The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-30 00:00:00

The Golde-A Rose has so long
,been associated
with Mid Lent gunday that its oriain can now
no longer be traced with certainty Cartari,
who was keeper of the Apostolic archives about
two hundred years ago, busied himself and
exhausted the appropriate means at his com-
mand in the investigation in vain. But his
researches proved that many were in error who
had previously ascribed its first use to Innocent
IV., and he re-published at the time a sermon
of Innocent 111., in which he speaks of it as
an ancient observance even in his time—at the
end of the twelfth century. And Torregio, in
his " Grotte Vatican," traces the distinct re-
cord of it up to the year 1130. Lonigo, who
was Master of the Ceremonies in the Pontifical
chapel to Urban VIII., also took great pains
to investigate the matter, and the earliest record
he could discover of it was, that about 1050
Leo IX. having built a convent at Bamberg
(Bamberg at that time belonged to the Popes
and was subsequently exchanged for Bene-
vento), and conferred a great many privileges
and exemptions on the nuns, required of them
as a sort of tribute that they should provide a
golden rose every year, or gold enough from
which it might be made. There is no reason,
however, to imagine this to have been the
origin of the custom : it points rather to its
having been long in use. A MS. preserved
in the library of the Monastery of Sta. Croce
in Gerusalemme, gives a sermon preached
there by Pope Honorius 111., in 1216, on the
occasion of blessing the golden rose; in which
he clearly ascribes its origin to the date of S.
Gregory I. Though many conjectures have
been offered, there appears no very satisfactory
derivation either for the symbolical meaning
it was to convey. It would seem to have been
simply part of the general intention of Mid-
Lent Sunday--a break in the long and weary
fast. The glad words of the Introit gave
it its cheering title " Laetare," the Gospel re-
minding us of Christ's power to feed those who
call upon T-Tim even in the wilderness, and the
Pope, in the procession to the great function of
the day, bore in his hand a golden rose as a token
of rejoicing. The custom of making it a congra-
tulatory present seems to have been an after
growth. It consisted thus at first of a single
rose in its stem with a spray of 'leaves. For
some centuries it was the custom always to
give it to the Prefect of Rome, who bore it in
his hand on certain occasions of State. He had
for a bearing on his coat of arms a golden rose
held in one of the claws of a crowned eagle ;
and in this it appears of one single flower.
The only exception was in the year of the Em-
peror's coronation, when it was reserved for
him. In process of time, however, the import-
ance and beauty of the design was increased,
and the sphere of its destination extended.
Thus, in the reign of Martin V., one is men-
tioned of the year 1417, in MSS. of the time,
consisting of one rose still, but with the addi-
tion of a greater number of leaves ; and another
year the gift of one to the city of Florence is
recorded, which consisted of nine flowers with
sparkling sapphires for stamens, and within
the blossom balsam and myrrh contained in a
cunningly enclosed receptacle. Sixtus IV.
made a singular variation, on one occasion, at
least, by substituting for the rose a sprig of
oak. His name was della Rovere, and a sprig
of oak his armorial bearing. Under Calistus
111., that of the year 1456 had only one flower,
and. it was ornamented with twelve pearls.
From the time of Alexander VI., however, it
was always of more or less ornamental design;
those of his reign would seem to have been
more elaborate than those of any of his prede-
cessors, as might be expected from the splen-
dour of his habits. In a little church here,
called Sta. Lucia del Gonfalone, there is a
picture in which Clement VII. is represented
kneeling before an image of our Lady, and by
his side is the golden rose of the year 1526.
It is an oval vase resting on three lions'
claws, and from the stem sprout ten roses.
It was when the Papal Court was removed
to Avignon that it ceased to be reserved for
the Emperors and the Prefects of Rome. At
Avignon it was given to the most worthy prince
who happened to be present at Court on the
fourth Sunday in Lent. On the return of the
Popes to Rome this custom was continued, and
when there happened to be no one worthy of
it in residence, it was sent, as at present, with
some 'ceremony, to some one at a distance on
whom the Pope and Cardinals decided to ad-
judge it.
There were, however, some few early ex-
ceptions to the rule of reserving it for the Pre-
fects of Rome. Thus Urban 11., after the
Council of Tours in 1096, in which the first
crusade was deliberated, presented Fulke,
Count of Augers, with the golden rose which
he had borne in procession from the church of
St. Maurice to that of St. Martha in that city,
where he had been labouring to stir the people
up to take the cross.
Again, Alexander 111. being in Paris on
Laetare-Sunday, 1163, gave it to Louis VII.,
who is consequently represented on all his seals
with a flower in' his hand ; and Menestrier,