DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61894#0205
Ch. V. THROUGH ITALY. 175
the ears of our first parents in Paradise, and lifted
their thoughts to heaven.
Of all the Roman ceremonies the pontifical ser-
vice at St. Peter’s is without doubt the most ma-
jestic ; and if we add to it the procession on Cor-
pus Christi, in which the pope- bears the holy sa-
crament in solemn pomp along the colonnade
then hung according to the ancient fashion with
tapestry and graced with garlands, we shall have
mentioned the two most splendid exhibitions per-
haps to be seen in the Universe. But besides
these there are others, particularly during the
last week of Lent, which cannot fail to excite at-
tention and interest. The procession with psalms,
and the affecting chaunt of the Passion on Sun-
day ; the evening service called Tenebrce in the
Sixtine Chapel on Wednesday, Thursday, and
Friday ; the morning service on the two latter
days, particularly the Mandatum, so called from
the first word of the anthem sung while the pope
washes the feet of thirteen pilgrims, &c. are all
rites which it is difficult to behold without edifica-
• tion and perhaps emotion.
I must not pass over the well known exhibition
that takes place in St. Peter’s on the night of
Good Friday, when the hundred lamps that burn
over the tomb of the apostle are extinguished,
the ears of our first parents in Paradise, and lifted
their thoughts to heaven.
Of all the Roman ceremonies the pontifical ser-
vice at St. Peter’s is without doubt the most ma-
jestic ; and if we add to it the procession on Cor-
pus Christi, in which the pope- bears the holy sa-
crament in solemn pomp along the colonnade
then hung according to the ancient fashion with
tapestry and graced with garlands, we shall have
mentioned the two most splendid exhibitions per-
haps to be seen in the Universe. But besides
these there are others, particularly during the
last week of Lent, which cannot fail to excite at-
tention and interest. The procession with psalms,
and the affecting chaunt of the Passion on Sun-
day ; the evening service called Tenebrce in the
Sixtine Chapel on Wednesday, Thursday, and
Friday ; the morning service on the two latter
days, particularly the Mandatum, so called from
the first word of the anthem sung while the pope
washes the feet of thirteen pilgrims, &c. are all
rites which it is difficult to behold without edifica-
• tion and perhaps emotion.
I must not pass over the well known exhibition
that takes place in St. Peter’s on the night of
Good Friday, when the hundred lamps that burn
over the tomb of the apostle are extinguished,