Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-03-15
Laying Plus Away.

At the final disposition of the late
Pope's remains, writes a correspondent.
the Church of ST Peters was lighted
with great wax candles placed at inter
walls in the side naves; six other candles
were on the main altar. The vast vaults
and dome looked as boundless as the
heavens, and the great spaces were full
of strange forms; there were Pickering
lights and huge masses of shadows.
Here statue of a kneeling Pope SEEM
ed to be imploring Heaven for mercy;
there another Pontiff showered down
benedlctions: statues of saints appeared
to possess strange kind of life. and to
be recounting their grand histories;
above on the arches sat the Michelang-
elesque figures, silent and unmoved, as
if they were the far-off inhabitants of a
world quite unlike our own.
The first striking effect was when the
Chapter of St. Peters Church came
from the Sacristy to the Sacrament
Chapel-a hundred singers singing the
.niserere, with the Bishop of Ephesus,
who was to preside over the ceremony
and give absolution. This bishop had
on white mitre and a black chasuble
embroidered in gold. The Sacred Col
lege was assembled in the Sacrament
Chapel The next stupendous sight
was the carrying of the bier on which
lay the Pope, from the Sacrament Chap
el to the Choir Chapel, by the whole
united bodies of ecclesiastics, cardinals,
canons of St. Peters, officers of the pa
pal household, princes, noble guards.
Sediori Paltreaireri and the singers of
the Sistine and Clementina Chapels. all
chanting the Miserere, and behind this
grand cortege at least two thousand per-
sons who had obtained permission to be
present at this imposing scene. The
procession moved along the minor nave
up to the main altar. and passed around
by the apse, then came down to the
Choir Chapel; there the bier was turn
ed so as to make the body enter with
the head toward the altar, There were
prayers said, the choir sang solemn
psalm, and there was long reading in
Latin from paper or parchment which
was afterwards deposited in the coffin.
the biography of Plus IX,
In front of the altar of the Choir
Chapel were three boxes or coffins. one
OF cyprus wood. lined and covered with
scarlet velvet, one of pine wood, paint
ed red, and one of zinc. The two wood
Ell ones | was Informed, were made, each,
of a solid piece followed out. The body
of the Pope was lifted into the cypress
wood coffin. An ecclesiastic, Monsig-
nor Ricci, Majordomo, covered the face
with white cloth and placed three red
purses at the Popcs feet; in these
purses were the medals, gold, silver and
bronze, coined during the thirty-two
years of the reign of Plus IX., and also
specimens of money coined during his
temporal reign. The Latin biography
of the Pope was put in a leaden tube
and placed also beside the money. This
coffin was closed without noise and put
in the zinc coffin, the zinc cover was
soldered on, and the whole lifted into
the pine coffin, the cover of which was
hammered on. The coffin was placed
on a little car that had four wheels;
the car was covered with black velvet.
The cover of the sarcophagus was
lifted, and an iron machine, with cords
and pulleys, was arranged there by
which the coffin of Plus IX, could be
lifted into the urn. There was a heavy
silence in the church; every one seemed
awed and terrified as the cords were
placed about the coffin, and the creak of
the crank was heard The heavy coffin
rose slowly; it seemed an age while it
was mounting, and what added to the
ghostly, horrible impression was the
sight of the moonlight creeping through
the windows.
At last the coffin reached the sarco-
phagus, was lowered slowly into it, the
cover was fastened down by the masons,
and the sad solemn burial services
ended