I NOw proceed to describe the ceremonies of the holy week; these commence on Palm Sunday in the Sistine chapel, which forms a part of the Vatican and communicates with the Pope's private apartments. It was built by Sixtus IV. and its walls and roof are adorned by the celebrated frescoes of Michael Angelo. Ahout two-thirds of it are railed in for the Pope, Cardinals, and attendants, and the rest is allotted to the public. A very large vestibule separates this chapel from the pauline erected by Paul III. and in these two chapels most of the ceremonies of the holy week are performed.

The ceremonies on Palm Sunday are intended to represent our Saviour's triumphal entry into Jerusalem; though it is certainly difficult for a protestant to discover much resemblance betwixt what he now sees acted in Rome and the scenes described in the Bible. I was in the Sistine chapel by nine o'clock. The Cardinals arrived one by one attended by their trainbearers. Each as he arrived knelt before the altar assisted by his train-bearer, who afterwards unrolled his large train, bore it and spread it on his seat, and then placed himself on the floor at his feet.

Soon after the Cardinals were assembled, the Pope entered by a private door, accompanied by a long suit of ecclesiastics of various ranks. His dress was plain, but handsome. As soon as he was seated on his throne, which is placed on the side of the chapel to the right of the altar, the Cardinals went through the ceremony of adoration nearly in the same manner as I have already described; and after all had performed it, their servants assisted them to take off the robes in which they had arrived, and put on the splendid

dresses which they were to wear at the special service of the day. This ceremony performed in public has rather a ludicrous effect, as has that of the rolling and unrolling of the trains, which is repeatedly performed.

The palms were placed in large bunches at the gospel side of the altar under the care of the guards, and a few of them were tastefully arranged on the altar itself. The three largest were presented to the Pope by the Sacristan-dean, and sub-dean, kneeling on the highest step but one of the Pope's throne. The Pope read several prayers over them, blessed them, sprinkled them with holy water, and then censed them. These three are consigned to three of the principal officers of state, and ashes prepared from the palms blessed at this time, are used on the Ash Wednesday of the following year, in the ceremony of sprinkling the heads of the faithful. The Cardinals went in succession to receive their palms, making the usual obeisances in approaching the Pope and retiring from him. The palms were handed to the Pope by the Cardinal-dean, and each Cardinal on receiving his palm kissed the handle which is in the form of a cross, and then kissed the Pope's hand, and afterwards his right knee, which was covered by a very fine linen cloth. After all the Cardinals were supplied, the other ecclesiastics went to receive their palms in the order of their rank, the Patriarchs, Archbishops, and Bishops, kneeling, kissed the palm and the Pope's knee; then the mitred Abbots and all inferior ecclesiastics kissed the palm and the Pope's foot, and the like ceremony was observed by the officers of the papal court and household, ambassadors and other laymen of rank who received

palms. The Pope wore a very handsome velvet slipper, and there appeared to be a large hole or slit immediately above his great toe, but whether the toe was naked or covered by his stocking, I was not near enough to see. I believe there is a cross embroidered on the slipper, and the Roman Catholics say that the honour of the kiss should be understood to be directed to the cross, and not to the Pope; but if so, why place the cross in in such a strange situation? During the service the Pope happened to require his pocket handkerchief, it was produced by an attendant who handed it to an ecclesiastic, who handed it to a Cardinal who applied it to his holiness's nose! The palms distributed to the higher ecclesiastics are very handsome, they are formed of the branches of the

date palm very neatly plaited. The family of Bresca of St. Remo have the privilege of furnishing them every year.* The inferior orders of ecclesiastics received simple olive branches. The palms thus distributed are preserved with great care, for they are deemed to have no small power to defend their possessors from evil. Cancellieri tells us ' each person carries his palm to his house, where they are preserved according to pious custom, to defend our fields or houses (to the windows of which the little branches are commonly attached) and our persons from misfortunes.'

*This right was obtained by the progenitor of the family in 1586. He was present at the elevation of the obelisk which now stands in front of St. Peter's. It had been forbidden on pain of death, that any one should speak during the operation. Bresca saw that it was on the point of falling from the stretching of the ropes, he called out, 'Wet the ropes.' His advice was taken and the operation succeeded, he was apprehended and carried before the Pope, who instead of punishing him, asked him to name his reward. He requested for himself and his descendants the right of furnishing palms for Palm Sunday, which they still enjoy.-Cancellieri Settimana Santa, p. 195.

The distribution of the palms occupied a long time; as soon as it was concluded, the procession, which represents our Saviour's entry into Jerusalem, took place.

The various orders of clergy walked before the Pope, the lowest leading the way, followed by the Priests, Abbots, Bishops, Archbishops, Patriarchs, Cardinals, and last of all, the Pope. Each carried in his hand the palm he had received. The Pope was carried in his portable throne by twelve men, and having the canopy of state borne over him by eight men. It appears somewhat absurd, that when the procession is to pass only from the Sistine Chapel to the Pauline, across the vestibule already mentioned, and can be no where exposed to the open air, this canopy should be used; but it is employed in all the solemn services in which the Pope officiates, and when seen at a distance, certainly adds to the effect. The Pope as he passed, bestowed his benediction on the spectators; when he entered the vestibule, the door of the Sistine Chapel was shut and bolted, and the choir began the hymn, Gloria, Laus, et Honor, tibi sit, Rex, Christe, Redemptor: that is, Glory, Praise, and Honour be to Thee, King, Christ, Redeemer. The singers were divided into two parties, one remained in the Sistine, while the other accompanied the procession; they chanted the verses alternately, and the effect of the distant voices while the Pope was in the Pauline chapel, was very striking. The Pope and procession were absent, perhaps, a quarter of an hour; on arriving at the Sistine Chapel on their return, and finding it shut, an attendant knocked loudly at the door, with the staff of a large crucifix, which he bore before the Pope; the door was thrown open, and the Pope in all his splendor was borne forward into the chapel, the choir singing in Latin, " Lift up

your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? &c."

It is not possible for me to describe a scene which appears so fearfully blasphemous without a feeling of horror; nor would I readily believe, when I was first informed of it, that any set of men in their senses could devise the profanation of adapting to such a ceremony the words of the 24th Psalm, perhaps the grandest of all the compositions of the sweet Psalmist of Israel, to the praise and glory of our God.

Still less did it appear possible that any mortal man could permit himself to be addressed in such words, or think of acting as it were the part of the King of Glory. I may be mistaken in considering this service as so blasphemous; but such was the impression it made on my mind at the time, and subsequent reflection has not changed it: judge you for yourself.

The Pope, borne aloft on his throne of state, glittering in gold and silver, and precious stones, and followed by a vast train of ecclesiastics, arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls,' brought to my mind ideas very different indeed from those conveyed by St. Matthew's description of the meek and lowly Jesus entering Jerusalem on an ass's colt, and attended by his disciples, rich only in the things that pertained to life everlasting.

This service appears another fulfilment of the description of the man of sin in 2 Thessalonians ii. 4. for here again he seemed to me most plainly to "show himself as God in the temple of God," when the choir greeted him on entering the chapel as the King of Glory.*

Cancellieri, in a note at page 24 of the Settimana Santa,' mentions that a man who was present at this service in Brescia, in 1694, when the chorus sang

When the Pope had returned to his throne, the Cardinals laid aside their grand robes, and reassumed those in which they had arrived. Mass was then performed by a Cardinal, and the Passion, according to St. Matthew, was chanted. This is not the account given of the Passion by St. Matthew in his gospel, but another, written in Greek, which is reported to have been found in Cyprus, in the grave of St. Barnaby the Apostle, lying on his holy breast. This is chanted by three choristers, who are priests. The first who chants the words of the text is a tenor; the second, who is called the Maid-servant, (Ancilla) is a counter tenor; the third, who represents Jesus Christ, is a bass. In singing this gospel of the Passion, no benediction is asked, because in it is described the death of the author of every blessing-lights are not carried, because Christ, the true light of the world, is extinct; incense is not used, to denote that the piety of the faithful was now failing. At the beginning, the response, "Glory be to Thee, O Lord,"as also the "Lord be with you," are omitted, out of hatred to the perfidious salutation of the traitor Apostle.' Can you imagine anything more childish than the reasons thus given by a grave author for altering the usual form of worship? The service is concluded by the Cardinal who performs mass, reading an indulgence of thirty years, granted by the Pope to all present.

On Wednesday, of Holy Week, in the afternoon there is the service of the Tenebræ, which is repeated at the same hour on the Thursday and Friday.

The service begins in day-light but ends in darkness; hence its

the Antiphone, "Who is the King of Glory?" furiously attacked the e Clergy sword in hand, exclaiming, that he was the King of Glory! He was apprehended, and secured in a mad house.

name. In former times I believe it was performed at night; the pope and clergy have not much to do in this service, almost the whole is performed by the choir. It is considered as a sort of funeral service in honour of our Redeemer, on each of the three nights, but especially on the Thursday.

I was in the Sistine chapel on the Wednesday about three o'clock, and the service lasted till past seven. On the altar stood six candles, and six more on the railing which divides the chapel.

On the Epistle side of the altar stood a triangular candlestick on which were fifteen candles of yellow wax. Yellow is considered as the mourning colour for wax lights, and during these three days, all the church is supposed to be in mourning. No spectators are admitted into the chapel, who are not dressed in black, with the exception of military men, and it is even thought an impropriety to appear in the streets in any other dress during holy week. On these three days the psalms are not concluded with the usual doxology; no hymns of praise are sung, and no blessings implored- -but I must return to the service of the Wednesday.

After the Pope and Cardinals have taken their places, the Pope stands up and repeats the Pater Noster in a whisper; after he is seated, the choir chaunts the greater part of the Lamentations of Jeremiah. As the service proceeds, the lights on the altar and on the railing are extinguished, one after another.

In like manner the candles on the triangular candlestick were extinguished, one by one, as the service went on, until one only was left burning. This one instead of being put out, was taken down by an attendant, and carefully placed behind the high altar.

I asked the meaning of this, and a priest informed me, that by the candles thus extinguished, was

OCTOBER 1833.

denoted the want of faith in the apostles and disciples, which in like manner was extinguished, as each in succession forsook our Saviour, and fled; while by the candle left burning, but hid behind the altar, was shown the faith of the Virgin Mary, which although it was for a time much obscured, yet was never wholly extinguished. The chapel involved in darkness at the end of the chanting, is intended as an emblem of that awful darkness which covered the land at the time of the crucifixion.

The Pope now left his throne, and kneeling before the altar, repeated to himself the Pater Noster, and as soon as he had finished, the celebrated Miserere, by Allegri, was sung. Even a protestant may well be moved by the solemn beauty of the music. It is every thing that sacred music ought to be; but what was my surprize, while the last touching notes were yet thrilling through my frame, to hear a loud noise produced by the Cardinals beating with their feet upon the floor, in a manner well known to every English schoolboy. This broke the spell at once, the delusion was gone, I was no longer listening to almost angelic strains : I was only present at an absurd

were distributed to all who were to form part of the procession.

Two hosts were consecrated on this occasion, one of which was consumed as usual by the officiating cardinal, the other was carefully placed in a chalice, and covered with a paten and napkin. This is called the chalice of the Sepulchre, and is very handsome, being of rock crystal, set in silver gilt, and adorned by figures of the twelve apostles.

The procession set out in the usual manner, the Pope coming last of all, and on this occasion walking bareheaded, having the canopy borne over him by eight Bishops, and carrying in his hand the chalice, containing the host.

The procession passed through the Vestibule to the Pauline chapel, which on this occasion was illuminated by five hundred and sixty-seven wax lights. The altar was prepared as a sort of sepulchre, and there the Pope deposited the host, in a small wooden box as in the tomb, and the sepulchre was locked by the sacristan, and the key delivered to the Cardinal Penitentiary, who was to perform the service of next day.

Such is the cremony of the entombment, as now performed in Rome; but Cancellieri mentions that the Mozarabians, to make the resemblance to the real sepulchre more complete, used to seal it with two seals; and in Lyons they were wont, according to his phrase, to place the body of our Lord between two patens, adding to them the text of the gospels, and shutting up the whole betwixt two deep plates of silver.

As Good Friday is considered by the Roman Catholic church to be the anniversary of our Saviour's death, I wondered much why they should choose the preceding day to enact his funeral; but the reason given is, that the church has preferred to represent by anticipation, rather than on the following day,

in which the church is in profound mourning on account of his death, and of course the infallible church can make no errors, although the reason does not appear to me to be very logical.

From the Pauline chapel the Pope proceeded to the balcony of St. Peter's, and bestowed the benediction on the multitude below as I have described in a former letter. After the benediction the Pope repaired to the Ducal Hall, in order to wash the feet of thirteen pilgrims. This I need hardly say is in imitation of our Saviour washing the feet of his disciples; and these pilgrims are in fact called by Catholic writers, the thirteen apostles.

Why they are thirteen is a matter of dispute: some say they represent the twelve original apostles and Matthias, others say the thirteenth is St. Paul, others the proprietor of the upper-room where our Saviour celebrated the passover; but the popular theory is, that the number has been thirteen since the time of St. Gregory the Great. For when he was feeding twelve poor persons in his paternal house on the Celian Hill, an angel sat down at the table with them, in proof whereof the marble table is still to be seen on the spot with a corresponding inscription.

The thirteen washed by the Pope are Priests.

After a religious service the Pope laid aside part of his robes, and the assistant Cardinal put round his waist an apron of embroidered muslin, with a border of lace. The pilgrims were seated on a bench, each having his right foot naked. The Pope kneeling, washed their feet in a basin composed of silver gilt, dried them with a towel, and then kissed them.* After which each received from a Cardinal a towel, and a bunch of flowers, and from the

*The precaution is taken of the feet being tolerably clean before the washing.