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In the year 1059, Nicholas II. by a decree in the Lateran council, took away the right of election from the clergy of Rome, and conferred it on the Cardinals alone. The Cardinals were to elect-the clergy and people to consent. In this decree there is a clause saving the respect due to the Emperor, which is not very clearly expressed, and has been differently interpreted at different times.

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The Roman clergy and people attempted even by force of arms to recover their rights in the papal election; but after a century of struggle the right was confirmed to the Cardinals alone, by a decree of Alexander III. in the 3rd Lateran Council, A. D. 1179, when was also fixed that in case of the Cardinals not being unanimous, he should be legitimate Pope who should have two thirds of the votes of the Cardinals, and that no one should consider himself elected by a smaller number of votes, under pain of excommunication and this is still the law.

The Cardinals are of three classes, bishops, priests, and deacons ; they are in fact the priests of the principal parishes in Rome and its vicinity; while the Pope is ex-officio priest of St. Giovanni in Laterano. The number was originally small, and seems to have varied until the pontificate of Sixtus V. who appointed the sacred college to consist of seventy members, but it is rarely full. One reason given for this number is, that Moses was assisted by seventy elders of Israel -and another is that the principal languages of the nations are seventy, and it belongs to the Cardinals as counsellors and assistants of the Pope to judge the causes of all nations and people. Their office being to assist and advise the Pope in the affairs of the church, and the name is derived from the Latin word Cardo, a hinge.

It was a century after the Car

dinals obtained the sole right of electing the Pope before the conclave was established by law. If the Pope died in Rome the Cardinals met every morning in the vatican, or St. John Lateran, until the election was completed. If he died in any other town, then they met in the cathedral of that town, it being the law that if possible the Pope should be elected where his predecessor died, according to the proverb.

"Ubi Papa, ibi Roma."

Where the Pope is, there is Rome. Clement IV. died at Viterbo in 1268, and the Cardinals could not agree on his successor. The common story is, that after seventeen months had elapsed, the inhabitants of Viterbo resolved to shut them up in the Episcopal Palace to accelerate the election. They remained shut up nearly sixteen months without coming to a decision, until Ramiero Galti, who had been appointed guardian of the conclave adopted the scheme of unroofing their apartment, which speedily forced them to elect Gregory X. after the see had been vacant two years, nine months, and two days.

One of the first cares of Gregory was to enact laws for the election of future Pontiffs. By this decretal it is ordered that the Cardinals shall assemble in conclave (after waiting ten days for the absent) in the palace where the Pope died, if possible, if not, in the nearest adjacent town, which is not under an interdict, or in rebellion against the Roman See.

Each Cardinal is allowed one attendant, or in case of great necessity, two-and all are to live together in common, in one room or conclave, without any division either by walls or curtains. Only one opening is to be left, by which the food of the Cardinals may be introduced, and the whole is to be placed under the care of the lord or chief magistrate of the town

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astodon 10601 way at t schedule, in the presence of the others, so that they each see the others write, but without seeing what is written. A deputation is sent to the cells of those who are) unwell, who fill up their schedules in the presence of the deputation Each Cardinal, on having com pleted, folded and sealed his schedule, carries it in view of all the rest, and deposits it in a large chard lice, placed on the altar of the i chapel. When all the Cardinals have filled up and deposited their schedules, three Cardinals chosen by lot, to act as scrutineers, pro+ ceed to count them, and ascertain that the number corresponds with: that of the Cardinals in the con clave.. A Fogno')

LETTERS FROM ROME, to trpi slow gift bonisido elaatb where, the conclave was held. If the election was not completed within three days after their meet ing, then for the next five days, they were to be allowed to have only one dish each for dinner and one for supper If these five days also, elapse without, their, making an election, then for the rest of the time they remain in conclave, they are to be allowed only bread and wine and water. The strictness of these rules has been gradually relaxed Clement VI. in 1351 allowed each Cardinal to have two conclavists, and to have their beds separated from each other by curtains.ya tains. They are now allowed to have separate apartments as explained before, and there is no restriction on the quantity or quality of their food.

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The Cardinals proceed to the business of election on the morning after they are enclosed. There are three modes of election equally canonical 1st. By acclamation, as is said to have been the case in the election of St. Fabian, in A. D. 238, on whose head a dove des cended, and he, was immediately acclaimed Pope by the clergy and people.to gom, a te

The second mode of election is, by compromise, i. e, when the Cardinals cannot agree, they may depute their right of election to one, two, or, more of their number, and the person nominated by the deputies is lawful Pope. Thus Gregory X. was elected in 1271. The third mode of election is by scrutiny, and is that which has been invariably practised in later times.

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Printed schedules are prepared, folded beforehand in a particular manner, with blanks to be filled up by each Cardinal with his own name, and that of the person for, whom he votes. All the Cardinals who are able to attend their public meetings,ol

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tings, assemble in the chapel of the scrutiny where, ten, small tables are prepared for them, and there fill up the blanks in the

AUGUST 1833.

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They then open each schedule so far as to see the name of the) person voted for, which they pro claim aloud, so that each cardinal may mark the votes, and when they have gone over the whole, the number of votes for each is declared. If f any one have obtain

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ed two thirds of the votes, whiche completes the election, then the schedules are opened and examined, to see that there be no error. If there be not two thirds of the votes for any one, they proceed immediately to a second vote by acces+ sion. This is done by means of printed schedules, in the same manner as the former ; but in this case, the Cardinals can accede only, to one, who was voted for in thes preceding scrutiny; and they are not obliged to accede to any one.} The votes by accession are exam-6 ined and published by the scrutineers as before, and if two thirds or more of the votes ofall upon any individual, then the election is fine ished, provided the revisors, whol are elected by lot after the scruso tiny, do not find that any error ord fraud has been committed, either in filling up, signing, orb counting ( the schedules. This scrutiny usually takes place twice a days and the last part of the process is to burn 2 Q

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the whole of the schedules in the presence of the cardinals. The smoke made by burning the schedules, escapes by a tin chimney mentioned in my first letter. This is watched with great impatience by the populace, being the only external mark of what is going on in the conclave. The smoke usually appears about eleven A. M. and four P. M. and as soon as it is seen, the crowd disperses, satisfied that the Pope is not yet elected.

In fact the schedules are burned when the Pope is elected, as well as when he is not; but when the election has taken place, much more time is consumed in verifying the votes, and obtaining the consent of the Pope, so that before the schedules are burned, the guns of St. Angelo give notice of the election.

The longer the conclave lasted, the greater crowds collected at the hour, and the more impatient did they become, when the smoke was a few minutes longer than usual of appearing. This conclave sat until the 31st day of March, the See being vacant forty-nine days.

While the conclave sat, I went repeatedly to see the dinners conveyed to the cardinals. This takes place every day about noon. Each cardinal's dinner is attended by eight or ten servants, and two or three carriages. First come two servants bearing maces, then two carrying the dinner in a wicker basket, suspended betwixt two poles, like a sedan chair. basket is covered with cloth, which has the Cardinal's arms emblazoned on it. Two or three servants sometimes follow on foot, and then come the carriages containing the Dapiferus and his attendants, with two or more servants behind each.

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Each party on arriving, enters the court of the palace, the Dapiferus and his attendants alight, and the dinner is carried forward to a room prepared for the purpose.

Here is stationed a party of the guardians of the conclave, both ecclesiastical and military. The room on one side opens to the court of the palace, and on the other communicates with the conclave by means of the ruote.*

In the middle of the room is a long table, on which the servants place the various dishes contained in the basket. The guardians of the conclave examine each dish separately, and finding in it nothing but food, it is placed in one of the routes, which is then turned round, and the dishes taken out by the attendants on the other side, and conveyed to their respective

owners.

I was repeatedly present at this ceremony; the examination is no farce, for every dish was carefully inspected, though I never saw any actually cut in pieces, as it is said to be sometimes done.

While the Roman Catholics have no visible head to their church, they flatter themselves that they have certain knowledge of what sort of person is to fill the vacant chair of St. Peter. This they obtain from the prophecies of St. Malachy. I first heard this from the head of a college in Rome, who, after the Pope's death, informed me that the church was quite easy as to the election of his successor, as they knew from the prophecies of Malachy he would be a good man. I was then ignorant of the existence of any other prophet of that name, than the one whose clear and

*This is composed of two upright cylinders. The outer is fixed and built into the wall, forming part of it, having an opening to each side. The inner revolves within it, nearly filling it, and has only one opening, extending from top to bottom, perhaps one eighth part of its circumference in width; so that by placing any thing on the shelves of the inner cylinder, and turning it round, it is conveyed to those on the other side of the wall, without the possibility of either party seeing or having any intercourse with the other.

solemn communications of the coming of the Son of man conclude the canon of the Old Testament; and as I could remember nothing in that book which pointed out the successor of Leo. XII. I asked for some explanation of his meaning. He told me he did not allude to the prophecies of the Malachy of the Bible, but to those of an Irish Monk of the same name, who had predicted all the Popes who were to be from his time to the end of the world. I did not rest till I procured a book, whose contents promised to be so curious. My copy is of the sixth edition, printed at Florence in 1823. Malachy was born at Armagh in 1094, and became Archbishop in 1127, resigned in 1135, and after performing many miracles, died in 1148. He was the friend of St. Bernard, and I believe the first person who was regularly canonized by the Church of Rome.

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The prophecies predict ninetysix Popes from the time of Innocent II. 1130, down to Peter II. under whom the world is to come to an end. Each Pope is predicted in a few words, and those applied to the successor of Leo. XII. are simply Vir pius,' a pious man, and from them my friend derived his comfort.

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On making some inquiry into this strange subject, I soon got a clew to unravel the mystery. The whole is the invention of the partisans of Cardinal Simoncelli, brought forward by them in the conclave of 1590, in which he was elected Pope Gregory XIV. and there is a very clear proof of this, from the fact that the predictions of this pope, and all his predecessors are strictly correct, and most distinct, while those of most of his successors require much dexterity to get them to apply at all although the description be tolerably general.

Thus Pius VI. was predicted as Peregrinus Apostolicus, or aposto

lic wanderer, which applied tolerably to the misfortunes of the latter part of his reign. Pius VII. is entitled Aquila rapax, that ra · pacious eagle; which is said to be fulfilled by the injuries which the Papal dominions suffered from the French Eagle during part of his reign. Innocent XI. was foretold as Bellua insatiabilis, an insatiable beast, and this they have found correct, because his family arms bore an eagle and a lion, both voracious animals.

There remain yet twelve more popes who are to reign according to this book before the world comes to an end, the last of whom is to be Peter II. And by a careful calculation, it is found that the end of the world is to take place on the first day of March, A. D. 1947, being the year of the world 6000.

The following extract will show you the importance in which this puerile stuff is held by the Church of Rome.

'Another mark of heavenly prophecies, is, that they do not contain vain and useless things, and this strikingly occurs in the present case, because it is most useful and most important to the Church of God, that the sacred principality instituted by heaven in the person of Peter, and transmitted through the Roman Pontifs, should be authorised in every way, having to subdue schismatics and heretics, who would deny and impugn this fundamental basis of the Christian religion; and therefore the Lord God, besides the authority of the Holy Fathers, who unanimously confirm the truth, has willed to authorise it by this admirable prophecy of more than 669 years, and 96 popes, made by Saint Malachy, it being of the greatest incitement to believe the prophetic prediction, wherefore St. Peter says in his second Epistle, "We have a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed.""

ON CONFIRMATIONS.

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'The primitive church considered herself as the common mother of all baptized children, and exercised a corresponding care over them, that they might be trained up as a generation to serve the Lord. She did not indeed, in so many words, in her public confessions adopted and enlarged from time to time to meet prevailing errors, avow the principle: nor was it necessary, for the principle was recognized in the requirement of a promise or vow from the baptized person, that he would live according to the rules of Christianity.' (Justin's Apology. Bingham's Ecc. Ant. vol. 4. b. 11. ch. 7. s. 6. p. 288.) As this vow could not be made by infants, it was required from those who presented them. These persons, whether parents or others, besides receiving themselves, as members of the church, the seal of baptism, became responsible not only for the instruction, but for the admonition, and rebuke if necessary, of the children baptized, (Bing. Eccl. Ant. vol. 4. b. 11. ch. 8. s. 5) Individuals of eminence in the primitive church, incidentally avow the principle, and draw conclusions from it suitable to the circumstances which led them to avow the principle. Thus Augustine, in his 23d Epist. to Boniface, says, 'Children were presented to baptism, not so much by those in whose hands they were brought, (though by them too if they were good faithful men) as by the whole society of saints. The whole church was their mother.' (Bing.

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devised different modes of declaring such adherence, but upon the whole I am not aware of any better plan than that adopted amongst ourselves, where after suitable instruction and examination by the parochial ministers, a considerable number of young persons from neighbouring parishes are assembled together in the house of God, and in the presence of their ministers, parents, and each other, solemnly declare in answer to the inquiry of the Bishop, that they do ratify and confirm in their own persons their baptismal vow; but at the same time the circumstances attending the administration of this ordinance are such in many instances as loudly to call for corEccl. Ant. b. 11. c. 8. s. 3.) Hence he concludes, the church is bound to maintain baptized children, who, in the course of providence should be deprived of support. That this principle was in fact avowed by the primitive church in her practice, though not in words in her confession, appears from the design of the rite of confirmation; the attention which was paid to the instruction of baptized children, and the discipline actually inflicted upon them in case of improper conduct.

'It appears that a rite called confirmation, was administered by the imposition of the hand of the minister, or bishop, or elder, together with prayer on baptized children at a certain age. Both Calvin (in his Institutions,) and Owen (in his Commentary on the Hebrews,) acknowledge that this practice existed at a very early period in the church. The latter thus states its design: 'When they, (that is, the children of believers, baptized in their infancy) were established in the knowledge of these necessary truths, (of which he makes mention before,) and had resolved on personal obedience unto the gospel, they were offered unto the fellowship of the faithful: and here, on giving the same account of their faith and repentance, which others had done before they were baptized, they were admitted into the communion of the church; the elders thereof laying their hands on them, in token of their acceptation, and praying for their confirmation in the faith.' This rite which originally was confined to those who were baptized in their infancy, was afterwards administered to adults, imme

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