A HERETIC'S SECRET.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 230, 28 September 1929, Page 12 (Supplement)

A HERETIC'S SECRET.

> When the Pope nominates a new cardinal, as will shortly happen again, the new prince's first task is to order his scarlet robes. The ' cloth ~ may be' obtained in Rome, but there is only one manufacturer in the whole world. He lives in the ancient and beautiful city of Aix la Chapelle. The manufacturer's name is Burtscheid. The cardinal scarlet, which is used to dye the cloth for the stage robes, is obtained by a, special process, of which the secret is Jealously guarded by Burtscheid, who vfeceived it from his father, in whos.o family it has been a monopoly for three centuries and a-half. Attempts to imitate the dye were tried in several European cities in the course of the last 300 years, but none .proved, successful. So the present Burtscheid is preparing a new lot of cardinal cloth, as ten princes of the Church have recently died and the Pope intends soon to nominate their successors. The curious part about the Burtscheid' family is that they are intransigent Lutherans and that the present head of the house is a lay deacon in the Lutheran community of Aix la Chapelle.