gree in Jurisprudence at the University of Genoa. In Rome, he studied at the Lombard Seminary and the Academy for Noble Ecclesiastics. Ordained priest in 1903, he soon became a tninutante or clerk to Mgr. Pacelli, who was then Secretary of the Congregation of Extraordinary Affairs, and after a brief spell in the Nuntiaturc at Munich was appointed a Substitute in the Secretariat of State by Benedict XV.
It is an open secret that Mgr. Pizzardo was PiOt a stranger to the lengthy preparations which culminated in the settlement of the Roman Question by the Concordat signed at the Lateran in 1929. But meanwhile he had been active in the organisation of the various religious associations of Italy into one homogeneous body.
Organiser of Catholic Action He is stated to have drawn up the plan for the co-ordinated Azione Cattolica ltaliana which was approved by Pius X1 in November, 1922, and, with modifications, has been the model for all the subsequent adaptations which have been recommended wherever the growth of an apostolic laity has necessitated some comprehensive
scheme of organisation. His position as Chaplain General to Italian Catholic Action makes him an authority on one of the leading questions of the day, and it is correct to say that whatever ether preoccupations may have claimed his attention, the progress of the apostolate of the laity is the subject upon which Mgr. Pizzardo has most spent himself No one who was present at the gathering of representatives from 35 nations which was assembled last Whitsun to discuss the prospects of Catholic Action could forget the impression ot judicious and authoritative enthusiasm with which Mgr. Pizzardo presided over thu plenary meetings.
Besides being one of the senior consultors in most of the Congregations Mgr. Pizzardo is the president of the Pontifical Commission erected by Motu Proprio in 1934 to deal with Russian affairs.
PAPAL DELEGATES AT THE CORONATION
A slight figure which does not betray the activity spent in these arduous charges, Mgr. Pizzardo does not look his age. Among his extensive linguistic accomplishments is a fair knowledge of English which should help to make his mission to England a memorable one, for as was said of him some time ago by our contemporary, La Croix, "so far from allowing the diplomat to overshadow the priest he is first and foremost a priest."
Mgr. William Godfrey
In Mgr. William Godfrey, D.D., the Pope's Envoy brings with him an English prelate who has shown his worth both this country and in Rome; and both England and Rome can claim to have helped to mould his gifts.
It was from Ushaw College that the young Liverpool man went out to the English College to continue his student days— apropos of which circumstance we may regard it as a happy coincidence that destiny held for him not only a teaching post, after his ordination, at his old college in County Durham, but also the rule and direction of the Venerabile. He has been Rector there since 1930.
Mission Propagandist
Dr. Godfrey is a member of the Supreme Council of the Propagation of the Faith; in that office he has contacts with many parts of the Church's great missionary field.
Seven years ago he was made a Domestic Prelate; and in 1935, Malta honoured him by creation as an honorary Canon of the Collegiate church of St. Lawrence at Vittoriosa, Malta, when he accompanied Cardinal Lipicier to the island as a member of the Papal Legation.
Mgr. Godfrey may not have had to resist " temptations to belong to other nations," but there can be no question that he " re mains an Englishman." An ardent patriot, he is keenly interested in all that concerns the honour and the welfare of his country, and of the Empire generally.
Marchese Guido Pacelli
The third member of the Mission, the Marchese Guido Pacelli, nephew to the Cardinal Secretary of State, is an officer of the Noble Guard. His inclusion in the delegation brings to London for the second time an honoured name in this connection; for it may be recalled that on the occasion of King George the Fifth's coronation the Mission sent by Pope Pius X included Mgr. Pacelli.
The Marchese is studying Canon Law at the Gregorian University. As a lawyer he follows in the footsteps of his late distinguished father, who was official lawyer to the Vatican for the Lateran .Treaty. It is to be hoped that the young officer whom London will shortly welcome may in turn live to perform good service, in his profession, for the Holy See.
The Rev. A. R. Birley
While in England the Papal Mission will have the secretarial help of an English priest, the Rev. A. R. Birley, M.A., in the capacity of addetto provvisorio, or attache. Father Birley is at the English College in Rome, studying for a Doctorate in Ecclesiastical History at the Gregorian University.
A convert to the Catholic faith, Fr. Birley was received into the Church at Cambridge, to which University he went from Uppingham. His reception took place just before he took his degree in History. After making his philosophical and theological studies at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, he was ordained priest, by the Bishop of Lancaster, two years ago.