The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-07 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS FOREIGN NEWS.

ROME, Dec. 28.

Christmas in all its Roman splendour has passed
in peace. We had great accessions of visitors in
the preceding week ; stagnant hotels and apart-
ments were called into all their normal winter
activity, and the streets were filled with luggage-
laden vehicles. The attendance at the English
Protestant service on the last Sunday of Advent
was estimated to amount to between 500 and 600,
and there are many English Catholics also, though
they have hardly gathered in as great force as usual.
Other countries are represented in larger propor-
tion, and probably the major part swelled the
congregation at S. Peter's at the High Mass, but
a few thousands more or less makes very little
difference in the appearance it presents on such

occasions.
The Pope sang the Mass with a voice as firm and
clear as usual, and as he was afterwards borne
aloft through the church ample opportunity was
afforded to the kneeling thousands to observe that
the hand which was raised to bless them retained
all its energy, and that the :frame of the venerable
Pontiff shows none of the signs of decay his ad-
versaries are so fond of predicating.
Cardinal Antonelli did not officiate as first dea-
con on this occasion ; he was overcome by an attack
of indisposition during the service in the Sixtine
Chapel on Sunday. Still, though he did not feel
equal to this exertion, he occupied his place among
the cardinals, and was looking tolerably well. He
is, indeed, almost recovered.
I am not, however, going to speak of the func-
tion in detail. It has often been described, and
every time I assist at it I feel more and more how
inadequate any language is to help in reproducing
the impression it conveys. The matchless strains
of the " silver trumpets," and the scarcely less sil-
ver-toned choir, must be heard in that particular
area, unrivalled in its acoustic perfection; the
solemn gathering-in of all the nations of the earth
must be stood among, and the perfect freedom and
equality of all classes in the throng—the cosmo-
politan at-homeness of all present—must be felt
within that spacious fane, amid the relics and
effigies of the holy ones of all time ; the artistic,
albeit spontaneous, grouping of worshippers, and
massing of colours and costumes, must ba seen,
forming the background and framework to the
glorious shrine where all that is richest and no-
blest and most beautiful of this world's production
is collectei into one harmonious aggregate to
attest to an unbelieving world that God sitteth
in the heavens. No words can convey, and no
mind can call up for itself the image of a scene
so complicated in its actual production.
But there was a feature in this year's Christmas
celebration at S. Peter's which must not be passed
over, and that is the traces to be observed there of
the present crisis of the fortunes of the Temporal
Power. First, there were shining on the breasts
of the numerous Italian soldiers, born subjects of
the Pope, who variegated the throng—Guardie
Nobile and National Guard, no less than the regu-
lar soldiers of the line, Gendarmes, Dragoons, and
Cacciatori—the new cross, the token of how their
ranks had been distinguished for their loyal
bravery in:defence of their country and its Go-
vernment. Then there were in the envied posi-
tion of keeping the line of the venerable pro-
cession the Zouaves, in their free and easy cos-
tume, looking, as they have ever proved them-
selves, ready for any work requiring pluck and
alertness. And lastly, the groups of newly-arrived
defenders of the rights of the Holy See, display-
ing, in the ardent devotion, admiration, and awe
with which their first sight of the overpowering
vision of the place manifestly inspired them, qua-
lities which will replace what they may have yet
to acquire in smartness of drill. Such men may
be borne down by overpowering numbers, but as
you see them you feel that nothing less will repulse
them.

The day was brilliant in the extreme ; the sky
of a hue never attained by the most frantic efforts
of a London June, and the sunlit air mocked the
sharpest efforts of the keen Tramontana, to re-
mind us of the weather which is making our
northern friends shiver even round their flaming
pudding and their blazing logs Nothing could be
imagined more animated than the scene on the
bridge of S. Angelo, crowded with the string of
privileged carriages, to which those of some
Austrian and Spanish cardinals lent effects of
colour such as few of the local cardinals display.
And by its side poured two streams of gladsome
people rejoicing in the festive season in all the
lightness of their southern hearts.

The distribution of the new decorations to the
soldiers took place in the Piazza, of S. Peter's on
Monday, General Kanzler presiding. Detach-
ments of all the corps in Rome were present, and
defiled before him. Among them I noticed one
of the young Princes Rospialissi, in the uniform
of a simple private in the Artillery. There was
a great concourse of people of all classes, though,
of course, nothing like the numbers one is used to
see assembled within the same space at the great
functions. The weather was brilliant, though cold.
The Pope assisted at the ceremony from a window
of one of his apartments during a short time. He
had in the morning presided at the obsequies of
Cardinal Ugolini, at S. Salvatore, in Laura, who
was buried on Monday night in a vault under
Sta. Marie, in Via Lata, his titular church.
Senor Alesandro de Castro, the Spanish Am-
bassador, whose arrival I mentioned some weeks
ago, had the honour of a grand reception at the
Vatican on Monday, and a conference of some
length with the Pope. It was observed that he
wentat the same time and in the same state to pay
his devotions at the shrine of S. Peter. In the
evening there was a grand reunion at the Pa-
lazzo di Espagno, which was numerously attended,
the Piazza being illuminated and the military
bands playing there according to the usual custom.
That at the Austrian Ambassador's, next week, is
expected to be still more brilliant.

The officers of the Pontifical army had an audi-
ence yesterday to present their New Year's wishes.
The King and Queen of Naples go to the Vatican
to-day. These receptions take place, you see,
rather early here, as the Nativity is considered
to be more actually the capo d'anno than New
Year's Day itself.
The Pope haq,.l hear, presented several of the
churches despoiled by the Garibaldians, with new
vestments and vessels for the altar.
Cardinal d'Andrea has signed and transmitted
by the hands of Cardinal Antici-Mattei the re-
tractation required of him by the Pope. Some
further penance will probably be imposed, such as
living in retirement for a longer or shorter period.
Another case of ecclesiastical discipline is being
talked of just now—that of the Coptic Patriarch,
Abraham Casciiir, whose history is almost roman-
tic. He first came to Rome in 1826, under the
Pontificate of Leo XII., being then only twenty-
two, and studied at the College of the Propa-
ganda. Though not remarkable for his intelligence,
he had plenty of astuteness. One day a forged
letter was received at the Vatican, purporting to
come from Mahomet Ali, informing the Pope con-
fidentially that the schismatic patriarch of the
Copts was dead, and that the Copts only waited
for a Catholic patriarch to be sent them to de-
clare themselves Catholics, and designating young
Casciitr as specially meet for the office. So well
was the forgery carried out, that the Court of
Rome did not discover it, but acted in accordance
with the advice given. By means of other for-
geries Casciur had likewise given himself out to
be the son of a man of substantial means, and
lately ennobled. Under the circumstances, the
disability regarding his age was dispensed, and
he was ordained priest, then consecrated bishop,
and finally was canonically invested with the dig-
nity of United-Patriarch of the Copts, with resi-
dence at Alexandria. His rank was acknow-
ledged by interchange of visits with the other
members of the prelature, and furnished with the
ornaments and ',insignia of his exalted office he
started to take possession of his new province.
Up to this point all his schemes had been worked
out with an even flow of success. Ecclesiastical
prudence, however, provided a safeguard on which
he had not counted. Having regard to his youth
and inexperience, and the difficulties of tli Attend-