On this page
-
Text (3)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
' - ! fCoutinued fi-oiri p ^ 6 *) ' ' « Cf pop F $ Jii > 4 Yj . When I went 16 St . Vetec ' 3 this morning , the body of oqr $ avj p ur was still lying in sftstte in t ^ e tan > b i » jthe Pauline Chapel , which was 1 iltummited , as before * with an infinity of candles , the light of day being exQjud ef l . jhe pope was at this moment in theSistine Chapel , and there was another service going on in the chapel of the choir attached to the cathedral . In the afternoon I repaired again to the latter , and heard some really fine music—much superior , to my ear , to what I had heard on the Wednesday . As the service was tedious , I strolled out into the body of the
cathedral , where I witnessed a niost singular sight . There was a Cardinal placed on a high seat , and with a golden wand in his hand , with which he touched the heads of a number of persons who came and kneeled down before him . I inquired what was the meaning of this , and was told that it was the giving of absolution for venial sins ; and on inquiring again what these were , I was answered , that they were such as do not endanger the safety of the soul—such as incur purgatory , but not hell . I was astonished at the credulity of the people who could put faith in any such absolution as
this , and could not help suspecting that the very Reverend Cardinal and the priests , his assessors , must see through the farce which they were acting . But there was something more ridiculous immediately after ; for , in returning to the chapel of the choir , I met three processions of penitents , black , white , and red . Each of these men was clothed in a long robe which covered him entirely from head to foot , there being only two little holes near the top for him to see through , and each carried in his hand an immense
wax candle . Their ridiculous appearance was a burlesque upon all religion . The offices of the day were finished by the Pope coming in state into the cathedral and performing some ceremony before the high altar , but I could not get near enough to see what it was , for there was a great crowd and soldiers to keep guard . The relics were also brought out , as on the preceding day : I was not in the nave at the tirne , and if I had been , I could not have seen them very distinctly , as the little gallery from which they are
exhibited is at a great height . Saturday . I went soon after nine in the morning to the fchurch of St . John de Lateran . Just as I arrived , there was a grand procession of priests from the church to the baptistery , which is a separate building . When the whole procession had entered , the officiating Cardinal began by reading what I suppose was the baptismal service , after which he blew upon the water in the font , and put into it three portions of salt and one of oil . The element being thus rendered worthy of its office , the work of baptism was begun with a converted Jew . A cup-full of the water was poured upon his
head , and when this had been well wiped off , a small quantity of oil ; the towel was then applied a second time , and when the form of words was eoneluded , he was presented with a long wax candle , to light him back to his seat , I suppose , though it was all in broad day-light . After him came a Negro boy and two Jewesses , on whom precisely the same ceremony was performed as on the Jew . Some of the noly water was sprinkled on the congregation , and the whole assembly then returned to the church . Here the Cardinal held a grand ordination , the particulars of which , though somewhat tedious , were very singular . I was fortunate in obtaining a good place for seeing , and still more so in having for my next neighbour in the crowd a
Untitled Article
( 7431 . )
Untitled Article
t ^ dtmNA ^ o& a Totto . ow iGOWr&i ^ W .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1828, page 743, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2566/page/15/
-