The Opelousas courier., 1890-11-29
ST.. PETER.s DOME,

1 f- OSN&E sphere as Ouk6s
Before the Papacy lost its temporal
power in 1870 it was customary for the
Pope to celebrate mass publicly at the
main altar of st. Peters at three relig-
ious festivals-viz.: IN Easter Sunday,
| the 29th of June feast of st. Peter and
st. Paul, and Christmas. On these oc-
casions the Pope had on his breast a
golden ephod, like the n worn by the
high priest Of Israel. In the evening
of the two days first named two great
spectacles We're always given, the illu-
mination of the dome and cupola Of St
Peters, followed by a splendid and
unique exhibition of fireworks in the
Piazza del Popolo. The illumination
was in two parts; first the silver one,
so-called, produced by white paper Ian
terms hung on the roofs Of the two
semi-eireular porticos of the Piazza San
Pietro and about the front of the Ba-
silica, and next, at the stroke of eight,
| the hour for the Ave Maria, the golden
one, in which the dome and cupola
were brought out in brilliant outlines
of light with almost the rapidity of
lightning. The light vas produced by
iron shells, fitted with wicks and filed
with tallow, some containing as much
as fifteen pounds. others Less, accord
ing to the situation and exposure to the
wind. 1t was indeed a grand sight,
once seen never to be forgotten. No
one can tell when it will ever be seer
again.
A very n impression has
prevail ed among Americans, Catholics
being as ready to believe and spread it
as Protestants, that so great was the
danger for the men employed about this
illumination they were all regularly
prepared for death by the reception OF
the sacraments of confession and holy
communion. That year after year the
lives of a great number of men were
deliberately and extraordinarily inn
periled in order to get up a fine spec
tacle would hardly seem consistent with
the well-known humane and benevolent
| character of the Papal Government,
and the writer took opportunity during
a recent visit to Rome to inquire par
| ticularly into the facts of the case, feel
ing confident that they would be found
to involve no censurable disregard OF
human life.
The men employed about the dome
and roof of St. Peters are called San
Pietrini. They dwell upon the roof.
Most of them were born there, as were
generations of their kind gone before.
There r forty-one of them-twenty
regular employees, seventeen super.
numeraries, two aspirants to the place
of supernumerary, and two who do only
sweeping and cleaning. The illuminar
ton of the dome and cupola used TIC
take over three hundred men. Extra
hands were hired for the occasion from
trades and occupations in which labor
is done at dizzy heights and they
were set to work under direction
of the San Pietrini. Every precau-
ton was taken against accidents.
The writer's informant, San
Pietrini grown old and gray in the Q r
vice, said that although oftentimes
some Of the men employed were care
less, yet during the forty-four years
preceding 1870 only three men, all OF
them San Pietrini had lost their lives
by falling. One fell from the ROOF
while repairing an arm of the statue OF
St Andrew; the other two fell while
illuminating the dome.
The writer saw adisplay OF sure-foot-
edness and skill by the San Pietrini in
taking down the crimson draperies
with which the interior of st. Peters
had been hung at the papal jubilee.
One man suspended in the air by ropes
handled in the triforium above him un-
hooked the draperies and attached
them to other ropes by which they
were lowered to the floor. It was mar
velous to see the skill and self-posses-
sion with which the operator would
spring at that height from the wall into
the air by the the pressure of his foot.
and the surefootedness with which for
certain short distances he moved along
| cornices over which the heels of his
shoes could be seen~ projecting, his hold
being on hooks fastened in the wall.
The San Pietrini are said to go hunt
ing in the month of March for young
rocks in the nest which that bird builds
on the roof of the Basilica- 1t must be
rather a perilous hunt IN. 7. Sun.