612 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



their number never fell below 10,000 a week, and 

 in the month? when the atmosphere was toler- 

 able the total rose at times to 30,000 a day. The 

 pilgrims came from all over the world, and few 

 if any were disappointed by failing to obtain a 

 sight of the Pope. When it is considered that his 

 Holiness is ninety years of age, his receptions to 

 the pilgrims, occasionally as many as six a week 

 in the Sistine Chapel to the 'body of a pilgrimage, 

 followed by a private audience to the leaders, 

 can be considered as little less than miraculous. 



Among the receptions extended by the Pope 

 was one on April 7 to 75 sailors from the Ameri- 

 can training ship Dixie. His Holiness received 

 them in the Sistine Chapel, and the sailors waved 

 the American flag and greeted the Pontiff with 

 what the official account described as " reiterati 

 altissimi hurrah." 



The special ceremonies of the jubilee year in- 

 cluded the erection on 20 Italian mountains of 

 monuments in memory of twenty centuries of 

 Divine redemption; the blessing of the Agnus 

 Dei; the closing of the holy door; and the 

 universal celebration of midnight mass, by his 

 Holiness's permission, on the eve of the new cen- 

 tury. 



The ceremony of blessing the Agnus Dei, which 

 is peculiar to years of jubilee, was performed by 

 his Holiness on June 17, assisted by a cardinal 

 bishop, a cardinal priest, and the sacristan of the 

 papal palace. These historic little pieces of wax 

 were all decorated with allusions to the present 

 holy year. The ceremony itself consisted of the 

 immersion of the Agnus Dei into blessed water 

 and the blessing of them with balsam and chrism. 

 On the obverse of several of the Agnus Dei was a 

 figure of the Divine Redeemer with the words, dic- 

 tated by his Holiness : " Nil sit dulce magis quam 

 corde quiescere Jesu Leo XIII, P. M.," and on 

 the reverse a figure of the Lamb of God with the 

 words : " Ecce Agnus Dei qui tollit peccata mundi 

 Leo XIII, Pont. Max. Anno MDCCCC, Pont. 

 XXIII." On other of the Agnus Dei was a repre- 

 sentation of the holy door with the words: 

 ' Haec porta Domini, Justi Intrabunt in Earn 

 Leo XIII, P. M.," and on one side, " Anno Ju- 

 bilei," and on the other, " Roma." On the reverse 

 of these was a figure of the Lamb of God. The 

 ceremony began at half-past five on Sunday after- 

 noon with the blessing of the holy water by the 

 papal sacristan, Mgr. Pifferi, O. S. A., Bishop of 

 Porphyrium. His Holiness was not present at 

 this part of the ceremony. The preparations 

 made in the Hall of Consistory were tables cov- 

 ered with white cloths and bearing silver basins 

 with water and silver scoops. The sacristan per- 

 formed the blessing of the water according to the 

 usual rite, assisted by the Augustinians of the 

 papal sacristy. His Holiness was borne into the 

 hall in portantina, accompanied by his court, an 

 escort of the Noble Guard, and the Swiss and 

 Palatine officers on duty, as well as by Cardinal 

 Mocenni, Bishop of Sabina, and Cardinal Cretoni, 

 priest of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. His Holi- 

 ness put on the stole, recited some prayers at the 

 throne, and descended to the tables, where he stood 

 before the central basin, blessed the water a second 

 time, and poured into it, using the form of a cross 

 in pouring, balsam and chrism. He removed 

 some of the water with the scoop into the two 

 basins on either side, returned to his throne, and 

 incensed the Agnus Dei, which filled three large 

 coffers to the left of his throne. The Pontiff and 

 the two cardinals next put on aprons of gauze, 

 descended from the throne, and immersed the 

 Agnus Dei in the three basins of consecrated 

 water. The action of each was identical. The 



Agnus Dei were handed to the celebrants by the 

 Cistercian monks of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme 

 and San Bernardo alle Terme and the ordinary 

 pontifical chaplains; immersed by the Pope, the 

 cardinal bishop, and the cardinal priest in the 

 blessed water; removed by these with scoops, ami 

 delivered to the Cistercian monks, who took them 

 to a large table at the side, and there dried them 

 with towels. 



The most important papal utterance of the 

 jubilee year was the encyclical letter, Jesus 

 Christ Our Redeemer, issued on Nov. 1, and di- 

 rected to the Universal Church. It expressed 

 most strongly the .lifelong wish of his Holiness 

 for the unification of Christendom. Its tenor 

 may be learned from a characteristic paragraph: 



" How is it that, in spite of all the zeal for the 

 welfare of the masses, nations are in such straits 

 and even distress, and that the evil is daily on 

 the increase? We are told that society is quite 

 able to help itself; that it can flourish without 

 the assistance of Christianity, and attain its end 

 by its own unaided efforts. Public administrators 

 prefer a purely secular system of government. 

 All traces of the religion of our forefathers are 

 daily disappearing from political life and admin- 

 istration. What blindness! Once the idea of the 

 authority of God as the judge of right and wrong 

 is forgotten, law must necessarily lose its pri- 

 mary authority and justice must perish; and 

 these are the two most powerful and most net -e^- 

 sary bonds of society. Similarly, once the hope 

 and expectation of eternal happiness is taki n 

 away, temporal goods will be greedily sought 

 after. Every man will strive to secure the largest 

 share for himself. Hence arise envy, jealousy. 

 hatred. The consequences are conspiracy, an- 

 archy, nihilism. There is neither peace abroad 

 nor security at home. Public life is stained with 

 crime." 



Another important utterance of his Holim-s 

 was the address to the cardinals on the occasion 

 of his ninetieth birthday, in which he gave the 



Eublic the first intimation of his attitude on the 

 outh African War by a request .that the car- 

 dinals would pray with him for the termination 

 of the conflict and the agreement of both sides 

 engaged. Others were a letter from his Holine-*- 

 to Cardinal Respighi, Vicar of Rome, asking for 

 prayers for the safety of the Christians in China, 

 and an address to the American pilgrimage, in 

 which he gave assurances of the affection in 

 which he held this country, after which he touched 

 and blessed the American flag. 



Two saints were canonized in the course of the 

 year, the greater of whom was Jean Baptiste de 

 la Salle, the founder of the order of the Christian 

 Brothers, and the first to put upon a practicable 

 basis any plan for teaching the children of the 

 poor. St. Rita de Cascia, of the order of St. Au- 

 gustine, was canonized at the same time. An 

 idea of the thoroughness of inquiry which pie 

 cedes canonization may be gained from the fact; 

 that the cause of Jean Baptiste de la Salle had 

 been before the Sacred College since is;i!). am. 

 his beatification, which is the second step in th(! 

 process of which canonization is the third, in 

 thirteen years old. St. Rita de Cascia \va> beati- 

 fied in 1627, her cause having then been beforu 

 the Sacred College for two hundred and twenty- 

 five years. Seventy-six martyrs who died in 

 China in the beginning of the century were beati- 

 fied about the time that their successors wer> 

 being put to death by the Boxers. Others beati- 

 fied were the venerable Dionysus of the Nativity 

 and Redemptus of the Cross. Maria Maddalen:i 

 de Barco, Antonio Grassi, Maria Crescentia HOSF, 



