THE ROMAN CARDINAL
What is a cardinal? In the early days of the Church in Rome the
presbyters and deacons of the city, the council and administrators of
its bishop, were considerable personages--indeed the bench of
presbyters had always been of great importance in the government of
the Church in Rome as elsewhere, as Jerome testifies, and the seven
deacons were even more conspicuous partly perhaps, as Jerome suggests,
because they were few and the presbyters were many, and partly because
the diaconate appears very early in Roman Church annals, and may
indeed have been a relic of the evangelisation of the eternal city by
Peter, at whose instance "the seven" were first instituted (Acts vi.
3). To the presbyters and deacons must be added the rural bishops of
the Roman district who came in time to assist the Pope at the great
ecclesiastical solemnities, and are an example of those parochial
oversights, no larger than parishes, over which we find "bishops"
presiding at a time when--except in the great metropolitan
Sees--bishops were little more than rural deans.
[Illustration: SAINT PETER'S]
As the Church grew these presbyters of the original "titles" or parish
churches of Rome, together with the regional deacons of the city, and
the suburban bishops, took rank as the cardinal or principal Roman
clergy, and in time the privilege of forming part, even in only a
titular sense, of this body of presbyters and deacons of the great See
of Rome, was coveted by other than Romans, and the Pope would create
the metropolitan of a foreign See or some distinguished foreign
ecclesiastic cardinal priest or cardinal deacon of the Holy Roman
Church. By the eleventh century the cardinals of the Roman Church are
a recognised body, the Senate of the Pope, whose election is being
gradually confined to their hands alone. In the next century the
popular vote--the vote of the clergy and people of Rome--is altogether
abolished, and thenceforth the election of a pope is exclusively
vested in the College of Cardinals, whose privileges and dignity were
further enhanced at the close of the thirteenth century by Boniface
VIII.
Cardinals therefore are the honorary parish clergy of Rome, nominally
holding the place of the presbyters of the Roman _titles_ and of the
deacons of the Roman regions; and though a foreign cardinal cannot of
course be also a local parish priest in Rome, he is bound to appoint a
"vicar" to represent him. The six suburban Sees are always held by six
of the senior cardinals _di curia_, that is the cardinals resident in
Rome, among whom is always the Pope's cardinal-vicar, and they are
called the cardinal bishops. Cardinal priests are usually in episcopal
orders, and cardinal deacons are usually in priest's orders. Each
cardinal priest or deacon takes his title from one of the Roman
churches, and is styled _John Cardinal Priest_ (or deacon) _of the
title of Saints John and Paul on the Caelian_. The oldest presbyteral
titles are to be found in the outlying districts--as SS. Andrea and
Gregorio, Archbishop Manning's title, S. Clemente, S. Prisca, SS.
Bonifacio and Alessio, or S. Eusebio, on the Caelian Aventine and
Esquiline, or among the old ecclesiastical foundations in Trastevere.
The diaconal titles, on the contrary, are to be found in the centre,
corresponding to the ancient regions--S. Maria in Aquiro behind Piazza
Colonna, S. Adriano on the Forum, or S. Giorgio the title of John
Henry Newman in the ancient quarter of the Velabrum.
The Pope was chosen from among the deacons of Rome for eight hundred
years, and was consecrated bishop on his election; later on the Pope
was chosen from the bishops, but if, as has happened, a layman were
elected he proceeded at once to receive the three major orders. A man
in deacon's orders or a layman may similarly have the Hat conferred on
him, but in this case he may remain in deacon's orders, or if a layman
may take simple minor orders. The last deacon in the College of
Cardinals was created by Pius IX. He had been a member of the High
Council in the "forties," and as such formed one of the deputation
sent by the Romans after the flight to Gaeta to beg Pius IX. to return
to Rome. The deputation was not even received. Antonelli, this Pope's
Secretary of State, was another cardinal who was never in priest's
orders.
A cardinal is called the Pope's _creatura_; at the time of Leo XIII.'s
death the only surviving cardinal of Pius IX.'s creation was the
Cardinal Chamberlain Oreglia di Santo Stefano, so that Leo could all
but declare in the words of one of his predecessors, with an allusion
to S. John xv. 16, "You have not elected me, but I have elected you."
The full number of the Roman cardinals is seventy. About twenty-five
of these are always resident in Rome, and form the papal _Curia_, or
administrative council of the Church, with the _entree_ at all times
to the Vatican. They are the chief members of the Roman Congregations,
the Congregation of Rites, of the Inquisition, the Index, the Bishops
and Regulars, etc., through which all ecclesiastical affairs are
administered. Cardinals _di curia_ receive a sum of twenty-four
thousand francs a year, or less than one thousand pounds. A special
stipend is also added for the work done as members of the various
congregations.
Their position before 1870 was however a very different one. Then they
enjoyed large incomes and their comings and goings were attended with
a certain measure of regal state; and in the preceding centuries when
the Hat was often conferred, like any other secular distinction, on
mere youths and on laymen, their wealth and the luxury and
magnificence of their style of living was unsurpassed in Rome, while
the power and position of some cardinal nephew or relative of the Pope
was second only to his own.
Cardinals are created--and the process is long and elaborate--in a
special assembly of the Pope and his Council of Cardinals known as
Consistory. In a preliminary and secret meeting, the Pope proposes the
names of those he wishes to honour to his assembled councillors, and
as a relic of the ancient custom of asking the consent of the people
to the election of their bishop or deacon, the question: "quid quis
videtur?" is put as each name is announced. No opportunity of dissent
is however afforded the cardinals, and all they are expected to do is
to rise, take off their _berrettas_ or stiff caps, and bow as a sign
of assent. The Pope may, and often does, keep back "in his breast,"
_in petto_, the name of some candidate if he thinks it expedient. But
this candidate comes forward nevertheless at a future consistory for
the subsequent formalities.
At another secret consistory, the Pope first closes the mouths of the
newly created cardinals and then pronounces them open with the words:
"I open your mouth that in consistory, in congregations, and in other
ecclesiastical functions, you may be heard in the name of the Father,
the Son and the Holy Ghost."
Most important of all these ceremonies is the public consistory held
in one of the great halls of the Vatican, and before 1870 this was a
"festa" of the first magnitude. The new _porporati_, wearers of
purple, rode in triumph through the streets upon gaily decked horses,
wearing their scarlet robes and hats; bands of ecclesiastics, grooms
on foot and on horseback, papal guards and attendants escorted them;
cannon were fired and church bells rung, and the Roman people never
so happy as when a procession is afoot, crowded into the streets.
On reaching the Vatican, the cardinals-elect take their oaths in the
Sistine chapel and then accompanied by two cardinal deacons as
sponsors, one walking on each side, they are led into the presence of
the Pope.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF S. PETER'S, THE BRONZE STATUE OF S. PETER
The statue, the origin of which is uncertain, is near the shrine of
the apostle, and peasants and seminarists kiss the outstretched
foot, and then touch it with their foreheads. See page 11.]
The Pope sits enthroned in full state, surrounded by his court, all
his cardinals in a great semicircle around him, cardinal bishops and
priests on his right, cardinal deacons on his left--the train bearers
sitting on foot-stools at their feet. Kneeling on the steps of the
throne, the new cardinals kiss the Pontiff's foot, hand, and cheek;
they then rise and embrace the whole college in the order of their
precedence, and as a final ceremony, they kneel again before the Pope,
the hoods of their cloaks are drawn over their heads by two masters of
ceremonies, and a cardinal's hat is held over them while the Pope
addresses a few words to each. The new cardinals now take their seats
according to the rank just conferred upon them, and the proceedings
close with an address of thanksgiving to the Pope made upon his return
to his apartments, and a _Te Deum_ in the Sistine chapel. In the
afternoon of the same day, couriers and messengers hurry through the
streets of Rome. The new red hat is carried to the happy recipient by
a "monsignore of the papal wardrobe," the rochet and the scarlet
_berretta_ are conveyed by less important functionaries, and all and
each have to be thanked and entertained and recompensed when possible.
The Secretary of State, all the cardinals and papal officials, as well
as personal friends and private individuals hasten to pay
congratulatory visits (_visite di calore_) upon the new cardinals; and
royal fashion, the state calls have to be immediately returned. If the
cardinal is a foreigner and out of Rome, his hat is carried to him by
a papal messenger especially appointed, and in Catholic states is
presented with considerable ceremony by his sovereign.
The cardinal's hat, at one time an article of attire, is now only a
symbol. It is of red cloth with a wide brim and shallow crown, and on
either side hang fifteen red tassels, the number denoting the
ecclesiastical rank of the wearer. From the day of its presentation
the hat is put by until its owner's death, when it is brought out once
more to be hung up in some side chapel of his titular church, where it
remains until it falls to pieces with age.
One of the first duties of a new cardinal is to take possession of his
titular church, and in old days this was another occasion for pomp and
display, and the Pope's guards attended in full dress uniform. Now the
cardinal drives quietly in his sombre closed carriage. At the church
door he is divested of his cloth cloak and hat, and in flowing scarlet
silk he walks up the nave bestowing benedictions on all sides. He
seats himself on his throne in the chancel and the vicar of the parish
reads to him an address in Latin to which he replies, he is then
saluted by all the clergy of the parish in the order of their
precedence ending with the acolytes, and the "taking possession" is
over. He must however present the church with his portrait painted in
oils which is hung with that of the reigning pope in the nave; and
with a large escutcheon of his heraldic coat, emblazoned in colour and
surmounted by the red hat and tassels, which is placed over the main
entrance to the building, and which side by side with the papal arms
is the outward and visible sign of a titular church. As princes of the
Church, cardinals enjoy the princely distinction of displaying their
coats of arms in the halls of their houses, affixed to the wall and
sheltered beneath a silken canopy. Further they must have a throne and
throne room, but unlike the secular princes of Rome who are entitled
to the same privilege, their thrones are turned towards the wall, and
are only reversed during a vacancy of the Holy See, when they may be
used by their owners, who, for the time, become sovereigns and rulers
of the Church.
No great church ceremony is complete without a cardinal, who by his
very presence makes a function, but except for such occasions as these
little is seen of the Roman cardinals by the casual visitor to the
city. Their heavy carriages, painted black, drawn by black horses
their harness unrelieved by brass or plating, pass unnoticed in the
streets. Only occasionally on the Janiculum or outside the city gates
on fine afternoons, a cardinal may be seen taking a walk, his servant
at a discreet distance behind him, and his carriage following at a
foot's pace. Before 1870 the streets of Rome were enlivened by the
cardinals' brilliant equipages. A cardinal possessed two or three
coaches to be used according to the degree of state required. He
drove to the Vatican on grand occasions with all three to convey
himself and his retinue of attendants, and his gala carriage drawn by
six horses with postilions and standing footmen was of brilliant
scarlet and was so magnificently gilded and painted that it cost over
a thousand scudi.
During the period of their greatest splendour, it was no uncommon
thing for a cardinal to have a household of several hundred persons,
and though this number was later greatly reduced, a considerable
retinue of servants, secretaries, domestic chaplains, and attendants
of all sorts was always considered necessary to his princely state.
Chief among these was his _gentiluomo_. This gentleman was indeed his
constant "guide, philosopher and friend"; he drove with him, paid
visits for him, entertained his friends, and in a wonderful
Elizabethan dress of black velvet, with silk stockings, lace ruffles
and a rapier, he was by his side at all state and church functions.
Cardinal Wiseman's _gentiluomo_ still lives in Rome where he received
the guests of the new cardinal in the palace of the Consulta opposite
the Quirinal, then occupied by Pius IX., and he remembers the cardinal
taking the official costume with him to England for his English
substitute. At the present day when the temporal role of cardinals is
shorn of its significance, nothing better illustrates the unworthy
subordination of the civil career to the clerical than the position of
a cardinal's _gentiluomo_. Dressed in his knee breeches, a sword by
his side, this attendant who belongs to the good _bourgeoisie_ and
may be an architect or engineer, is to be seen at every cardinal's
high mass, waiting with the minor clerks, and presenting himself on
one or two occasions during the ceremony with a ewer and basin which
he offers kneeling on one knee while the cardinal washes the tips of
his fingers.
[Illustration: A CARDINAL IN VILLA D'ESTE
Villa d'Este at Tivoli was the residence of the late Prince-Cardinal
Hohenlohe. See interleaf, page 106.]
It is fondly believed by the tourist, who will go any distance as a
rule, and push through any crowd for a sight of the scarlet clothes,
that a cardinal habitually lives in robes of red silk, with a white
fur tippet round his shoulders. As a matter of fact his red robes are
for state occasions only--either for attendance at the papal court or
for great church functions. He wears a plain black cassock in ordinary
life with a red sash and red buttons and silk pipings, and thus cannot
be easily distinguished from other prelates whose silk trimmings vary
with every shade from crimson to purple. The state robes of scarlet
are very splendid indeed. The soutane of light scarlet cloth has a
train; over this is worn the white rochet trimmed with deep lace and
over this again the _cappa magna_ a voluminous circular cloak of red
watered silk, with a single opening for the head. It is gathered up to
the elbows in front and floats behind into an ample train which is
carried by pages or acolytes. The stockings, gloves, skull cap and
_berretta_ are of scarlet. The _cappa magna_ has a hood pointed behind
and forming a sort of shoulder cape in front, which in the winter
months is covered with white ermine. Canons of the Roman basilicas
wear a _cappa magna_ of purple cloth, but they are not permitted to
spread it out, it must be tightly coiled into a long rope and slipped
through a loop at the side.
At social receptions a cardinal wears his black soutane and red sash,
and over it a flowing scarlet silk cloak from the shoulder. If the
occasion is an important one he is received at the palace gates by two
servants with lighted torches, and these accompany him up the stairs
to the door of the _salon_ and there await his departure, when they
escort him to his carriage again. When in this gala attire, a cardinal
wears as an out-door wrap a gorgeous cloth cloak with many capes of
purple and deep red, and a red priest's hat around which is twisted a
red and gold cord finished with minute tassels the requisite fifteen
in number.
The most responsible and arduous duty of the College of Cardinals is
the conclave when the election of the future head of the Church
depends upon their united vote. With the death of a pope their
position changes on the instant from that of subject to ruler, and for
the time being the destinies of the Church lie in their hands. They
receive deputations and state visits seated upon their thrones, they
drive in their carriages alone upon the principal seat, no companion
being of sufficiently exalted rank to sit beside them, and the first
among them, the Cardinal Chamberlain, is attended by a detachment of
the Swiss guard and affixes his own seal to papal documents.
[Illustration: VILLA D'ESTE--PATH OF THE HUNDRED FOUNTAINS]
Scarcely in accordance with this regal state are the rules still in
force for conclave, which are, to say the least, antiquated. The
incarceration to which the cardinals are obliged to submit is of
the strictest, and for its maintenance the secular arm is called in in
the shape of the Marshal of Conclave, a Roman nobleman who with his
officers and subordinates assumes complete control outside the
building. Accustomed to spacious rooms and numerous domestics, the
cardinals are now forced to lodge in a tiny apartment of two rooms in
a circumscribed portion of the Vatican palace--the rules prescribe one
cell--one valet and one secretary each are allowed them, while two
barbers and one confessor are considered sufficient to shave and
shrive the whole college. From sumptuous living they are reduced to
meals brought to their cells by their servants, and the rules permit a
gradual reduction of the _menu_ to an ultimate diet of bread and
water, as a means of bringing pressure to bear upon the voters and so
precipitating their agreement. This rigorous treatment has been often
tried in the past with various results.
When assembled for the scrutiny in the Sistine chapel each cardinal is
provided with a throne before which stands a small table with ink and
paper. Over the throne is a canopy or _baldacchino_ the emblem of
sovereignty. These are ingeniously fitted with a hinge and when the
election of the new pope is announced all the canopies fold up except
one, leaving the elected member of the college alone sitting enthroned
beneath his _baldacchino_, a sovereign amongst his subjects.