The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-20


his disposal is the Golden Rose. The
practice of bestowing this beautiful
and ornate favor dates from the
twelfth century, but what Pope insti-
stuffed it in precisely this form is not
known. 1t has long been the custom
of popes to send presents to their so
cial or ecclesiastical favorites, and
one reads of a certain Pope of the long
ago who sent a golden shirt to a king
of his acquaintance and to his queen
an ivory comb. The Golden Rose is
reserved for, the members of Roman
Catholic royal and noble families, for
generals, men of letters, cities, shrines
or churches. To receive the Golden
Rose is a great honor. The golden
Rose blooms only once year. On the
fourth Sunday in Lent each year
new Golden Rose is blessed by the
Pontiff, to be dispatched to some de-
voted son or daughter of the church.
If, as sometimes happens, no one is
considered worthy Of the honor, 1t is
laid away in one of the Vatican's
many cabinets, to be brought out
again next year.
Originally 1t seems to have been g.
simple affair, consisting of a single
flower of wrought gold, colored red.
AS the years went on, however, the
Pope succeeded to Pope, and the earth
ly tabernacles of the papacy became
more gorgeous the Golden Rose, too,
took to itself new splendors The
golden petals increased in number-the
single rose had become a double rose.
Rubes, pearls and diamonds adorned
them. Finally, the rose grew into a
branch, with leaves, buds, thorns, and
on the summit q full blown rose All
was of the purest gold. This superb
specimen of the jewelers. art was set
In a flower pot, richly decorated, and
bearing on the pedestal the arms and
name of the Pope who blessed and be-
slowed 1t. 1t can easily be seen that
even in the days when a Pope had but
to command the services of a painter
sculptor, an architect, or a gold
smith, without very strict regard for
the financial bearings of the situation
when, in other words, Ii was looked
on as the greatest of artistic and social
honors to work for the successor to ST.
PeteF--even then the intrinsic value of
such gift must have been very great.
| The rose which Pope Clement TX sent
to the Queen of France is said to have
weighed eight pounds and to have
been valued at 5000 francs To-day
such a bit of goldsmithing would run
up high in the thousands of dollars
| Economical considerations have
caused later Popes to dispense with
the great ruby that used to be attach
ed as a bud to the chief flower, and
with the other precious stones with
which the branch was decked The
Golden Rose has, to tell the truth, fall
| len on evil days. For il is no longer
a rose of gold. but is made Of silver
gilt.
Strange to say. this emblem of a
| pope's approval is said to bring mis-
| fortune to its owner, especially If the
| owner be a woman. Historians note
that it's receipt brought ill-luck to Jo-
anna of Sicily, the first rose queen,
who was dethroned and strangIed to
the queen of Naples. wife of King
| Bomba; to the Empress Josephine, to
| Isabella, the heiress to the throne of
| Brazil, and to many other personages
| of European distinction, who shortly
after receiving 1t met with misfortune,
downfall or death. So fixed has this
| belief in the fatality of the golden rose
become that when, in 1889, Pope Leo
| singled out Dona Isabella of Brazil
| for his rose queen of that year, her
| countrymen predicted that evil would
come to her, and 1t did. In fact, be-
| fore the news of the bestowal of the
rose was published, Dom Pedro had
been dethroned and Dona Isabella was
no longer the heiress to a scepter. OF
| the rose queens of Pope Leo's making
lew COulu pe teElileu Hdppys al ledSL III
| their estate. They are the queen OF
| the Belgians, the Queen of Portugal,
| the queen regent of Spain, the ex-
Empress Eugene, Dona Isabella OF
Brazil and the late empress of Austria.
Henry VIII of England was the re-
! cipient of no less than three golden
roses, the gifts of as many popes His
daughter, Mary, in 1855, received the
rose from Pope julius III. Other re-
| cipients ofthis historic token have been
| the republic Of Lucca, from Plus w in
1854; the church of st. John Lateran
at Rome, from Pope Plus v. in 1857;
| the sanctuary of Loretto, from Greg
DRY XIII In 1884; the Cathedral of Ca
pua, from Benedict XIII, in
| 1923; the Basicila OF St. Mark
in Venice, from Gregory XVI,
in 1888 In this country the university
| of Notre Dame counts the golden rose
| among it's chiefest possessions.