him must be his successor. For the Pope discharges the office of Pontiff not in the name of Peter, but of Christ, although he succeeds Peter, and he derives the power of binding and loosing from Christ, and not from Peter. When Peter departs from life, he departs from the Pontificate; but he who succeeds Peter is Vicar of Christ who lives as Pontiff for ever; therefore, in the strictest signification of the words, and in reality, the Roman Pontiffs are the successors, and not the Vicars, of Peter, and are the Vicars, and not the successors, of Christ.

The Dean and Canons of the Chapter of St. Peter's, standing before the Sovereign Pontiff, chaunted, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven". Ye bishops and prelates!-ye people!-ye children of holy Church, dispersed throughout the extent of Christendom !— bow down your heads like oaks in a storm, or willows in a gale! Then look up reverentially!-there he is, Peter's successor the 258th "link of that unbroken chain which connects you with Peter, and through him, with Christ Himself!" There he is, securely seated, the Sovereign Pontiff of that holy Church built upon a rock, whose foundations, after ages of convulsive revolutions of kingdoms and dynasties, are still unshaken, and whose loftiest and most delicate pinnacles are uninjured even by the unceasing, virulent, and oppressive assaults of all the gates of hell. Christ promised that the united efforts of all should not prevail against it. Behold the verification! The same yesterday, to-day, and for ever! Against all the pointed poisoned shafts of the world, and hell's malignity for centuries, she raised no shield but the invulnerable one of innocence, integrity, and truth, and employed

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RESISTANCE OF ENDURANCE.

no weapon but forgiveness and charity. She offered no offensive opposition but the "resistance of endurance". That endurance was invincible. She entrenched herself within the ramparts of her consciousness of truth and rectitude, and there, retired within herself, and without defiance, was secure as in a citadel. These, too, must be the strategy and arms of a Christian who enters the contest against the world and the powers of darkness, and who aspires to be a soldier of Christ, and to practise virtue in a heroic degree-a war that knows not the offensive— that draws no sword but "the sword of the spirit”, and wears no helmet but "the helmet of salvation"-in which right, though weakest, receives satisfaction, because supported by her ally of integrity-a charity that knows not retaliation-a fortitude that fears no danger-a tenacity that knows no yielding-an endurance that is never wrecked, but floats buoyantly over the rolling surges of centuries-a steady progress which is never running nor ever loitering, but like "the star which maketh not haste, which taketh not rest"—and an indomitable patience that wearies out time itself, obliges it from exhaustion to capitulate, to lay down its arms, acknowledge your victory, proclaim your triumph, and your conquest of the everlasting inheritances! When the Dean and Chapter had completed these solemn salutations of the Holy Father, they too joined the procession, and all again advanced till they reached the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, before which the procession again halted. The Pope's chair was lowered-His Holiness descended, and knelt on a gorgeously draped priedieu. The Cardinal assistant took the tiara from his head, and removed his white cope, and replaced it with one of silk crimson velvet embroidered in gold, and all the other cardinals and digni

SHRINES OF THE APOSTLES.

347

taries formed a circle, and knelt on benches draped in crimson tapestry, and adored the Most Holy in the Blessed Sacrament which was exposed. In earlier ages the Blessed Sacrament, exposed in a remonstrance, was borne before the Pope during the entire procession. That usage is now discontinued. After the adoration of the Most Holy, the Pope again ascended-the procession advanced, and halted again before the Shrines of the Apostles, where all prayed in silence. His Holiness, buried in the depths of profound thought, knelt for a considerable time, as a man of the interior, in recollection and mental prayer before the Confessional. The Confessional is a low area beneath the dome, in front of the Shrines of the Apostles, and is lined with precious marbles, and surrounded by a circular balustrade of white marble, which supports 112 massive ormolu lamps, which unceasingly burn, with the exception of Good Friday. In the centre stands the great statue of Pius VI. by Canova. A perforated ornamental bronze door separates it from the Shrines. The Shrines, enclosing the relics of the Princes of the Apostles, are in the Grotte Vaticane, beneath the Baldacchino and the Papal altar, and are wrought of gold and precious stones, and are of the most elaborate workmanship. Pendent lamps of the precious metals burn before them. The remains. of several Popes and other royal personages and notabilities are interred in these Grotte Vaticane. Amongst them those of the only English Pope, Nicholas Breakspeare, who died at Agnani in the year 1159; those also of the Emperors Otho II., Boniface VIII., Nicholas V., Urban VI., Pius II., and of the Queen of Jerusalem and Cyprus Charlotte, and also of the last representatives of the Stuart Royal Family, who, in the inscriptions on their monuments, are designated as James III., Charles III.,

and Henry IX, Kings of England. Again the procession advanced, till the Holy Father reached the Papal throne near the tribune. When he ascended the throne, a prolonged flourish of clarions from a company of trumpeters inside the bronze gates vibrated round and round the vast fabric, and the swelling notes undulated through the highest altitudes of the concave domes. An extensive space before the Papal altar was reserved for the officiates of the solemn mass, and covered with the finest green cloth, and being closely surrounded by a cordon of the Guards of Nobles, in full dress uniform and ostrich plumes, seemed like a green plot in a parterre, bordered with anemonies, carnations, and moss roses in full blow. Those gallant fellows, those devoted nobles, the soldiers of the Holy Father's body-guard of honour, in their gorgeous uniform of scarlet and gold, with burnished helmets and waving ostrich plumes, were tall, stately, and displayed a majestic mien in their entire military deportment. They stood with helmets on during the ceremonies, and appeared towering over the surrounding crowds of officials in the tribune, more especially when the numerous choir of ecclesiastical dignitaries were seated, and when seen above the curling folds of incense, seemed like lofty mountains, whose peaks look down upon the clouds. They were as Alpine ranges, which cast their shadows upon the lovely glens and vales and charming plains of Switzerland and Lombardy tinted in all the brilliant dyes of Italian scenery, well represented by the glowing tints of the varied clerical vestments, and as they stood with heads covered even in the presence of the Vicar of Christ himself, they still further preserved the semblance to those glaciers and towering reeks, which are authorised by nature to stand covered

with their caps of snow even in the meridian of a midsummer's day, before the beaming glances, and in the very presence, of the majestic luminary of the regent of the day himself. Some of the helmets of the stalwarth colonels of dragoons were crested with scarlet plumes, and were like the crests of those snowy mountains in the aromatic fragrance of a summer's morning, when crimsoned by the early rays of the rising sun, giving them the appearance of a fiery cone of a burning furnace-or of a burning mountain, whose crater is fringed with the liquid molten. lava of an overflowing active volcano! When the Pope was seated on his throne, the cardinals, princes, prelates, and other dignitaries moved round in single file, and each in succession, according to superiority of dignity, ascended the steps of the throne to pay the "homage”—the cardinals kissing the Pope's ring, the bishops the stole resting on his knee-the governor, abbots, penitentiaries, and other dignitaries kneeling and kissing the Pope's foot. When this ceremony was completed terce was chaunted, after which the ministers assisted the Pope to vest for the solemn Papal mass.

THE POPE'S VESTMENTS.

The Pope stands on his throne, and his vestments are conveyed from the high altar in succession, by the voters of the signature and by the abbreviators of the Park. The Pope is vested with vestments, ecclesiastical ornaments, and insignia significant of his supreme Pontifical jurisdiction, and of his regal character as a temporal prince. He wears the mitre and the tiara emblematical of his episcopate and of his royalty. Pope Innocent III., in his sermon on St. Silvester, says, "The Roman Pontiff wears the mitre to signify his priesthood, and the crown