The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-05-31
ROMAN CARDINALS


| y
Live at Present.
Rome Letter in New York Herald.
Cardinals are still princes of the Church and
wear the purple. but the terms which once
meant so much have lost most Of their sgnlh-
canoe. The pomp and circumstance, the spien-
dor and the power of the sacred college have
been almost DESTROYED, so far as cNtcmals are
| concerned The cardinals dignity grows daily
less mundane and more ecclesiastical Those
who llved in Rome twenty years ago VIII not
have forgotten the maSnifcencc which then sur
rounded their eminences The streets Were lled
with the splendor Of their presence
The red and purple seemed everywhere-lu
the narrow lanes, the palaces and the churches
Rome bowed down before them as they rumoled
past III their crimson coaches, and their very
servants had n certain majesty attaching to
them, such as the best powdered turnkey mixing
Humbert's palace will never attain. All this
! has changed by the breach in the Porta Pla.
The crimson coaches roll by no longer: the car
d1nals have been shOrI of their grandeur, and
their retainers have exchanged their scarlet and
gold for plain black broadcloth
In their home life the cardinals Of this genera
ton are simpler than many shopkeepels. The
higher you 90 in the Roman hierarchy the less Is
the oStentatlon. Pope Leo himself sets the exam
pie and with few exceptions his ''NeneEtbie
brothers and beloved sons all initiate him.
Cardinal Jacobini, Papai Secretary of State, lives
IN an apartment at which New York NOR
chant would scoff-were it not in the Nati-
can. Cardinal Iillos rooms and Cardinal
Lucas, in the palace of the Canceller'a ..
were so shabby and vulgar that they would
have called smile to the lips Of The most inuui-
gent of our modern aesthetics The tawdrness Of
the late Cardinal Hassouns furniture passes de
scrptlon. 1t worthy Of a cheap COney Island
boarding house. Cardinal Howard, as becomes
a scion of his house, does affect some luxury.
Yet even here it is seen chiefly in the form Of
costly books and pictures His Emnences table
is more liberal than some Others, his wines are
older, his linen is finer, and there IS stately
comfort in the heavy drapery and wellstuttcd
arm chairs which adorn his apartment But
compared with the home of most wealthy
Americans that of the ariStOcratc arChprlest OF
St Peters appears to be very unpretending Mr..
Vanderbilt, doubt would think such an in
terror poor place to entertain in. Nor would
it inspire much respect in the minds of many
wel-to-do English squres.
Even more striking than the poorness of most
residences Of the Roman cardinals, IS the bad
taste and Indifference to beauty, which stare YOU
in the face in nearly all of them. The wall
papers, the chairs the tables, the curtains and
the carpets would make Il very pork butcher
weep. Mr.. Matthew Anolds hair would grow
prematurely white if he had to live in such an
art ambiente as Cardinal Simeonis for single
fortnight. The tiger pattern rugs aud mats OF
our grandfathers are still in favor in the recep-
ton rooms of the ecclesiastical princes. The
furniture pictures of the Hotel Drouot are in
teresting, beside some of the portraits and sanity
allegories at his Eminence So-and
the cheapness of the hangings were they not
so gaudy. But who can forgive magenta d9mask
or bright yellow rep, or slipper pattern Berlin
wool work, all of which. alas are decorative
common places at his Emnence's,
A cardinals post is no sinecure. From morn
till nightfall the bell at his door rings cease
lessly. Grievances have to be redressed cases
of conscience to be inquired into visitors to be
given audience and visits TO be returned. Then
there are meetings to attend at the Vatican and
m nj q
nothing of the routine obligations of all bishops,
the praying, preaching, pontificatng and giving
of benedictions How some eminences
find the time for all their work is a con
slant marvel to the writer And the
strangest part is, that not only do they do the
work. but they somehow manage to be gracious,
good tempered and polite in doing it. A Roman
cardinal, take him for all in all. IS one of the
| finest gentlemen breathing. However early it
| may be- or however late. if you have any serious
cllim upon his time and attention you are sure
of courteous hearing. There are certain
shades of difference, of course between the
courtesy extended to one visitor and another.
but the humblest gets more civhty than one
dafes to hope for at the hands of Italian govern
ment impiegati, telegraph clerks or custom
house officers The approach to his EIninence
| is usually made through three ante rooms
| The paper the walls in room No ! may
be Prussian blue. No, = will perhaps be papered
with yellow ochre, and No with a nice quiet
magenta. According to your Importance. YOU
are uShered INTO the hrSt. second or third room.
the last one THAT nearest to the audience room
! properl being reserved for very high digntaries
| princes, ambassadors or bishops. The fourth
room, in which you will probably find his Emil
nence, is likely to be furnished with very loud
gilt and crimson. It invariably contains bad
portrait of his present Holiness, and often another
of his late Holiness Plus TX. If you are Catho-
lie you kneel to the cardinal and make show of
kissing his fingers. If you a hereto the
obeisanee is dispensed with, with a pleasant
smile Strict etiquette requires that YOU should
not depart till hint of dismissal has been given
you, and you may roughly know what estimate
has been set upon you by watching whether his
Eminence escorts You to the door on leaving, or
simply bids you farewell where he happens to be
sitting.
In the afternoon the cardinals generally get
little rest But the hour of the ave Maria
brings the bell ringing and the visitors again.
Often when vulgar mortals, having digested
their dinners, are drowsily thinking of bed,
his Eminence is still sitting in his crimson
audience chamber, faint and weary, longing for
the last tedious caller to go, and wondering
whether, after all, he would not be happier with
out the purple.