Red Hats

The Pope, a slow figure in white, entered the great Hall of the Consistory in Rome last week. Cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, abbots waited in silence as he came among them, made a prayer to the Holy Ghost, as he spoke on affairs of his Church.

At last, Pope and cardinals were left to secret consistory for the actual naming of the four new cardinals whom the Pope had recently mentioned (TIME, Dec. 12, 1927), and of a fifth one.

To the College of Cardinals His Holiness named:

Raymond Rouleau, to be archbishop of Quebec and Cardinal; and asked: "Has anyone anything to say?" The cardinals severally raised their red caps in silent & formal assent.

Pedro Segura y Saenz, to be archbishop of Toledo and Cardinal; and again asked: "Has anyone anything to say?" Again the cardinals severally raised their red caps in silent & formal assent.

Alexis Henry Lepicier, to be titular bishop of Tarsus and Cardinal; and again asked: "Has anyone anything to say?" Again the cardinals severally raised their red caps in silent & formal consent.

Charles Binet, to be archbishop of Besancon and Cardinal; and again asked: "Has anyone anything to say?" Again the cardinals severally raised their red caps in silent & formal consent.

Justinian Szeredy, to be archbishop of Gran and Cardinal; and again asked: "Has anyone anything to say?" Again the cardinals severally raised their red caps in silent & formal consent.

Later in the week took place the public consistory at which Cardinals Rouleau, Binet, Lepicier and Szeredy received the great rolled-brim hats of their princely ranks. (Cardinal Segura y Saenz could not attend in person; will receive his hat at a later date.)

On this occasion His Holiness referred with special affection to Cardinal Szeredy, calling him the "Benjamin" of the Sacred College of Cardinals. That was because Cardinal Szeredy, 43, is the youngest member of the Sacred College.

Benjamin was Jacob's youngest son (there were eleven others). But Benjamin was not his original name. Rachel, before she died in giving him birth, called him Benoni, which in Hebrew means "son of my sorrow." Widower Jacob renamed the baby Benjamin; "Child of my right hand."

Just so, Cardinal Szeredy began life as George Sapucek, one of a poor Slovak tinner's eight children. Their home was at Deaki, a Slovak village then under Austro-Hungarian rule, but now under Czechoslovakian. The boy occasionally earned a few heller running errands for the local postmaster. The village priest found ecclesiastical aptitude in the boy and led his thoughts toward a monastic vocation. George Sapucek took Benedictine vows and, as is the religious custom, latinized his first name as Justinian. Further, as the Hungarian law required, he altered his Slovak family name to the Hungarian "Szeredy," a word that hap- pens to mean "Wednesday." Thus it was as a Hungarian, not as a Slovak, that the Benedictine Monk Justinian Szeredy gained reputation in the Church. Not since Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val has any risen so fast. Pietro Cardinal Gasparri, now Papal Secretary of State, summoned him to Rome to work on the 14-volume revision of the canonical statutes. (Last year the books were published as Cedicis Juris Canonici Fontes.) Pope Pius XI was then Achille Ratti, Vatican statistician and librarian. When the War broke Achille Ratti often twitted the young Benedictine companionably. One day he jokingly asked: "Well, my brave Hungarian, were you afraid to go out into the streets of Rome?" To that there could be no answer other than a friendly smile. Then Austria-Hungary called Monk Justinian to serve with her troops. He became a "father of the regiment," as the Roman Catholic powers call their chaplains, and suffered the miseries of the War.

Afterward he returned to his editorial work in Rome. His friend Achille Ratti became Pope Pius XI, and entered the Vatican precincts for life. When the bustle of apostolic succession had passed and the routine of the Vatican resumed its century-old orderliness Pope and monk met for friendly chats. One day the monk twitted the Pope. He asked, eyes dancing quite as Cardinal Mundelein's can dance: "Does Your Holiness mean to venture forth into the streets?" His Holiness has an excellent memory; he recalled his past pleasantry; he beamed.