Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-29
written for The Star.

| written Tor The star,
| The approach of Easter In Rome brings
| the climax of what the citizens graphically
| describe as THE invasion" The foreigners
who have been more or less In evidence
| through the winter multiply with rapidity
| disconcertfng to the lover of undluted
Italy: the galleries. lately given over to
| silence and slow time become the hunt
| ing grounds of the personally conducted.
| and English is abroad In street and shop.
As with us. each day in Holy Week has
Its special observance, but it is on Maundy
| Thursday that the most characteristic and
| interesting ceremonies take place. Then
every church in Rome has one chapel set
| apart to represent the Holy Sepulchre, with
the host in a golden silver urn on the
| altar surrounded by lighted tapers and
| masses of flowers; and all through the
afternoon thronss of the devout, with
fair spr.nkling of the merely curious, make
their way from one TO the other of these
consecrated spots. l remember on one &C.
casion nelicing, as We were starting out,
an especially dense crowd collected around
the entrance to Santa Maria Degl Angel
(St. Mary of the Angels the church
Michael Angelo made out of one OF the
yaulted halls of the be- tbs of Diocletan.
An affabie street sweeper enlightened our
curiosity as to what might be going on
Gross quickly signore ME-" he urged
Gee Ia Regina Madre cit is the Queen
Mother the title always given to Mar
gherita instead of that of Queen Dowa gerl
The widow of King Humbert was making
her round of seven churches with the other
jewellers in Rome. We were in time to see
her as she came out. escorted by couple
of ecclesiastics. At the door they kissed
her hand, and she passed on to her car
rage with a gracious little bow to the
people around. She Is quite stout. and her
face has grown too heavy for beauty; but
h<r Ia <-SiH al~~
Pearl of Savoy first won her way into the
hearts of her Italian subjects.
OF all the chapeLs. the loveliest is usually
to be found in Santa Maria Liberatrice, the
church attached to the convent of the Per-
petual Alteration. When We saw it, 1t was
decked entirely in pure white blossoms; two
nuns In the white robes of the s,sterhood
knelt before the altar. looking indeed, as
the light from the candles fell on their
yelled heads. like mystical brides of the
church: while out of the darkness of the
choir came the sound of womans voice
informing the solemn service
Usually it rains in torrents on Holy
Thursday, and towards ) O'Clock in the
afternoon the Bridge of St. Angelo and the
narrow ways leading to the Piazza of st.
Peters become choked with umbrella-bear-
ing pedestrians and carriages with their
hoods up You wonder, as you glance at
the throng how all these people are going
to find accommoda ton in the basilica and
yet, when the leathern curtain has fallen
behind you, your first impression is one of
dim solitude 1t is not until you have
passed up the nave toward the pontiflcal
altar that you realize that several thou
sands of spectators are already gathered
there and that more are constantly being
added. Near this altar-where mass is ceie-
brated only when the pope is present in per-
son-it is we'll to take your stand facing the
smaller altar in the apse. There twelve can
dies burn to represent the twelve apostles;
and as the gloomy office of the "tenebrae"
is intoned by the attendant priests, one
after the other of these flickers out till in
the darkness only a single spark is left
that of the central candle, which represents
the Christ. Into the pause that follows
steal the first notes of the Miserere, which
is sung by the Sistine choir-unforgetable |
music, with its solemn burden of bass notes
and that one pure strain which now floats
softly out unaccompanied and now scars
high over the full chorus. Scarcely has
sound melted into silence again, when up to
the pontifical altar winds a long procession
of cardinals, canons and acolytes. The altar
on this occasion Is stripped of all covering
and ornament, save for a couple of TASKS
of antique shape, containing oil and wine. |
The contents of these are poured over the
white marble, and then, as the procession
moves by, each cardinal and canon in turn
passes the sort Of long-handled mop he
holds over the surface. For the most part |
this ceremony of qualification per-
formed in exceedingly perfunctory man |
ner. though there were one or two stout
canons who scrubbed with quite house |
wifely zeal.
We were fortunate enough to be directly |
the line of retreat of the procession, and |
Rampolla, the grand seigneur" of the |
church, passed within fingers touch of u.s. |
followed by group of minor cardinals and |
of canons looking oppressed enough in the |
gray squirrel capes that top their purple |
robes. AS for the acolytes, they seemed to |
be dropping on their knees all about US as /
a gorgeously gowned ecclesiastc, holding |
aloft a jeweled reliquary, appeared upon the |
little loggia above the statue of St. Veron- |