The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-02-29 00:00:00

AN IMPOSING CEREMONY.

attended by the King, her august Consort, deigned to,
receive Monsignor Luigi Pallotti, the Apostolical AU- I
Legate, or Special Messenger, who delivered his creden-
tials, and announced the object of his important mission.
The whole assembled Court then repairsd to the R..yrd
Chapel, a spacious and magnificent edifies-, running
the whole length of one of the wings of the Palace,
where the Queen's Confessor, Father Clsrot, Arch-
bishop of Tiajanopolin, was standing on the steps of
the Altar, awaiting them. The Golden Rose, delivered
by the Ab-Legate into the hands of the officiating
Archbishop, was by him laid on the altar, "on the
Gospel side, and close to the Tabernacle." Mass VMS
then said by the Archbishop, who, when he cause to
OW lie, Mesas eat, seated himself with his back to the
altar, while a "chaplain of honour" read the
Pontifical Briefs, explaining the motives which
had induced His Holiness the Pope to and her
Majesty the Golden Rose, together with his
Apostolical benediction to her and her Royal family.
The Ab-Legate proceeded then to deliver a most im-
pressive and touching address, in the Pope's name, to
his best-beloved daughter in Jesus Christ, Queen
Isabella, explaining that the "Golden Rose is the
pledge of the paternal affection of the Pontiff who
sends it ; the emblem of the faith, justice, and charity
of the Sovereign lady who receives it, and the happy
foretoken of the protection of ll,sl who hallows it."
He prayed that this flower, bathed with the slew of
heavenly blessings, might breathe on all Spain the
sweetest perfume of Christian charity ; he called on
the Queen to open her heart to a holy joy on seeing
before her the precious jewel which once adorned the
throne of Isabella the Catholic' and which the sacred
hand of Pius IX., even in his days of tribulation and
bitter sorrow, was now pleased to send to her, that it
should once more shed its lustre on the glorious diadem
of Castile. He reminded the Queen how the hand of
the same Pius sent the holy water with which her
eldest son the Prince of Asturias, was christened, and
he prayed that the blessings at that time invoked upon
the infant's cradle might dwell with the young Prince
and crown him, as it were, with a wreath of peace,
olory, and justive, so that he who was to be Alphonso
XII. might be heir to the wisdom of all the Alphonsos
and to the holiness of all the Ferdinands.

At the close of the Abdhegate's address, and after
reading the Brief by which the Pope empowered
Father Claret to present the Rose to Her Majesty, the
queen, followed by the King Consort, came up to the
altar and knelt on its step, when the Ab. Legate took
the Rose from its place and transferred it to the
officiating Archbishop, from whom it finally reached
the hands of the exalted Lady for whom it was
intended. At the same moment the Archbishop
pronounced the Latin formula appropriated to this
ceremony, saying:—

Receive, 0 beloved daughter In Jesus Christ, this evidence
and lasting monument which we wish to give thee of the
earnest love we bear thee, as much for thy signal services
towards this Apostolic See as for the high virtues by which
thou shinest among women. Accept this mystic Rose, be-
dewed with intim and musk, typifying the sweet odours st tech
should exhale front the good deeds of all of us, especially of
those living in high places. Accept It, beloved daughtet,
who, in the temporal order, art noble, mighty, and endowed
with great virtue and may virtue grow in thee even ass
rose planted beside a brook of plenteous waters, &c.
- '

The Rose is not, as might be supposed, an object of
trifling value ; on the contrary, it is a truly remarkable
work of art, representing a branch of a rose tree, with
the thorns and buds in pure gold, and having at the
extremity a Hower of larger size. The bough rests on
an elegant pedestal of silver gilt, which bears the
papal arms among its ornaments. The intrinsic value
of the present, calculated by the weight of the gold
only, is about 1:400. The chiselling is of the most
exquisite workmanship, and in its cup, among its
petahs, the Pope, at every benediction he pronounces
upon it, inserts a few particles of amber and musk,
imparting to it the sweetness to which allusion is made
in the Brief. Upon receiving the Rose the Queen
returned to her place, whence, still holding the comes
crated trinket, she repaired to her apartments. 'the
Rose was then intrusted to • Cons t Chaplain, by whom
it was exhibited, and tendered to the devout kisses of
all the officers of the Household and dignitaries of the
Realm. The final resting-place of the blessed flraver
is the altar in the private oratory of the Royal apart-
ments.