r's
pence bestowed and so economically managed, that Pius IX. was able to
invest money for the benefit of his successor, although not to such an
extent as to render the collection of Peter's pence in the future
unnecessary.

It has long been customary, on occasion of the august ceremony of the
coronation of the Popes, to address to them, with due solemnity, the
words: _Annos Petri tu non ridebis_. (Thou wilt not see the years of
Peter.) It is related that one of the Popes thus replied to the ominous
address: _Non est de fide_. (That is no article of faith.) Pius IX.,
however, was the first who showed that the words were not strictly
prophetic. His Pontificate was prolonged beyond the years of Peter at
Rome. Already, on the 10th of June, 1871, when he was enabled to celebrate
the twenty-fifth anniversary of his election to the Pontifical chair, he
had enjoyed more than the years of Peter. The great apostle, it will be
remembered, spent two years after our Lord's ascension in preaching the
Gospel at Jerusalem and throughout Judea. After this, Antioch, at the time
the capital of the Eastern world, became the scene of his apostolic
labors. He was bishop there for seven years when he established the
central seat of Christendom at Rome, the metropolis of the known world.
The apostle remained there till his martyrdom under Nero, A. D. 67. Thus,
Peter was Pope thirty-four years or so, whilst he was Bishop of Rome only
twenty-five years and some days. A festival at Rome could not now be held
with the wonted circumstance of outward religious pomp. The remarkable
anniversary was not, however, less devoutly observed at the Basilicas of
St. Peter and St. John Lateran. These immense edifices were crowded with
people of all classes and of every age. Nor in this did the Romans stand
alone. Prayers and communions were offered up in every diocese of the
world, supplicating Heaven for a continuation of the years which had been
already so auspiciously granted to the venerable Pontiff. More than a
thousand congratulatory messages were flashed along the telegraph lines.
All the sovereigns of Europe, with scarcely an exception, paid their
dutiful compliments to Pius IX.; the telegram of Queen Victoria being the
first that reached him. From the New World as well as from the Old there
came numerous deputations. One day, in replying to them, the Holy Father
delivered no fewer than twelve discourses in Latin, French, Spanish and
Italian. To many