Rafael, Cardinal Merry del Val

"Give me souls, take away all else." This earnest appeal of Cardinal Merry del Val reveals the secret of his life, the story of his ambitions and joys. As man and prelate, few dignitaries of the Church during the early part of this century have left such an impression of culture, holiness, and statesmanship. Irish and Spanish by blood, English by birth and education, cosmopolitan by office, and Catholic in the deepest and truest sense of the word, his ideal was to be a priest in a poor parish in England but he was launched on a diplomatic career opposed to his tastes, his ideals, and his spiritual interests. In the course of his life he became a close friend of two great Popes, Leo XIII and Pius X, with whom he worked on famous reforms and on crucial modern problems. In the early years of his priesthood, Merry del Val organized a club for boys in Trastevere, a rough quarter in Rome, and even when he was Secretary of State under Pius X, he did not miss a day in a visit to this Association.—Print ed.