MONSEIGNEUR DE MERODE.* THE Life of Xavier de Merode, Almoner,
and for a time War Minister of Pius IX., the brother-in-law and, in a sense, also the disciple of Montalembert, deserved to be written by so enthusiastic a biographer as Monseigneur Besson ; and Mon- seigneur Besson's memoir deserved translation into English, and, it must be added, into somewhat more flexible English than Lady Herbert's. First a soldier, next a priest, always a saint, and to the last at heart a pure-minded and high-spirited schoolboy, De Merode was perhaps the best of the little band of soldiers of the Cross and of fortune who gathered round the late Pope, and supported him in his non possumus policy and in his final struggle for the Temporal Power against Garibaldi and Victor Emanuel. He had not Antonelli's somewhat crooked ability, but he was in all respects a much better man. He was not perhaps so much either of a soldier or of a fanatic as his friend Lamoriciere, but he was more of a man of the world, and more of an optimist. The able author of Souvenirs de Rome, photographed him admirably when he said:— " He is both a hero and a saint, with a peculiar and remarkable face which it is impossible to forget when one has once seen him. Add to this, theological theories pushed perhaps to an extreme, struggling in his brain with a modern spirit, as if two different per- sons were in the same body, and he seems at one and the same time a Spanish Inquisitor, a brilliant French officer, and a loyal Belgian
citizen To see him sleeping on a board, passing his winters without a fire, rushing into every corner of Rome, reforming the prisons, founding endless charitable institutions, building barracks, setting up fountains, and the like, one says to oneself that Monseigneur de Merode is, in all Rome, the only true friend of real progress."
And "one says to oneself," after reading this book, that the indomitable and hopeful champion of Papal pessimism was either born three centuries after his proper time, or should have stuck to his original profession of soldier, which he took to on the advice of his brother-in-law, Montalembert. He might have made a second Bayard, or a more refined Dunois.
Xavier de Merode was born in Belgium in 1820, and died in Rome in 1874. His life, therefore, although it embraced all the sieges of Rome by Garibaldi, may be described as a short, and we had almost added a merry one. The earlier chapters of Monseigneur Besson's book are the ple,asantest reading in it. Xavier was born in the odour of sanctity, in the best Roman Catholic sense. His father, Count Felix de Merode, was a fervent Catholic and a Belgian patriot who had married into the great French Catholic family of Grammont ; indeed, Xavier's grandmother, the Marquise de Grammont, had a greater influence on his mind than any one, his brother-in-law, Montalembert, not excepted. Montalembert visited this happy family at their château of Villersexel, by • Prod./rick Francis Xavier de Merode, Minister anii AkIll.NIr to Pius IX., Archbishop of Melitensis : his Life and Works. By Monseigneur Beason, Bishop of Nimes. Tianolated into English by Lady Herbert. London: W. H. Allen and Co. 1887.
way of relief from his arduous work as a politician and lay theologian in France, and has embodied his sentiments regarding it in a letter, a portion of which we cannot refrain from reproducing :—
"You cannot fancy a more delightful family gathering than we have here. We are often fifteen at dinner, all full of love and affection towards one another, full of gaiety and freedom ; above all full of sympathy on all religious and political questions, which, being discussed without a shade of bitterness, are interesting to the last degree. This large family party is presided over by -the Marquis de Grammont, who is seventy years of age, and who has preserved all the exquisite grace and courtesy of the old school while faithful to the ideas of 1789, which makes him a worthy brother-in-law to General de Lafayette. Then there is his wife, nee De Noailles, of the same age as himself, all of whose moments are consecrated to the relief and education of the poor in the neigh- bourhood, and to the care of her own home. Both are the most amiable heads of a family one ever saw, and the least exacting, not choosing to be either cared for or accompanied, leaving every- body free to do as they like, and only living for the happiness of others. Afterwards comes the eldest son of the house, married to Mdlle. de Crillon ; then M. de Merode, my father-in-law, the most honest man I ever met with, whose every thought, word, and deed, has but one object,—the good of the Church and of his neighbour. He is perfectly adored in this country, where he always lived till the Belgian Revolution. Last of all is my mother-in-law, the faithful inheritor of her mother's virtues, and also her almoner. One and all follow in the same steps, and are equally beloved. You can fancy how delicious it is for me to enjoy the love of my wife not only tete-d-tete, but in the bosom of a family where every- thing responds to the feelings in our two hearts. I must confess that, until now, I never guessed what could be the noble and salutary influence of a family so profoundly Christian as this one in a country like ours, and especially in these days."
Under the " direction " of such a family, Xaxier de Merode could not help growing up a good boy,—although he was also a mischievous one, endowed with a biting wit. He was an in- corrigible practical joker, and a thorn in the flesh of the teachers at the various colleges where he was educated. Here is a typical story :—" One of the masters was one day giving the students a meditation on the ingratitude of men towards God, and expressed himself as follows : I give a bone to a dog— he is grateful, and loves me. God gives us his Blood, and we are indifferent to Him—ungrateful creatures that we are ! Learn our duty from a beast." Yes, yes ! that's just it '—[could not Lady Herbert, without straining a point, have rendered this, that's just what we are doing 'P3—exclaimed Xavier, and all the boys repeated it in chorus." Yet there was nothing irreverent in Xavier; he was always ready to use his wit, and even his fists, against impertinent "freethinkers."
Xavier entered the Belgian military service while yet a boy, and lived in garrison at Brussels. Tiring of such monotonous life, he took Montalembert's advice, and having asked permis- sion of the King of the Belgians, he joined the French army in Algiers, under Marshal Bugeaud, and so distinguished him- self that he received special notice from his commander. In North Africa, also, he came to know and to appreciate— perhaps too highly—his comrade in the subsequent agony of the Papacy, General Lamoriciere. He returned to
Belgium, embarrassed though not unduly elated, with congratulations. But a -variety of circumstances, more
especially the death of his loving step-mother, induced him to give up the military for the clerical profession. So in October, 1847, he left for Rome to study for the priesthood, deciding to join the Secular Clergy. Revolution was beginning there, and afforded Xavier, who elected to face its dangers, more than one opportunity of showing his courage and soldierly qualities. In particular, when the dethronement of the Pope had been decided upon by the Revolutionary Government in 1848, and Pius IX. answered by a sentence of excommunication, Merode got hold of the Bull, "gave a pot of paste to a workman who followed him, and in the middle of the day posted up the ex-
'communication on the doors of the Basilicas and of all the public buildings of Rome." His Belgian nationality did not prevent him from being thrown into prison. So well known
did Merode become for his active work on behalf of the Church, even in the comparatively minor capacity of Mili- tary Chaplain, that when, on the Pope's returning to Rome, Merode presented himself to him, to ask his benediction before returning to Belgium, Pio Nono said,—" I will keep you and
make you my cameriere segreto participente." From this time forward, Merode became personally associated with the Pope, and remained in his service till the day of his death.
The account given by Monseigneur Besson of the life of
Xavier de Merode during the period—very nearly a quarter of a century—in which he acted as, after Cardinal Antonelli, the Pope's right-hand man, is eminently interesting, although it cannot be said to throw much fresh light on the history of the Papacy during its most trying time, so far, at all events, as the present century is concerned. Xavier was not a great theologian or ecclesiastic ; we can hardly picture him brooding over such a problem as that of Papal Infallibility. He does not appear to have ever questioned the doctrines of the Church, any more than he ever faltered in his clannish personal loyalty. Whatever he did—whether it was relieving the poor, or preserving the Catacombs from profanation—he did with his whole heart and soul. When, after the final defeat of Lamoriciere, whom he had summoned to Rome to organise a Papal Army, he acted as War Minister, to be ultimately dis- missed at the instance of France, he built a barrack, eighty metres long, fifty deep, and thirty high. "It was arranged on the most careful hygienic principles, with dormitories for one thousand beds, and covered walls for manceuvres in wet weather, the walls being built of tufa and bricks. It was built in ten months, and some hundreds of men, both civil and military, were employed on it. The cannon on September 20th, 1870, beat in vain on those walls, and scarcely left a trace. The whole cost was only 430,000 francs." He was once described as "the great Minister of a small State ;" but during one portion of his life, he might, with at least equal accuracy, have been described as a great General with no army to speak of. How comes it that hopeless causes almost invariably attract to their defence spirits like Xavier de Merode, who never cease to hope, and never believe that all is lost ?
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