The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-04-08
THE PRESS.
Kissing st. Peters Toe.
A SCENE AT HOME

A SCENE AT HOME
Sunday March 10th was the thi-a day vi
,.;d,o held in the church of st. Peters. A
t,id,,o writes a London Times correspondent
at Rome. is a church service or act of devo-
tion performed and continued for three
consecutive days. The special OBJ
ject of the one just held, and which
was celebrated by the Association for the
Promotion of Good Works in concert with
the Vatican Chapter, was to offer reparation
for the horrible blasphemies with which, In
these latter days, infidels have denied the
presence and the death of st. Peter IN hoihe'
The services have been well ATTENDED. Inc
rain contributed to render St. Peters the
main point of attraction. At any rate, when
called cab on the Piazza di Spagna there
was no occasion to tell the driver where to
go; he started at once for the bridge Of st.
Angelo, and soon got into string OF vehi-
eles converging from various streets IN the
same direction. The great square in front OF
st. Peters was an ocean OF umbrellas.
Half an hour before the appointed time OF
o'clock there were thousands of persons in
the church, bnt, owing to its immense size,
they seemed few and scattered except in the
Tribune, where people had pressed forward
to be near the altar at that extremity of the
building at which the service was to be per-
formed. The influx continued without in
remission until the church. so far as conld be
discerned through the fast gathering gloom
and by one in the midst of the crowd, was
fairly filled, although not crammed as on the
occasion of great and attractive ceremonies.
Mo ha laI ;,,S1 41rao
classes-the curious, the pious, and those
who had gone there because they had moth
ing better to do or because they had been re-
quested to do so by Papal friends, or be-
cause st. Peters was place where they could
walk about and see people under cover on a
wet day. Among the curious was consider
able portion of the foreign population of
Rome; one heard English, American and
German spoken on all sides. If responses
and genufexions were to be accepted as cri-
terion, the pious were pretty numerous, al
though hardly a majoIity-at least under the
dome, where stood. The service commenc-
ed with the organ, but there was no singing
number of gentlemen in evening dress, and
bearing candles, marched through the crowd
to the altar They were said to represent
the Association to Promote Good Works. At
the altar, canons of st Peters officiated. The
responses, reverberating in the dome, had an
vice was simple and monotonous in its char
acter. 1t lasted about half an hour.
The congregation was of the usual motley
character, including persons of the highest
classes and great many who, if not actually
beggars, were dirty in clothes and person, and
not good to stand near for those who did not
wish to take away living testimony of their
presence in the church. The toe of st. Peter
or rather the brass shoe protecting that part
of the Apostles foot which the pious long
ago kissed away, wa. in great demand. There
was constant succession of people, before
and after the service, filing past the statue
and paying it the customary homage. They
first kissed the foot and then touched it with
their forehead, and some of them kissed it
again. The majority Of these toe-worship-
pers were of the lower classes, but well-dress-
ed men, and still more women, also kissed
and bowed and then hurried on, doubtless
much comforted by the tribute they had paid.
In the same quiet, orderly manner in which
they had entered the congregation left the
church, got into their vehicles or opened their
umbrellas, and made for their respective
homes. The Pope is said to have been pres
ent on all three days, invisible, in private
gallery behind a lattice