The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-04-27

mitted to a special tribunal of clerics,
who decide if the candidate is worthy
of the first degree of hierarchial rank,
which is called Identification. A second
tribunal, after a considerable interval
in the case of the latest canonized
saint, Rita de Cascia, over 2T0 years
then considers the question of the ad-
mittance of the saint to full canoniza-
ton. AT this trial the candidates in
terests are looked after by an official,
who is styled the Del Advocatus, who
is opposed by the Promoter Fidel, pop
ularly known as the Diabon Advoca-
tus. Probably many persons who use
the phrase are unaware that the IA
milar expression devils advocate
owes it's origin to a Roman Catholic
ceremony.
After the decision of this tribunal in
the candidates favor, the final ratifi-
cation by the Pope is alone required
for the admittance of the saint into
the Roman Catholic Calendar.
Since the Reformation the admittance
of fresh saints into the Calendar is
comparatively rare event. One reason
for the paucity of claimants for canon
ization is said to be the enormous cost
of the procedure. A curious example
of this is to be found in the Borromeo
family of Milan. 1t was found that
the cost of obtaining the Bull of Can
onization for the famous saint, Charles
Borromeo, was so great that the fam
lily refrained from pressing the claims
of another sanity parsonage, cousin
of st. Charles, on account of the ex-
pense Then it must be remembered
that in a less credulous and supersti-
tious age a more searching examina-
ton into the antecedents and alleged
miracles of saints is now insisted up
9G oil eof1 fIaf he
ton which have been granted by the
Vatican have to some extent been in
fluenced by motives of public interest
and church policy. The canonization
of the religious persecution early in
the seventeenth century, for instance,
was said to be prompted by desire
to encourage the zeal of the church at
a time when the temporal power was
threatened.
An immediate practical result of can
onization is that the new saints bones
become of enormous value as relics.
Fortunate, indeed, is the church or re-
ligious foundation which could attract
hosts of pilgrims by exhibiting on the
anniversary of a particular saint a
small fragment of his bones or even
a toe-nail or a single hair. Even the
value of relics of a monarch like
Louis TX. was greatly enhanced when
they could be venerated as those of st.
Louis. In fact, these relics were
scrambled for by sovereign, the great
abbeys, and cathedrals in a most in
decent fashion.
The first distribution of the relics re-
suited in a portion of the skull of st.
Louis being apportioned to the Sainte
Chapelle, another portion to the Abbey
of Poissy, while the Metropolitan Ca
thedral Notre Dame had to be satisfied
with rib. Then the Church of Mont
joie venerates a relic which is said
to be one of the bones of the sainted
Kings hand. AS for the heart, though
several churches claimed to possess
this, the balance of evidence is in ia
vor of the relic enshrined at the Ca
thedral of Monreale, near Palermo be-
ing the actual heart of Louis What
remains Of the personal relics of st.
Louis, as we'll as the crown and thorns
and other alleged relics to which the
holy chapel owes it's existence, are now
in Notre Dame.
The rare ceremony of canonization in
ST. Peters, with it's splendid and i'm
posing ritual, is calculated to impress
even the most uncompromising Pro-
testant. Regarded merely as a great
religious pageant, it is only surpassed
by the gorgeous and imposing cere-
monies on the enhancement of a. new
Pope. The whole nave of the cathe
dral is filled with a specially invited
audience. A special throne (sedia gas
tatoria) is erected for the Pope behind
the high altar, and as he enters the
church, preceded by an apparently in
terminable procession of ecclesiastical
dignitaries in full canonicals, from
cardinals, archbishops, and bishops to
canons, priests, and monks, represent
ing every order the famous silver
trumpets sound a blast, and the an
them "Tu &c Petrus'' is sung. AS soon
as his holiness is seated on the throne
beneath the huge balda cchino of silver
cloth, the Cardinal Vicar of Rome
twice formally demands that the name
of the saint-designate may be added to
the catalogue of the saints Twice the
Pope replies that the will of God should
first be sought by prayer. Finally the
Pope reads the Bull of Canonization,
which DEGREES that the servant of God
in question shall be inscribed in the
Canon Sanctorum, and that his mem
ory shall be celebrated throughout the
church on a given day. Then the TIE
Deum is sung, and the pealing of bells
from every church in Rome announces
to all the faithful in the Eternal City
the admission of new saint to the
Roman Catholic Calendar. A mass in
honor OF the new saint, celebrated by
the Pope himself. concludes the cere-
mony.
The reason women read the last
chapter of a book first is because they