Wlodimir (Vladimir) Ledochowski Family Maryland, U.S. Political Connection

According to a Baltimore, Maryland newspaper

Perhaps you have read that the new Black Pope of Rome, the general of the Jesuits, has just been elected and that he is Vladimir Ledochowski, a very near cousin of the family. Everyone is so pleased. It is odd that he has the same name as my husband.
from a 1915 letter by Countess Louise (Warfield) Ledochowski

The newspaper article featuring the above illustration reported that the man that married Louise Warfield (daughter of Edwin Warfield, Governor of the State of Maryland from 1904-1908) in 1913 was the son of Count Leon Ledochowski (whereas he man that became black pope in 1915 was the son of Anthony Ledochowski- picture below left).

top illustration, below illustration, and above quote from Baltimore, Maryland newspaper clippings from the University of Maryland Special Collections

His Eminence James Cardinal Gibbons (23 July 1834 - 24 March 1921) was an American prelate, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore from 1877 until his death. In 1886 he became the second man from the United States to be made a cardinal. He served as Cardinal-Priest for Santa Maria in Trastevere basilica in Rome.

More at Wikipedia

Gibbons advocated the creation, was among the founders, and served as the first Chancellor of The Catholic University of America.

The New York Times on the Vladimir Ledochowski - Louise Warfield Divorce

The Countess Ledochowski 1918

Will Renounce Her Title
Countess Ledochowski Applies to Resume Citizenship and Own Name

Special to The New York Times

BALTIMORE, February 11- Countess Louise Ledochowski, daughter of the late Governor Edwin Warfield will renounce her title in order to resume her status as a citizen of the United States.

The Countess’s application was one of forty for naturalization before Judge Morris A. Soper today in the United States District Court. She failed to appear, and it was said she was not in the city. Unless a special hearing is granted, her application will not come up for consideration again until March 10.

Born in Baltimore, February 27, 1889, she lost her American citizenship and became a citizen of Poland when she married Count Ledochowski May 8, 1913. She obtained a divorce November 25, 1922 with the custody of her three children.

Last October she applied for naturalization, but had to wait 90 days before her application could be heard. When her application is granted, she will resume the name of Warfield, and her children will resume the name of Warfield, and her children also will take that name. This was asked for in her application.

http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F00C12FD395F17738DDDAB0994DA405B848EF1D3

The New York Times on the Vladimir Ledochowski Family Maryland Political Connection

The Countess Ledochowski 1918

MISS 'WARFIELD IS NOW COUNTESS; Daughter of Former Maryland Governor Weds Count Vladimir Ledochowski

Special to The New York Times.
May 9, 1913, Friday
Page 11, 1165 words

BALTIMORE- May 8, 1913 Miss Louise Warfield, daughter of ex-Gov. Edwin Warfield, was married at noon today to Count Vladimir Ledochowski of Poland at her parants’ town house on Linden Avenue. Owing to the recent death of the bride’s grandfather the ceremony was very simple. Only a few intimate friends in addition to the Warfield family were present. None of the Count’s relatives witnessed the ceremony.

While the bride has been brought up as a Presbyterian and has expressed her intention not to change her faith, the Count is a Catholic, and the ceremony was performed by the Rev. William A. Fletcher, rector of the cathedral. Cardinal Gibbons witnessed the ceremony, and in bestowing his blessing, said to the Count and the Countess:

“Other contracts may be broken, but not that of marriage, which can be dissolved only by death. There can be no dissolution of this tie, even if you could or would desire it.”

Then, directly addressing the Count, the Cardinal spoke of his friendship and high regard for the Count’s uncle, the late Cardinal Ledochowski, and expressed the hope that the young man would emulate the civic and personal virtues of his family. Cardinal Gibbons then gave his blessing to the Count and the Countess.

The wedding of Miss Warfield was the third of international interest to occur in this city this Spring....

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9D04E5D7173FE633A2575AC0A9639C946296D6CF&oref=slogin

The Washington Post on the Vladimir Ledochowski Family Maryland Political Connection

The Countess Ledochowski 1918

Sidelights on the Smart Set

Interesting Events and Gossip, Both at Home and Abroad Chronicled in The Post’s Exchanges

The Washington Post; November 30, 1912

The engagement is announced from Peking of Miss Louise Warfield, daughter of Mr. Edwin Warfield, former governor of Maryland, and Count C. Ledochowski, of Austria. Miss Warfield who is making a tour of the world with her brother, Mr. Edwin Warfield Jr., met Count Ledochowski in Japan.

Miss Warfield is a great beauty. Count Ledochowski comes of an old and prominent family of the Polish aristocracy. He is an only son, and is stated to be the owner of large estates in Austria. He registers from Austria. It was at the Austrian embassy in Tokyo that they met.

News of the engagement has aroused the greatest interest in Baltimore. No hint of the international romance had reached there until Thursday night.

Mr. Warfield was surprised when asked about the matter. At first he declined to say anything. Later he made this statement: “My daughter and son have been traveling in the Far East, and I understand that she met such a person as Count Ledochowski being properly introduced. It seems to me that the proper person to announce such an engagement would be the father of the young woman. I am not prepared to announce such an engagement at this time

Miss Warfield was introduced at a brilliant ball given at government house in Annapolis in 1907, and has taken an active part in society since then. In the winter she has spent much time in the South, particularly at Miami.

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/135785422.html?dids=135785422:135785422&FMT=FT&FMTS=ABS:FT&fmac=&date=NOV+30%2C+1912&author=&desc=SIDELIGHTS+ON+THE+SMART+SET

Maryland Gov. Edwin Warfield 1904-1908

The Washington Post on Cardinal Mieczyslaw Ledochowski

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost...+REPUTED+FIANCE

Miss Warfield’s Reputed Fiance

The Washington Post, January 15, 1913

Count Vladimir Ledochowski, whose engagement to Miss Louise Warfield has lately been reported, and who is said to be now on the way to this country, bears a name that is very familiar on this side of the Atlantic . For his uncle, the late Cardinal Ledochowski, was for many years perfect of the propaganda, to which in those days the Roman Catholic Church in the United States and Canada was subject.

The cardinal was extremely friendly to Americans, perhaps just because of the fact that he was of Polish origin, being at the head of one of the oldest houses of the Polish nobility. He used to be known as the “red pope”, in order to distinguish himself from the white Pope, who was the pontiff, and from the black pope, who was the general in chief of the order of the Jesuits.

He was the only cardinal in the history of a church that is nearly 2,000 years old who was created a member of the sacred college while in a prison, and who received the red biretta in a penitently cell.

The prison in which he was incarcerated when he became cardinal was that of Ostrow, in Prussian Poland, and he had been arrested and cast into jail by orders of the late Prince Bismarck, owing to his refusal as archbishop and as primate of the Province of Posen to submit to the so-called Falk church laws.

Two Full Years in Prision

He spent two full years in prison before being liberated and sentence to exile, and he then proceeded to Rome where he lived as the honored guest, first of Pius IX and then of Leo XIII, exercising a potent influence at the Vatican. So much so, indeed, that before Bismarck would consent to a cessation of the so-called Culterkampf, he insisted that Cardinal Count Ledochowski should leave Rome and cease to be a member of the Pope’s immediate entourage.

After Bismarck ’s fall the cardinal became not merely reconciled to the Prussian government, but a particular friend of the present Emperor William to such a degree that he came to be looked upon at Rome as the principle representative of the kaiser’s interests in the sacred college. He held the chieftainship of the propaganda until forced by blindness to resign from office.

Count Vladimir Ledochowski is a man in the neighborhood of 50, is a chamberlain of Emperor Francis Joseph, a lieutenant colonel of lancers, and until a year ago formed part of the household of the widowed duchess Maria Josefa, sister of the King of Saxony and mother of that young archduke, Charles Francis, who is at the present moment the second heir to the throne of Austria.

Count Vladimir’s younger brother, Count Joseph Ledochowski, about eleven years ago was forced to resign his commission of captain in the Sixteenth hussar regiment of the Austrian army, and likewise his titular office of chamberlain to the emperor, under circumstances that created a great deal of sensation at the time....