3o6 ANDREW J. SHIPMAN MEMORIAL 



of the "Merry Devil." When he was between ten and eleven 

 years old his father was promoted to Spanish Ambassador to 

 Belgium, and he was then transferred to schools in Namur 

 and Brussels, where he acquired a thorough command of the 

 French language. He finished his course at the College de St. 

 Michel in Brussels, and before he was eighteen returned to 

 England to enter the Catholic College of St. Cuthbert, at 

 Ushaw, near Durham, where he finished his studies in Philos- 

 ophy, in October, 1885. It is said that at the age of eighteen 

 he not only knew as much Greek and Latin as most professors 

 of those ancient languages, but he was amazingly well versed 

 in theology and Church history and the current affairs of 

 European countries, and could write and converse in English, 

 Spanish, French, Italian and German. At the age of twenty, 

 when he graduated from Ushaw, it is said that he spoke those 

 languages without an accent, and had a tolerable knowledge 

 of several others besides. In his amusements he developed into 

 a good bicycHst, a fine swimmer and a clever rifle shot; was 

 fond of riding and was a good dancer. When he determined 

 to become a priest at the age of twenty-one, his mother used 

 to laughingly warn him that his dancing days were over. 



After his graduation his father secured for him the position 

 of private tutor to the present King Alfonso XIII of Spain. 

 It was probably his influence which inclined the future King's 

 ideas towards things English, and which inclination eventu- 

 ated in the royal marriage to the English princess who is now 

 Oueen Victoria of Spain. When his father was appointed 

 Spanish Ambassador to the Holy See, his son accompanied 

 him to Rome and entered the Gregorian University to pursue 

 his studies for the priesthood. It is said that at one time he 

 had a desire to enter the Society of Jesus and to serve at one 

 of their missions among the poor in the East End of London, 

 just as Prince MaximiHan of Saxony did after being ordained 

 priest, but his confessor dissuaded him, and Pope Leo XIII, 

 who was a great judge of men, further persuaded him to enter 

 the Accademia dei Nobili Ecclesiastici, where in addition to 

 the other University studies, ecclesiastical diplomacy, political 

 economy and international law are taught. Here he acquitted 

 himself with even more credit, while he obtained high de- 

 grees in philosophy, theology and canon law. 



At the age of twenty-four he was ordained a priest for the 



