I
It was the last day of the century.
In a Bull proclaiming a Jubilee the Pope had called his faithful
children to Rome, and they had come from all quarters of the globe.
To salute the coming century, and to dedicate it, in pomp and solemn
ceremony, to the return of the world to the Holy Church, one and
universal, the people had gathered in the great Piazza of St. Peter.
Boys and women were climbing up every possible elevation, and a
bright-faced girl who had conquered a high place on the base of the
obelisk was chattering down at a group of her friends who were listening
to their cicerone.
"Yes, that is the Vatican," said the guide, pointing to a square
building at the back of the colonnade, "and the apartments of the Pope
are those on the third floor, just on the level of the Loggia of
Raphael. The Cardinal Secretary of State used to live in the rooms
below, opening on the grand staircase that leads from the Court of
Damasus. There's a private way up to the Pope's apartment, and a secret
passage to the Castle of St. Angelo."
"Say, has the Pope got that secret passage still?"
"No, sir. When the Castle went over to the King the connection with the
Vatican was cut off. Ah, everything is changed since those days! The
Pope used to go to St. Peter's surrounded by his Cardinals and Bishops,
to the roll of drums and the roar of cannon. All that is over now. The
present Pope is trying to revive the old condition seemingly, but what
can he do? Even the Bull proclaiming the Jubilee laments the loss of the
temporal power which would have permitted him to renew the enchantments
of the Holy City."
"Tell him it's just lovely as it is," said the girl on the obelisk, "and
when the illuminations begin...."
"Say, friend," said her parent again, "Rome belonged to the Pope--yes?
Then the Italians came in and took it and made it the capital of
Italy--so?"
"Just so, and ever since then the Holy Father has been a prisoner in the
Vatican, going into it as a cardinal and coming out of it as a corpse,
and to-day will be the first time a Pope has set foot in the streets of
Rome!"
"My! And shall we see him in his prison clothes?"
"Lilian Martha! Don't you know enough for that? Perhaps you expect to
see his chains and a straw of his bed in the cell? The Pope is a king
and has a court--that's the way I am figuring it."