Pope Pius the Tenth

								

irresistible and unquestioned.
To most boys who serve daily at the altar the thought of the priestly
life will sooner or later suggest itself; to some it comes as an
overwhelming call. Giuseppe's vocation seems to have grown up with
him, to have been, from his earliest years, the very centre of his
life. About half a mile beyond Riese stands a chapel dedicated to the
Blessed Virgin, containing a statue known as the Madonna delle
Cendrole. Here young Bepi loved to come and pray, pouring out his
joys and sorrows at the feet of the Mother of Christ, and perhaps she
was the first confidant of his desire to consecrate his life to God.
Certainly this sanctuary was especially dear to him in after-life, as
one round which clung the happiest memories of his childhood.
At twelve years old the boy made his first communion. Did he think
the time was long in coming, and was it the memory of the desire of
his own childish heart that moved him in after years to shorten the
time of waiting for the children of the Catholic world?
Anything that tended to the knowledge of God seemed to have an
irresistible fascination for Bepi. Never was he known to miss the
classes where the parish priest, Don Tito Fusarini, and his curate,
Don Luigi Orazio, taught Christian doctrine to the children of the
parish. So quick was his intelligence and so remarkable his aptitude
that Don Luigi, who at the time was teaching Latin to his own younger
brother, took Bepi also as pupil. The boy's progress soon convinced
his tutor that he had the makings of a scholar, and the two priests
determined to prepare him for the grammar school at Castelfranco.
Distant about four miles from Riese, Castelfranco, with its medieval
and romantic atmosphere, its ancient fortress and picturesquely
crowded market-place, is not the least attractive of the old Venetian
cities. Here, in 1447, was born Giorgione, and here, in the beautiful
old cathedral, is to be seen one of his most famous Madonnas. On
either side of the Virgin Mother, seated on a throne with the Divine
Child in her arms, stand St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Liberalis,
the patron saint of Treviso, a young knight in armour. Many a time
must the boy Giuseppe have slipped into the quiet cathedral to pray
before the Madonna. Did he ask for the strength of the warrior and
the humility of the friar, to be loving like the Christ and pure like
His Mother? Those who knew him in after-life could bear witness that
these gifts were his.
Day after day, in all weathers, the boy tramped the four miles into
Castelfranco, his shoes slung over his shoulder, and a piece of bread
or a lump of polenta in his pocket. In the fourth and last year of
Giuseppe's school life he was joined by his brother Angelo, and as
the financial affairs of their father had slightly improved, the two
brothers were promoted to a rather ramshackle donkey-cart.
The day's work was far from over when the lads came home from school.