The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-05-22
POPE LEO SAYING MASS.
An Interesting Religious Ceremony
in the Little Vatican Chapel
in Rome. &
Few Persons Admitted When the
Vicar Of Christ Celebrates
tho Mass.
Tho Venerable Pontiff In His Eighty FIRST
Ysar-His Appearance Fitting to
His Rank.

xear-dts Appearance Fitting to
His Rank.
The stranger in the Italian capital car
hardly persuade himself that there Is any
political excitement about lynch ings ovel
the sea, or the prospect Of war in Europe
when he promenades in the tranquil and
ever interesting quarter Of the Vatican
Under the splendid Roman sky the massive
buildings, with their rocco ornaments
their long arcades and their heaped and
picturesque masses of stone and marble,
seem to belong rather in some quiet clois.
ter than to n modern political capital OF
the residence of a king.
In these early spring mornings, says q
New York daily, groups of foreigners-the
gentlemen in evening dress, the ladies in
full toilettes, decorated with jewels-are to
be seen making their way toward the great
square, ut the end of which st. Peters
dome rises, a marvel of lightness and grace,
despite its immense size.
Ii these people were seen in New York or
Paris or London in such costume, in the
early morning hours, one might think they
were returning from a ball. But they are,
instead Of society FOUNDERS, on their way
to an institution which always has a charm
for the faithful in Rome, the ''Pope's
Mass"
When the pope is in good health a few
cards Of admission to his private mass are
distributed every Sunday. These, with the
very few private audiences which the pres
ent pope is disposed to accord, constitute
the only means of seeing him.
On each ticket is printed the notice that
full dress is vigorously necessary. with the
mantilla for the ladies. This curious pro-
vision is because ladies cannot be admitted
with uncovered heads into the sacred place,
This is a remnant of the old Hebraic ritual
preserved by Christianity. It is also said
that the custodians of the papal court look
with disfavOr upon the extraordinary head
gear now worn by the fashionable ladies,
and would never think of allowing it to be
seen ut a mass where the chief priest was at
the head of the church.
The vatican, from the outside, is but an
enormous incoherent assemblage of yellow
ish buildings, irregular in elevation and
with no pretension tu architectural beauty.
But within, everything is magnificent, and,
after walking for half an hour in its ma
jestic halls, one is quite ready to believe
that there are no less than 10000 rooms in
the whole structure.
The private apartments of the pope oc-
cupy but a small part of the vast editice,
and would be found with difficulty by
strangers were it not for the Swiss guards
and gendarmes, dressed in the French style,
with formidable sabres at their sides.
These are the only material guards of the
vicar of Christ upon earth.
At last we reach the hall of the Guardia
mobile, where gentlemen of the chamber,
in silk knee-breeches and robes OF red dam
ndk Apaicf NC tn raVnnvn N,r crtxuor I'll
wraps and silently introduce US into the
sanctuary. Here we have a momentary
fealing Of disappointment. There is moth
ing resembling q chapel, but a salon on
modern dimensions, trimmed with rather
ugly tapestry; and in the midole of the
room there are some thirty silk cushioned
chairs, huddled together as if alarmed at
finding themselves unoccupied.
At the back of the room, in the shadows
of the little alcove, the windows of which
are curtainea, candles are lit in front of au
altar. The silence, the half-light, the black
robed women with bowed heads, the monks
scattered here and there in the little con-
gregation, and the cardinals in violet frocks
passing to and fro in the shades make a
powerful impression upon even the most
skeptical.
At last the pope appears, and the faithful
In the front rank of the congregation pros
trate themselves as he arrives. Leo Kill is
now in his oighty-fir year, and age, in
whitening his face, seems to have given it
a mystical and superhuman transparency,
which better suits his character of supreme
pontiff than the good-natured plumpness
and frank humor Of his predecessor. His
appearance and his attitude betit the one
pope VIII has worn his tiara without the
emblem Of temporal sovereignty upon it.
Leo XIII celebrates the mass slowly, with
the feeble movements of an old man, and
his soft and gentle voice can scarcely be
heard at times. He seems to stoop moro
under the weight of years than that of the
rich sacerdotal ornaments which he wears.
His general aspect is rendered all the more
striking by the vigorous majesty of three
prelates who attend him, and who are
splendid specimens of Roman strength and
statuesque beauty.
But the pope ia far from having fallen
into decrepitude. After the divine office.
which he himself celebrates, the pope listens
to a second one, said by a chaplain of the
place in an armchair at the foot of the
altar and allows each of the PERSONS pres
emit to be presented to him. A master of
ceremonies stands by and gives the name of
bach visitor in a loud voice, after which he
adds in a lower voice any particulars of the
persons identity which he thinks NAV be
interesting to the pope.
1t IL then that the pontiff shows how COM
pletely he has kept, even at his great age.
his vivacity of spirit, his affability and his
patefnal KINDNESS lie speaks in q faultless
French, the language which he always uses
to foreigners, and never hesitates to pro
long an interview if he finds the person to
whom he is talking interesting and agree
able.
A nephew of Leo KILL, Count Pecci, who
knows more Of the pope's private life than
any other living person, says he has never
seen the pope laugh; but this meditative
and melancholy gravity of feature does not
prevent the exercise of n fine and sprightly
humor which permeates all his conversa-
ton.
The pope is not fond of excessive lemon
situations of devotion, and always shows
signs of disturbance when n historical
woman or over jealous masculine visitor
from afar is PROSTATE at his feet or asks for
particular expressions of papal favor.
On the whole. the pope's mass, with the
chance it gives to observe Leo XIII. more
closely than he may be seen elsewhere, il
the most curious thing in Catholic Rome,
and it is not wonderful that millionaires
sometimes offer thousands of flames for
tickets to the service. 1t ia needless to saw
that money cannot buy these favors,
Badly Rusted COropets.