the little-known rulers of Asia, America, Australia and Africa expressed a desire to take part in the papal anniversary. For example, long ago to the last, the Gvanior Maharadsha, about the location of whose possessions not every educated person has a clear idea, informed the Vatican through his majordomo that on the occasion of the pope’s anniversary, his adjutant would arrive in Rome and bring two Kashmiri shawls, richly embroidered with gold, as a gift to Leo XIII. At the anniversary celebration of Leo XIII in the Vatican itself, only the absence of the authorized Chinese Bogdykhan was noticed, dissatisfied with the position adopted by the Roman Curia on the issue of French protectorate over the Christian population of China. After such a unanimous decision of the rulers to participate in one way or another in the celebration of the papal jubilee, it is not surprising that their subjects - the Catholic clergy and Catholic laymen, with noticeable fervor and mutual competition, hurried to take part in the honor of the Holy Father. Those who themselves went to Rome to worship the pope, and those who could not do this, participated with their money in subscribing to the anniversary mass of the pope, or sent their contribution to Rome in favor of the denarius of St. Petra with her family and friends. Everything thus foreshadowed that the fiftieth anniversary of Leo XIII would take place amid brilliant demonstrations on the part of Roman Catholics all over the globe. And indeed, February 19th of this year was the greatest holiday for believing Catholics, and for the hero of the day himself - a day of greatness and glory. By the beginning of the anniversary celebrations, representatives of monarchs and powers, many cardinals, archbishops, bishops, abbots, priests, tens of thousands of ordinary admirers arrived from all countries, and the city of Rome, which had managed to become largely an archaeological city, quickly came to life. The celebrations of the episcopal jubilee of Leo XIII began there on Friday, February 17th, and continued until Saturday, the 25th. On February 20, the pope celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of his accession to the primatial throne (exaltatio), and the day before, on the 19th, which fell on Sunday this year, the fiftieth anniversary of his service to the Catholic Church in the rank of bishop was celebrated with rare solemnity. By this day, the Roman Curia had distributed more than fifty thousand tickets to fans to attend the pope's anniversary mass, which was to be celebrated in the Cathedral of St. Petra. The famous church of St. Peter's, which has no monument in church architecture equal in size and richness of sculptural and pictorial works of the most brilliant masters, was even more decorated and somewhat adapted for the papal jubilee. In order to avoid displeasure and any misunderstandings, by order of the church authorities, a special tribune was prepared in the basilik for extraordinary ambassadors. Next to it stood a stage intended exclusively for members of the diplomatic corps and their families. Many of the pilgrims and citizens of the city of Rome spent the night of the anniversary without sleep, and from the early morning of February 19, everyone who had the opportunity hurried to the Cathedral of St. Petra. In the vast square of the latter, fans gathered and were lined up in a procession. At exactly six o'clock the doors of the Basilica of St. Peter's, and the colossal building quickly filled with praying, mostly Italian pilgrims. Despite the fact that the Roman authorities and the papal guards took all measures to prevent any kind of disorder with such a huge gathering of people, there was great constraint at the entrance to the cathedral. Many of those who arrived after six o'clock and had tickets to enter the basilica did not find access to it. At three quarters past eight, the ringing of the large cathedral bell, picked up by the ringing of all the Roman churches, announced to the impatiently burning people that the solemn procession of the venerable hero of the day had begun from the inner chambers of the Vatican to the Church of St. Petra. Surrounded by the clergy and secular officials of his court staff, Pope Leo XIII went first to the Capella della Pietá. Dressed here in expensive and brilliant clothes and taking his place on the sedia gestatoria, to the sounds of the singing of Ecce sacerdos magnus, overshadowed on both sides by ripids, accompanied by the first assistant to the throne, honorary chamberlains, officers of the noble and Swiss guards in full ceremonial uniform, a multitude of cardinals, archbishops, bishops and other prelates, Leo XIII continued his procession along the vast nave to the main altar of the cathedral church. The interior of the most magnificent cathedral at that time presented an extraordinary, amazingly beautiful picture, full of grandeur and bliss. A whole sea of ​​heads appeared to the eyes of those present, and the narrow passage left in the church for the procession to follow seemed as if squeezed between two solid walls of people. At half past ten, the golden helmets appeared and the halberds of the papal guards sparkled, and after them came the leading parts of the ceremonial procession, full of brightness, variety and splendor of ceremonial costumes, vividly reminiscent of the Middle Ages. Leo XIII, seated in his chair, signaled to stop at the statue of St. Peter and, rising, blessed the people who had fallen to their knees as he approached with his archpastoral blessing. Then his voice was heard, although senile, but intelligible. Every word of His Holiness reached the most remote parts of the church, so great was the silence that reigned in it. The crowd of sixty thousand Catholics listened with deep reverence to his speech, and with his last word the vaults of the majestic cathedral resounded with triumphant cries: “Long live Pope Leo XIII!” Men waved their hats, women with handkerchiefs, and all this grandiose, unparalleled unanimity ovation continued until the pope’s chair stopped in front of the steps of the main altar. His movable seat and turning his face to the people, the pope secretly read a prayer. At this time, the Sistine Chapel performed a cantata. The mass was celebrated with exceptional solemnity, during which reverent silence reigned among those present in the church. At the end of mass, Pope Leo XIII sang the hymn of St. Ambrose of Milan: Te Deum laudamus (We praise God to you), performed alternately by the Sistine Chapel and the praying people. After this, having placed his tiara on his head, the pope again sat down in his chair and for the second time gave his blessing to the worshipers, along with the remission of their sins. “The holy apostles Peter and Paul, in whose power and authority we trust,” Leo XIII read in a chant in Latin, “may they intercede for you before the Lord... Through the prayers and merits of the blessed. Maria Ever-Virgin, b. Archangel Michael, bl. John the Baptist and all the saints, may Almighty God have mercy on you, and, having forgiven all your sins, may Jesus Christ lead you to eternal life. Weakening and resolution of all your sins, a time of true and fruitful repentance, an always contrite heart, correction of life, grace and consolation of St. May the almighty and merciful Lord grant you spirit and decisive constancy in good deeds." Then rising from his chair, raising his hands and raising his eyes to heaven, the pope blessed the people on three sides and said: “And the blessing of Almighty God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, come upon you and may it always abide.” When the formula of plenary indulgence was read in Latin and Italian by the cardinal deacons, Pope Leo XIII, with the ringing of the bells of all the Roman churches, with the enthusiastic cries of the people and the warm greetings of the representatives of sovereigns and states from the stands, accompanied by the same brilliant retinue, returned to the Capella della Pietá and, having unmasked himself, went to his chambers at half past twelve. While serving the solemn mass, the eighty-three-year-old pope surprised everyone with his cheerful appearance and even at the end of the mass he did not seem tired. Those present at the latter only noticed that Leo XIII was unusually pale. One of the papal chamberlains explained that the pallor of His Holiness's face must be attributed to the excitement he experienced. And it was difficult not to worry in the place of the hero of the day. The elder, who had reached the extreme limit of human life, from the height of his throne contemplated on that day almost the entire civilized world, with remarkable unanimity testifying to their respect for his mind, character and the merits he had accomplished for the benefit of the Catholic Church and for the benefit of many nations. On that day he saw a great many ardently and sincerely believing Catholics, expressing their devotion to him with an enthusiasm that, in the eyes of an outside observer, surpassed any measure of prudence and decency. “Yesterday, when we attended a solemn service in the Church of St. Peter,” wrote the Moniteur de Rome on February 20 on behalf of all Catholics, “Pope Leo XIII was so great, so exalted, that we could fall on our knees and kiss the sacred sole of his feet. When Christ was transfigured in a radiant cloud and appeared before the eyes of His apostles as if shining in a fiery light, they fell on their faces and said: “Lord, You are truly the Son of God!” And then, when the cloud disappeared, and the Prophet came down with his companions from the mountain, they probably asked each other with reverence: “This man who walks ahead of us, speaks like us, who ate with us, is this the same one whom we just saw wrapped in a fiery mantle and illuminated by the Spirit of the Lord?” God also provides these fleeting Favors to his governors on earth in order to lavish his gifts on the world in abundance. Anniversaries are festivals of peace; they are also the gates of the future. When Leo XIII, sitting on his throne, sang yesterday in the huge church the melody of universal absolution, when from his white lips a blessing flowed tremblingly to the whole world, when all the cardinals, all the bishops and all those present fixed their gaze on this chapter illuminated with glory and majesty, when all the bells of St. Peter’s, their joyful sounds spread throughout Rome, and when everyone, at the last wave of the pope’s hand, fell on their faces, the church was filled with some kind of supernatural flow, filled with the greatness of the future.” Representatives of the Catholic hierarchy who attended the anniversaries, perhaps, did not all share these ultramontane views of the Vatican press on the pope, but they were all imbued with a feeling of deep respect for the latter. They honored in Leo XIII a most remarkable high priest, who during the fifteen years of his reign managed to do much more for the Catholic Church than many of his predecessors together. Having ascended the papal throne at the very time when various prerogatives and privileges of the Catholic Church were everywhere reduced or completely destroyed, when many bishops were deprived of their sees, monastic orders were persecuted and the flock was left without shepherds, Leo XIII very soon managed not only to return the lost benefits to Catholicism, but also to significantly increase them. Suffice it to say that, thanks mainly to his efforts, new bishoprics have been opened in Scotland, cardinals are serving as priests in England, new Roman sees have been founded in Canada and Montevideo, new Roman sees have been founded in China and Japan, the Catholic hierarchy has been established in India, negotiations are underway with the Turkish Sultan Curia on the establishment of the Catholic Patriarchate in Costantinople, there is a Catholic archbishop in Bucharest, in Romania and Bulgaria the church is under the protection of Catholic sovereigns, in Bosnia and Herzegovina the Roman bishops were increased by four new ones, in many places in Africa the apostles of Roman propaganda labor with great success. It is not without reason that some high-ranking prelates, congratulating Leo XIII on the fiftieth anniversary of his episcopacy, called him “the great pope.” Representatives of monarchs and powers greeted the hero of the day as a most skillful politician, who, with his deeply tactful behavior and preaching of Christian principles in national and international life, tried to restore the ancient power of the apostolic see and in the few years of his reign managed to raise the latter to a remarkable height of moral and political significance. Having abandoned to a large extent the original modus operandi of the Roman court and the policies of his immediate predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, upon his accession to the Roman see, set out to get closer to the governments of states around the globe and to establish relations with them that would be consistent with both the peaceful tasks of the Christian Church and the freedom-loving trends of the century. Without resorting to open, much less hostile, interference in the internal affairs of states, which under Pius IX aroused widespread resistance and damaged the influence of the papacy even in religious affairs, Leo XIII, with the eye of an experienced observer, always closely followed the phenomena of the social and political life of Europe and, when necessary, boldly raised his voice in defense of the Catholic Church and the religious interests of Catholics. European sovereigns and prominent political figures always listened sensitively to the speeches of the smartest and most educated pope, treated him with respect, and many, very many of them are ready to recognize in the current Vatican prisoner a representative of all-embracing force and irresistible power in Europe. The best confirmation of all that has been said are those brilliant demonstrations that worried Pope Leo XIII on the day of the fiftieth anniversary of his bishopric and clearly showed the too ardent admirers of the Holy Father how vain and unfounded were their fears regarding the animation of the Roman Catholic world for the papal jubilee. Not only for Rome will February 19th of this year remain memorable. The fiftieth anniversary of the bishopric of Leo XIII was celebrated with more or less solemnity in all other Catholic countries, mainly in the cities of Austria-Hungary. In Prague, the Brotherhood of St. Michael, on the occasion of the papal jubilee, a solemn meeting was held, in which Count Hans-Ledeburg made a long speech. In it, the speaker presented the pope as “a great statesman with a deep understanding of the issues that concern the world,” and, amid loud applause, protested against the various laws passed since 1870 by the Italian government and restricting the freedom of the Roman Catholic Church and the rights of its supreme leader. The anniversary of Leo XIII found a sympathetic response in Galicia, which was once very dear to us, among the local Uniates, who, by the will of historical fate, were torn away from Orthodoxy and brought into the fold of the Roman flock. So, for example, in Lviv Galicians, on the initiative of the local Uniate Metropolitan Joseph Sembratovich, in the presence of a select society, celebrated the papal anniversary in the halls of the Lviv People's House with a literary and musical evening, at which the local university professor Dr. Sharanevich gave a whole lecture on the activities of Leo XIII. With special emphasis, but not without protest from some listeners, the speaker, in his eulogy in honor of the hero of the day, said that the Pope especially favors the Galician-Russian people, that he fatherly cares about their real religious needs. The impact of Leo XIII’s favor towards Galicia is sufficiently explained by the “Galician” - in a sense, the spokesman for the conscience of the Galician-Russian people. Welcoming the high hero of the day in an editorial, this newspaper at one time wrote, among other things, that “the Galician-Russian people, with their characteristic sincerity, join the general manifestations of feelings of honor and respect for the pope in the conviction that the unfortunate situation of their church will not cease to be the subject of warm solicitude and care of the Vicar of Christ. The Galician-Russian people are convinced that the ruler of the papal throne, who established the day of remembrance of the first enlighteners of the Slavs, Sts. Cyril and Mythodius, as a holiday for the entire Catholic Church, which allowed worship in Montenegro and some South Slavic dioceses and even St. liturgy in the Slavic language, who honors and entrusts the observance of Eastern rites, cannot be unfriendly to the interests of the Russian Catholic Church in Galicia "... Having repeated almost literally these same words, another Russian-Galician newspaper - the Ungarsky “Listok” - found it necessary to add to them: “May He, the Almighty, preserve His Holiness in the world safe, honest, healthy, long-lived and rightly ruling the word of His truth.” The faithful sons of the Catholic Church honored their St. not only with enthusiastic rejoicings and prayerful wishes. father on his anniversary; They expressed their deep respect for dad not only in words, but also in deeds. The program for celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the bishopric of Leo XIII, drawn up by the Roman Curia long before February 19, 1893, was executed in the best possible way by numerous admirers of the high hero of the day. True, the chapters of the Roman Catholic churches, under a plausible pretext, avoided presenting the golden throne to the pope, but the Vatican coffers, in commemoration of the anniversary day, received piles of monetary and various material gifts. According to the Italian newspaper "Century" (Secolo), during one February the pope received a balo, on the occasion of his anniversary: from Austria-Hungary 1,500,000 lire (including 100,000 lire from Emperor Franz Joseph and the same amount from the archdukes, from the Archbishop of Prague and the Cardinal Primate of Hungary, 300,000 lire from the Czech aristocracy), from England and Scotland - 1,200,000 lire, Ireland - 10,000 lire, Germany - 350,000 lire, Italy - 200,000 lire, France - 225,000 lire, Argentine Republic and Uruguay - 150,000 lire, Mexico - 200,000 liras, from other American republics - 300,000 liras, Spain - 180,000 liras, Belgium - 100,000 liras, Turkey - 30,000 liras. A total of about 4.5 million liras. However, this figure is not only incomplete, but cannot be considered approximate. So, for example, the Bishop of Norfolk personally gave the pope two envelopes, one of which contained a check for 400,000 rubles with the inscription: “to the Holy Father, a sign of reverence from an English Catholic,” and in the other, a gift from English Catholics in the amount of 750,000 rubles. Moreover, parties of multilingual pilgrims, eager to receive the blessing of the Holy Father for themselves and their country, still continue to arrive in Rome and present their earthly gifts to the “Vicar of Christ.” In addition to monetary donations, many sovereigns and crowned heads sent the pope with their representatives various precious gifts. The German emperor presented the pope with an expensive ring in the style of the times of Frederick I, “as a symbol of episcopal dignity.” Wilheim II's gift caused complete delight in the Vatican. The diamond in the ring is so large and of such wonderful design that, according to experts, it is worth a whole colossal fortune. The President of the French Republic, Carnot, presented Leo XIII with an expensive Sevres porcelain vase. Princess Clotilde Bonaparte, sister of the Italian King Humbert, sent St. to her father a golden cross studded with diamonds, and asked the pope to “bless all Italians without exception.” Leo XIII, of course, understood who the princess actually meant by those excluded from the blessing, and answered her that as soon as he blesses the Italians, he “never makes any exceptions,” which, therefore, his blessing equally extends to the House of Savoy. Particular attention was drawn in the Vatican to the gift of the Turkish Sultan, presented to Leo XIII through the Armenian Patriarch Azarian: this is a recently found tombstone with an epitaph dating back to the time of Emperor Marcus Aurelius and allegedly confirming, in the words of the most learned hero of the day, the idea that already in the first centuries of Christianity “from time to time pilgrimage journeys were made from the east to Rome to the tomb of the first pope,” i.e. Apostle Peter. The receipt of monetary donations and various kinds of gifts has not stopped to this day, and the pope himself does not know exactly the amount of his anniversary offerings, which are currently being transferred to his two closest prelates for storage in a special room, which will be opened by a whole commission of cardinals. It is believed that the value of all anniversary offerings will reach up to ten million rubles - a very impressive figure, without comment, eloquently speaking about the high authority of the hero of the day and the feelings of deep respect that the donors have for him. In our opinion, what deserves special attention in this case is the fact that most of the monetary gifts are intended not for the needs of Pope Leo XIII himself, not for the maintenance of his court, but for the propaganda of the Roman Catholic faith, which already has millions of sums and enormous real estate in all parts of the world. And one involuntarily recalls here the meager resources of our Orthodox missionary society and therefore the cramped position of our missionaries and spiritual missions in comparison with non-Orthodox ones. Why, do you think, should not the anniversaries of our archpastors be decorated with such donations...? Then a significant capital would have accumulated in the hands of our hierarchs, which we believe they would willingly use for the purpose of enlightening with the light of Christ the numerous pagans, sectarians and schismatics sitting in darkness. It’s not up to our spiritual anniversaries, but to those people who organize anniversaries for our archpastors and participate in them. Why not, in this regard, the Orthodox flock learn from the faithful and devoted Catholics to the Roman throne, who, as we have seen, diligently prepared for the anniversary of their holy father and expressed their feelings of respect for him, among other things, in generous monetary offerings for the benefit of the Catholic Church? It is not reprehensible to learn good things from anyone and it is never too late. For biographical information about Leo XIII and his characteristics, see the article by A.I. Vvedensky B.V. June. – Ed. You might be interested in: