"In the dining room [of the Papal Apartments], there were three bird cages with the little songsters the Holy Father loved so much. It was in fact Cardinal [William Henry] O'Connell [of Boston] who gave the Secretary of State Pacelli a cage containing two canaries when he was visiting the USA. These two now adorned the dining room. It was not until a greenfinch that had fallen out of the nest entered the house, was reared there, and delighted the Holy Father with its attachment to its new "family" that the little birds became Pius XII's inseparable companions.
Everyone, after all, needs some kind of diversion and relaxation. All of us around Pius XII, knowing that he never permitted himself any distraction, did everything to make the brief breathing space spent with the birds as pleasant as possible. The Holy Father was particularly fond of Gretchen, the beautiful, pure white canary. At first the bird did not thrive very well in her nest, and so we took her into special care. This was no easy matter during the first few days since she had to be fed carefully every two hours. It took some time before the little bird became tame. When the Holy Father came to meals, the little nest with Gretchen in it would be standing beside his plate so that he could give her this feed himself. She stayed there in her nest and cheeped when the Holy Father left. Gradually she made her first attempts at flying and soon came to meet the Holy Father, sat on his hands, head, and shoulders, flew on to his plate, and once -- despite all our precautions -- into the hot soup! Fortunately, she was not hurt.
What pleasure this little creature gave the Holy Father! She recognized his step perfectly and flew to meet him when he came to breakfast or lunch. She would pull at his hair or even his ear when he was so lost in thought that he did not pay any attention to her. She sat on his hand and sang him a song for all she was worth. If she was thirsty, she would settle on his tumbler or wine glass. She flew on to every dish that was brought in to see if there was anything on it that she liked. When the Holy Father wagged his finger at her, saying, "Gretchen, that's not for you," she would fly off and settle instead on his hand to see if there might be something for her there. After the Holy Father's walk, we sometimes let the birds fly into the study. Usually the Holy Father would be sitting in an armchair by the window busy with the work that was brought regularly from the Secretariat of State after lunch. Gretchen would then fly directly on to the Holy Father's shoulder and from there to the sheet of paper he was holding in his hand, as if she wanted to read it too. Once, a sheet of paper slipped out of the Holy Father's hand and slid across to the door opposite. As quick as lightning Gretchen shot after it and with all the strength she could muster pulled the piece of paper right up to the Pope's feet with her little beak. She would dearly have loved to put the paper on his knees, but that was beyond her strength, so the Holy Father picked up both Gretchen and the sheet of paper. The little bird fluffed herself with joy at the praise she received.
There was one thing that Gretchen could not stand and that was for the Holy Father to be busy writing. The little bird would then sit herself down exactly where he wanted to write and peck at his pen, so that he could not write a single word. When the Holy Father opened an envelope, Gretchen at once hopped into it to see what was inside. But the wonderful time in the study did not last long! Soon the Holy Father, with no time to waste, would ring for poor Gretchen to be put back into her cage. At 6:15, the hum of the electric razor was to be heard from the Holy Father's dressing room in the mornings. At the sound of it, Gretchen could not bear to be imprisoned in the cage any longer and was allowed to fly in to the Holy Father even though he was busy listening to a French or English lesson on the radio. There Gretchen would sit on his razor, being rocked to and fro."
-- Sister M. Pascalina Lehnert, housekeeper for Pope Pius XII for over forty years, on Pius XII's beloved pet birds -- particularly his favorite, a canary named Gretchen -- in her book, His Humble Servant: Sister M. Pascalina Lehnert's Memoirs of Her Years of Service to Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII (BOOK | KINDLE).
