a good book is the best of friends. Enemies The date of this last school essay is March 1894, when he was 17, almost 18 years old. The topic “my enemies” was not of Pacelli’s choosing, it was given to Eugenio Pacelli and the other students by his professor as a project for the whole class. As a child I saw in long sleepless nights bad, ugly, black fairies dancing around me. Fairies, who are the enemies of good children and as these terrible faces appeared in front of me, changing into ever more terrible appearances, I put my head under the covers. One could say, that they were anticipations, what will happen later in life. I will have enemies, no doubt. Some of my ideas, may be a little original. Some may be not totally correct in the opinion of others, although I am convinced of their goodness. Some of my ideas I will pronounce with a loud voice, and may be with a careless openness. All this will create enemies, hate and vengeance. But this will not hold me back, or, not to mention, give up. Of course, everybody acts different against his enemies. Some get really angry, others highly upset, others are incapable of reacting and fall into resignation. ... I am going after what is for me the cure of all pain, which makes me forget everything bad, study. When I have to fight against my enemies, I develop a powerful drive to do studies, strong, and numerous as never before. The prospect of the great works illuminates and strengthens me. This is my revenge. References Sources Piero Bargellini, Il Pastore Angelico, Pio XII, Roma, 1950 Gilla Gremini, Il Santo Padre Pio XII, Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana, 1943 Alden Hatch, Seamus Walshe, Crown of Glory, The life of Pope Pius XII, New York, 1956 Sr. Pascalina Lehnert, La Profondità di un'anima da una testimonianza vivente, in: Rivista delle Religiose, 1968, 12 Sr Pascalina Lehnert, Ich durfte ihm dienen, Erinnerungen an Papst Pius XII, Würzburg, 1985 Ilse Lore Konopatzki, Eugenio Pacelli, Pius XII. Kindheit und Jugend in Dokumenten, Pustet, Salzburg und München, 1974 Margherita Marchione Burkhart Schneider, Pio XII, Pace, Opera della Giustizia, Torino, 1984 C. Verwoort, Pius XII, Pergamon, Antwerpen, 1949 Otto Walter Pius XI, Leben und Persönlichkeit, Olten und Freiburg, 1941 External links Pope Pius XII biography Pius