Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 15.pdf/409

 366

eign pontiff, to the balcony over the portico of St. John Lateran, and blesses the city and the world. No more fitting place could be found for this benediction, for from the Lateran palace have issued decrees which, in their far-reaching influence, made thrones tremble and princes acknowledge the power of the church. In it five ecumenical councils of the church have been held.

be present, the General of the Church, the Sacred College, and the Princes Colona and Orsini, who are the hereditary princesassistantsi at the papal throne. In this pro cession the temporal sovereignty, as well as the spiritual supremacy of the Pope is recounized. On this occasion the Pope is dressed in

BASILICA OK ST. PEIER — INTERIOR

The coronation of the pontiff is one which no nation of the world can outdo in splendor and pageantry, and yet every act is sym bolic and intended to teach some doctrine of the Church. On the day of the coronation the Pope goes in procession to the Sistine Chapel, attended by the secret chamberlain, the chamberlains of honor, the chaplains, the representatives of such nations as desire to

white, save the red satin mozetta, hood and shoes. As the procession reaches the door of the Sistine Chapel the cardinal-deacons give the new Pope the papal ornaments. The first master of ceremonies girds "the falda of taffetas," under the rochet, which is a kind of surplice, with tight-fitting sleeves, made of fine lawn or lace, and puts the red satin biretta on his head. The Pope then enters