Holy Pontiff. He sent
vestments to the churches of Paris which had been pillaged by the Commune.
He provided, habitually, in like manner, for the churches of poor and
remote missions. In July, 1875, he sent twenty thousand francs to the
people who had suffered by inundations in the southwest of France, and
five thousand francs to such as had similarly suffered at Brescia, in
Upper Italy. He bestowed, likewise, large sums for the rebuilding of
churches--for instance, eight hundred francs for this pious purpose to the
Bishop of Sarsina, and two thousand to the Bishop of Osimo. Charitable
institutions were not overlooked, and the Princess Rospigliosi Champigny
de Cadore received fifty thousand francs towards the support of the house
of St. Mary Magdalen, the object of which was the preservation of young
women in the city of Rome.

As regarded works of art or of public utility, the venerable Pontiff was
no less munificent. He completed the restoration of the Church of Saint
Ange in Peschiera, together with the magnificent contiguous portico called
Octavia, and rebuilt the altar with the marbles found by Visconti in the
emporium of the Emperors. The tomb of his illustrious predecessor Gregory
VII., at Salerno, having become dilapidated, he undertook to restore it at
his own cost, and renewed the fine epitaph which Pope Gregory himself had
caused to be engraved on the sepulchral stone; _Dileri justitiam et odici
iniquitatem, et ecce in exilio mortor_. (I loved righteousness and hated
iniquity, and lo! I die in exile.)

Quite a number of people were employed in the manufacture of mosaics at
the Vatican. On this the Romans justly prided themselves. Pius IX.
continued to employ these artists, and, as in former times, presented
their works to his guests or to the churches of Italy. If he was not still
a king, he retained, at least, a truly royal prerogative--that of
conferring gifts in every way worthy of royalty. Nothing could exceed the
delicacy and graciousness with which he did so. Of this the two Russian
Grand Dukes, brothers of the reigning Emperor, were witnesses, when he
made a present to them of a splendid table, in mosaic, which they were
observed to admire among the more humble furniture of his apartment. The
funds must have been, indeed, abundant which could meet so many demands.
Although despoiled of his revenues and property, the Holy Father was a
richer monarch than the prince who robbed him. So liberally were Pete