Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/223

Rh of Sharon and the lily, it is called—which, together with a sword and hat, are annually blessed by the Pope, on the fourth Sunday in Lent, and given occasionally by him, to some prince or princess, who has rendered service to the Pontifical throne. In the year 1849 it was given to the Queen of Naples; since then, it has, I believe, been presented to the French Empress Eugenie. On any year when it happens not to be disposed of, it is put by for the next occasion.

After this comes Palm Sunday, when the Pope blesses the palms; then the three solemn masses, with Miserere, called Tenebræ, in the Sistine chapel. Thursday, mass in St. Peter's, and the Pope's benediction of the people from the balcony of the church, after which comes the Lavanda; then La Cena, and again the Miserere. The Friday is not a holiday in Rome, as with us. The shops are open; the people go about their business as on other ordinary week-days; there are nevertheless, solemn masses in the churches, the exhibition of relics, various symbolic ceremonies, and the most solemn Miserere of all, in the Sistine chapel, during the singing of which, the light is extinguished, so that there is a prevailing twilight, in commemoration of the darkness during the crucifixion on Golgotha.

Saturday is, comparatively, a day of rest. The fire is blessed in the churches, and various illuminations, symbolic of the light which Christ brought into the world. This ceremony is especially splendid in St. Peter's. In the evening, the chapel of St. Paul, in the Vatican, blazes, with thousands of candles, a really magnific i ent illustration of the symbolic meaning just mentioned.