and Pastorals which have come from his fecund brain since 1906 have been gathered together in five massive volumes which show him to be a real father to his spiritual children, ever on the alert to warn them of danger, to orientate their minds on the burning questions of the hour, and to encourage them to the living of a fuller spiritual life.

But this vast amount of teaching Cardinal Mercier has galvanized and made living for his priests and people by his own example of apostolic zeal. From the moment of his appointment as their Archbishop, his first thought was to get in close touch with them. Every morning at eight o'clock the doors of the palace were thrown open, and from that time until the noon hour-and often far beyond it-he could be seen moving among the crowds who had gathered, dispensing alms and fatherly advice. Each one was received exactly in the order of his arrival. questions whatever were asked as to the purpose of his people's coming. Many times he has been known to go without food until evening, listening to important questions, or some tale of woe. Nor did he hesitate, when occasion demanded, to trudge out on sick calls, or to visit homes where dissension threatened to part husband and wife.

No

It is easy to imagine what this complete change of life must have meant to a man of his studious

habits. Like every good bishop, he was omnipresent in his diocese, which counts over two million souls. In order to multiply himself as much as possible, he was one of the first bishops of Christendom to make use of an automobile, seeing in this not a sinful extravagance, but merely the means of ministering more effectually to those members of his flock living in remote corners of his diocese.

Some years ago, while on his way to Antwerp, a little child suddenly ran across the road directly in front of his automobile. As there was not sufficient time to stop the machine, he shouted to his chaffeur to turn it into the stone wall that ran alongside the road. The result, of course, was a bad wreck, in which the Cardinal sustained a severe injury, the scars of which were distinctly visible on his thin, ascetic face when he visited America after the close

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of the war. The child escaped unscathed. In referring to this incident, he always said that it was much better that he should have met with an accident than that the child should have been even slightly injured!

In all his ecclesiastical works there is the unmistakable note of sincerity and holiness. Indeed, all Belgium looks upon him as a living saint. Those who have lived with him for years are one in testifying that though of a highly nervous temperament, he

has never been known to be peevish or irritable. The students with whom he shared his meals whilst he was a professor still speak of his abstemiousness and his rigorous observance of the Lenten fasts. His charity is proverbial. His zeal for the things of God is all-consuming. His kindness and consideration have never been known to fail.

I first saw Cardinal Mercier in the Fall of 1909, in the crypt of the Cathedral of Milan, where the body of the great archbishop of that see, St. Charles Borromeo, is still preserved on the altar, incorrupt. This glass shrine is opened up, and the body exposed, only for bishops whilst saying Mass. On this par

ticular morning the Cardinal, who had just finished celebrating Mass, seeing me vesting, asked that the shrine be not closed, and himself deigned to serve me and to answer the prayers. Afterwards we walked about the Cathedral together, conversing familiarly. Even then I was lost in admiration of his kindness and urbanity toward an unknown, insignificant young priest who had not even finished his studies. Some years later, meeting him in Brussels, he recalled the incident distinctly, and mentioned some of the matters we had then discussed.

It was his kindness and his gentleness, no less than his willingness to get our American point of view, that endeared him to people of all creeds and

colors during those weeks when his going up and down our country was more like the triumphal march of a conquering hero than an ovation given to a stranger. During those days he never showed fatigue, never grew slack in enthusiasm for things American. Cardinal Mercier had in his younger days traveled a great deal in England, Italy, Germany and Russia. In those days he often talked of paying a visit to America also, being all the more anxious to do so because a maternal uncle, the V. Rev. Adrian J. Cloquet, had for years been laboring as missionary on the Grande Ronde Reservation in Oregon. This and the fact that when the Catholic University of America was established in Washington efforts were made to enlist his services as one of its professors accounted for his special interest in our country.

Those who saw him coming up the Bay on the day of his arrival noticed the eager light in his eyes -eyes that after those of Pope Leo XIII are said to be the keenest of the last two generations. It was, no doubt, the light of joy in his heart at seeing America at last, that lit up his face and fairly made it glow. And America took him to her heart at once, whole-heartedly, as she is wont to do when the occasion warrants. During his visit his popularity grew day by day. With consummate tact, he always said and did the right thing in the right way. Whilst

he did not heap abuse upon the Germans, he was not slow to lay before Americans the sorry plight of his own country and bespeak for her the kind offices of the nation which had proved itself a real pillar of support to the war impoverished countries of Europe. Through his earnest representations plans were made for the restoration of the Louvain Library, which perhaps more than any other havoc wrought by the war tore his scholarly heart. There was scarcely a university of the country that did not confer upon him honorary degrees-degrees which he had won years before on his own Belgian arena. Municipalities vied with one another in arranging demonstrations in his honor. Wherever he went the freedom of the city was conferred upon him. And after he had left us, men pointed out the spots that he had visited, and erected monuments and busts to him, not only as one who had learned to know and love our land as few others, but as one of the great outstanding characters of those turbulent days of the World War.

Those who saw the Cardinal during his visit to America, and more particularly those who had the privilege of knowing him personally, rejoice in the knowledge that his beloved Belgium is rapidly returning to its status of pre-war prosperity. All are glad of this, not only for brave Belgium's sake, but