Among the 60-odd patrons of 60-odd Roman churches who wear, throughout the world, the red and the rank of Cardinals of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, there are always some whose eminence is peculiarly conspicuous. The present generation dimly recollects Manning of England, vividly recalls Gibbons of Baltimore, still boasts Mercier of Belgium and him whose country is his church, Merry Cardinal del Val.*
Once Merry del Val was a young man, brilliant, resourceful. Once even Cardinal del Val was a young cardinal— for he received his red hat at the age of 37,...
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