Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-09-04

When a pope of Rome dies all the
civilized world takes a keen interest
in the manner of the election for his
successor. The pope is elected for life
once a. pope, a pope till death-and
even when dead the cardinals do not
WELD his power. The cardinals are to
the church what the senate of old
Rome was to the people and what the
senate of this country is to the United
States. The administration of the
church during the interregnum be-
longs to the cardinals. The dean of
the sacred college is their president.
They can undertake no important
change in the affairs of the church.
The duty that devolves upon them is
to elect the next successor to st. Peter.
Every Cardinal in World Called
The dean of the sacred college at the
pope's death summons every cardinal
! throughout the whole world to take
part in the election. In the first ses-
sion of the conclave each of the cardi-
| nails takes a solemn oath on the gos-
| pels to observe the canons that refer
to the election in the conclave. The
| bulls of the nine popes who legislated
on the mode of procedure in the cleo
| tion of the pope by ballot in the con-
clave are read aloud to them. The
! fisherman's ring, being part of the
| insignia of the holy father, is now
unsealed by the master of ceremonies,
and the first session of the conclave
| comes to a close.
On the second day the various off,
GERS of the pontiflcal states come to
pay their respects to the cardinals and
the next three days are spent In cleo
! tions to the different offices that are to
be filed in the conclave.
On the sixth day the cells that each
cardinal is to occupy are allotted to
him where both the cardinal and his
secretary are to dwell during the
whole time of the conclave.
The Vatican contains LOO rooms
! and there is a very spacious hall set
apart and fitted up for the special pur-
pose of the election.
Each cardinal is allowed two rooms,
| called cells, one for himself and one
for his secretary.
When the cardinals assemble in the
chapel the bulls are once again read
and again they take the oath to con-
scientiously observe the canons regu-
lating the election. An address is de-
liVered by the cardinal dean as an ex-
| hortation to do their duty consclen-
tiously.
Shut Out From World
Then at the stroke of midnight the
master of ceremonies rings a silver
bell and all who are not of the con-
clave retire. The doors are finally an6
solemnly closed and no one is allowed
to pass in or out except the cardinals
who. perchance, may be late in coming
from foreign countries. Each cardi'
nal is allowed to have two members o.
his household in personal attendance
upon him. These are called con
clavists. A number of other attend
ants are also allowed inside the con
clave, viz, a carpenter, mason, c
sacristan. a friar or monk to heal
confessions, a number of barb IS, eigh
or ten porters and several Uther do
mestics to do common service to the
whole body of cardinals.
The word "conclaVe" comes from
the fact of closing the door with a key
"Clavis" in Latin law means a key
The word conclave refers to the in
closure as we'll as to the bodysof car
dinals in session. All secular influenc'
ceases for good so as to leave the car
dinals untrammeled in their work o.
choosing a successor to the papa
throne.
The cells in which the cardinals
dwell during elections are twenty fee
square and twenty feet high.
Door Locked On Both Sides
There is only one door to the con
clave, and this is locked with a doubl
key, one on the outside and one on tn
inside The governor, who is a cardi
nal appointed by the sacred college
holds one key, on the inside, and TIL
marshal who Is a lay official, on tn
. outside is the custodian of the othe
key.
There are four apertures in tn