The Irish standard., 1903-10-03

.vancing with the customary obeiSances.
the dean of the sacred college then
places himself in the empty chair, and
the pope thereupon tells him in a low
tone of voice the names Of the prelates
/ upon Which he proposes to confer the
red hat. adding i'll Il tone Of inquiry,
'Quid vobis videtur,'' to which the
cardinal in question replies either with
the word "Placet'' OF else 'Non placet.''
One by one all are similarly interrogat-
ed, and then the pope exclaims: 'Deo
gratias, habemus de personis creandis
concordium omnium fratrum,' or
Quasi omnium," or "Majoris partis"
For not infrequently cardinals respond
with "Non placet," and unless the ma
jority of the cardinals express them
selves as in favor of the candidate the
pope is obliged to withdraw his name,
and is unable to grant him the hat
If, however, the candidates receive the
votes Of the majority, their names are
proclaimed aloud by the pope, who
then imparts his blessing to all present,
thus bringing the secret consistory to
a close. The secret consistory is fol-
lowed, generally, at an interval of Il
couple of days, but sometimes only
few hours later, by the public con-
sistory, which is usually held in the
Sala Regia, and which takes place with
much pomp and ceremony. The pontiff
wears for the occasion not the familiar
triple crown, but usually mitre of
white satin richly adorned with gold,
the bifurcation of which is lined with
crimson damask. The most conspicu-
Gus feature of his vestments is a cape
which is one mass of jewels and gold
embroidery. AS he takes his seat on
the throne, which is placed on dais
of three grades and overshadowed by
an immense baldaquin, the celebrated
Sistine Chapel choir bursts forth into a
motet of welcome. The cardinals pres
ent successfully approach the throne
and make their obeisance to the SUI
preme pontiff, and then the consistorial
advocate, :lrrayed in his robes, bows
low and proceeds to read lengthy
document in Latin, pleading for the
beatitication or canonization of this or
hat candidate for the honors of Il saint.
The sO-called advocate of the devil
stands by, but usually remains silent
For the reading of the petition is mere
y sort of stopgap provided for the
purpose of giving time for the new
cardinals to be fetched from one of the
adjoining apartments by their sponsors,
and is arrested by the pontiff with a
curt reference to the Congregation of
Rites as soon as they appear. One by
one they enter, each walking between
two cardinals Of older creation, vested
in scarlet mantles and hoods, and
with large sweeping trains that are
horne by train-bearers or caudatori.
Approaching the throne they bow three
times, ascend the steps, kneel and kiss
for the last time the cross embroidered
on the slipper of the pope's extended
foot, and after that his hand. There
upon prelate standing on either side
raises the hood of the new cardinals
mantle and draws it over his head,
and on the top of this hood the Pope,
repeating the Latin formula Of cOnse-
cration, places a scarlet cardinals hat
on his head. The same hat serves for
the crowning of all the cardinals, the
real hat with widely spreading cords
and tassels being sent to them subse-
quently. The hat being then removed.
the pope proceeds with the ancient cere-
mony of shutting and opening the
mouth of the new cardinal. Formerly
the CLOSING of the mouth meant pro-
baton. and that the newly created car
dinal was not to talk about church
matters until thoroughly initiated to
the policy of the sacred college, and six
months usually elapsed before the
mouth was "opened' again by the holy
father. But nowadays the mouths of
their eminences are ordinarily closed
and opened at the same consistories.
Then the new cardinal is embraced by
the pope, and after that he makes the
II i6