"He instinctively can find the shining greatness of our American culture and does a good job of highlighting it (although he also does have those rare lapses when he writes about hockey, but that is something caused by impurities in the Eastern waters or something)." Erik Keilholtz
Under the patronage of St. Tammany
Mark C. N. Sullivan is an editor at a Massachusetts university. He is married and the father of three children. Email
Friday, March 14, 2003 Pope Leo X had a beloved white elephant named Hanno
The remarkable story of pleasure-loving pontiff and pachyderm is told in the book The Pope's Elephant.
When the pope made an appearance, it would genuflect, make loud noises, and even cry…It seems that Hanno would spontaneously kneel down and cry "Bar, bar, bar" upon seeing the pope.*
Hanno had made a less-than-impeccable first impression. On presentation, the elephant followed instructions to kneel at Leo's feet, but spying a stoup of holy water, dipped in her trunk and sprayed the pope and everyone else in range.
Listen to an interview historian Silvio Bedini gave on NPR on the pope and his elephant.
This rhino also was sent by the King of Portugal as a gift to Leo X, but was lost when the ship sank on the way to Rome.
![[SMMMHDH]](http://www.mgilleland.com/music/smmmhdh.png){kind=small}
