DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61894#0208
178 CLASSICAL TOUR Ch. V.
burton observes, “ it be difficult to attend at a
high mass performed by a good choir in any
great church without sentiments of awe, if not
of devotion it is not surprising that the same
sacred service performed by such persons, with
such accompaniments, and amid such scenes of
grandeur and holiness, should impress the same
sentiments with double force and effect.
These pompous offices at the Vatican only
take place on the great festivals of Easter, Whit-
suntide and Christmas, to which we may add
St. Peter’s day, and perhaps one or two more
occasional solemnities. On the other Sundays,
and during the far greater part of the year, the
altar stands a grand but neglected object, and
the dome rises in silent majesty, unaccustomed
to re-echo with the voice of exultation and with
the notes of praise. The service of the cathedral
is performed in a distant chapel, and private
masses, it is true, are said at the different altars
around, but the great body of the church seems
deserted by its ministers, and like Sion of old,
to complain that none cometh to the solemnity.
It may perhaps be a matter of just surprise to
every thinking observer, that in the three noblest
cathedrals existing, the service of the church
should be performed, not in the regular choir
burton observes, “ it be difficult to attend at a
high mass performed by a good choir in any
great church without sentiments of awe, if not
of devotion it is not surprising that the same
sacred service performed by such persons, with
such accompaniments, and amid such scenes of
grandeur and holiness, should impress the same
sentiments with double force and effect.
These pompous offices at the Vatican only
take place on the great festivals of Easter, Whit-
suntide and Christmas, to which we may add
St. Peter’s day, and perhaps one or two more
occasional solemnities. On the other Sundays,
and during the far greater part of the year, the
altar stands a grand but neglected object, and
the dome rises in silent majesty, unaccustomed
to re-echo with the voice of exultation and with
the notes of praise. The service of the cathedral
is performed in a distant chapel, and private
masses, it is true, are said at the different altars
around, but the great body of the church seems
deserted by its ministers, and like Sion of old,
to complain that none cometh to the solemnity.
It may perhaps be a matter of just surprise to
every thinking observer, that in the three noblest
cathedrals existing, the service of the church
should be performed, not in the regular choir