The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1884-08-23
Roman Cardinals.

Cardinals are still princes of the
| church and wear the purple, says q
Rome letter to the New York Herald.
but the terms which once meant so
much have lost most of their sgniti-
canoe. The pomp and circumstance,
the splendor and the power of the Sa.
cred College have been almost de-
stroyed VI far as exlernals are CON
| cerned. The cardinals dignity grows
daily less mundane and more ecclesias-
| tical. Those who lived in Rome TWEEN
| ty years ago will not have forgotten the
magni6cenee which then surrounded
| III sir eminences. The streets were
filed with the splendor Of their pres.
ence
The red and purple seemed every-
wherein the narrow lanes. the pail
aces, and the churches. Rome bowed
down before them us they rumbled past
in their crimson coaches, and their very
| servants had a certain majesty attach
ing 70 them, such as the best powdered
flunky In King Humberts palace will
never attain. All this has changed by
the breach In the Porta Pia. The GRIM
son coaches roll by no longer; the car.
dinals have been Bhorh Of their grafi-
deur, and their retainers have ex-
changed their scarlet and gold for plain
black broadcloth.
In their home life the cardinals of
this generation are simpler than many
Ah0pkeepefs. The higher you 60 in the
Roman hierarchy the less is the osten-
tation. Pope Leo himself sets the ex-
ample, and with few exceptions his
venerable brothers" and 'sbeloved
sons all initiate him. Cardinal Jacob
hi, Papal Secretary Of State. lives in an
apartment at which d New York mer-
chant wotild scoff-Wefe it not in the
Vatican. Cardinal Billo's rooms and
Cardinal Lucas, in the palace of the
Caheelleria, vert so shabby and vulgar
that they would have called
smile to the lips of the
most indulgent Of our modern
oesthetes. The tawdriness of the late
Cardinal Hassoun's furniture passes de-
scription. It was worthy of a cheap
Conuy Island clearinghouse. Cardf-
nal Howard rs becomes q scion of hig
house, does affect some luxury. Yet
even here il is seen In the form of cost
table Is more liberal than some others,
his wines are older, his linen is finer,
and there Is stately comfort in the
heavy tirapery and well-stu Fed arm
chairs which adorn his apartment. But
compared with the homes Of most
wealthy Americans that of the aristo-
cratic archpriest of st. Peters appears
very unpretending. MIR. Vanderbilt,
no doubt, would think such an interior
poor place to entertain in. Nor
would it inspire much respect in the
minds of many well-to-do English
squires.
Even more striking than the poorest
of most residences of the Roman cardi-
mails is the bad taste and indifference to
beauty which-stare you in the face in
nearly all of them. The Wallpapers,
the chairs, the tables, the curtains, and
the carpets would make very pork
butcher weep. Mr.. Matthew Arnold's
hair would grow prematurely white if
he had to live in such an art ambiente
as Cardinal Simeoni's Tor single fort
night. The tiger patteTnrugs and mats
OF our grandfathers are still in favor in
the reception rooms OF tiaeseccleSiastical
princes. The furniture pictures" of
the Hotel Drouot ara inter esting beside
some OF the portraits aud sanity ale
CORES ~ hlF emlneaesAe o-snd.sp'a.