Page:The life and letters of Sir John Henniker Heaton bt. (IA lifelettersofsi00port).pdf/91

 wonder of England. Borne aloft on a Chair of State, on the shoulders of eight men, his Holiness entered, waving his wan thin hand, bestowing his blessing on the right and on the left to the kneeling multitude. He wore his tiara, or triple crown. Having arrived at the pontifical altar, the chair was lowered, the Pope was conducted to his throne, and the ceremonies commenced. Thirty-two princes of the Church, or Cardinals, first approached, knelt before the throne, and kissed the Pope's ring of ofhce. Fifty Archbishops then approached and kissed the Pope's knee, and two hundred Bishops followed in quick succession, knelt and kissed the Pope's right toe, in token of their fidelity and obedience to the successor of Peter.

"The ceremony of Canonization then commenced. The tiara was removed, and his Holiness knelt before the altar and prayed. Then followed the formal demand for the Canonization of Joannes Baptista Rossi, Canon of St Mary in Cosmedin, who was born in Liguria in 1698; Laurentius di Brindisi, a Capuchin, who was born in 1559; Joseph Labre, a mendicant, who was born in 1748, at Amettes in France; and Clara de Montefalco, an Augustine nun, who was born in 1268. The decree was read, and, after the third demand, the Pope celebrated High Mass, and was served or waited upon by some Roman nobles and Cardinals. After Mass, or before its completion, the oblations were presented to the Pope. About fifty or sixty Bishops, Priests, and Franciscan brothers approached the throne, and presented Leo with gilded bread on plates of silver, wine and water in gold and silver barrels, and a number of cages containing live doves, pigeons, and smaller birds. Then the Cardinal Procurator offered to his Holiness a document in a purse of white silk embroidered in gold, and it was ordered that the news of the Canonization be sent abroad, and be proclaimed in all parts of the earth.

"It was three o'clock before the ceremonies and