EASTER BLESSING
POPE’S REVIVAL OF TRADITION. SCENE OF GREAT SPLENDOUR, On Easter Sunday the Pope revived !a tradition which had been broken for 62 years— be gave am Easter blessing to the public from the outside facade of St. Peter’s. A multitude of over 160,0C0 people were massed before him, writes the Rome correspondent of the I.Ylorniing Post, and their fervour' exceeded the records of papal Rome at the height of its power before 1870. Most of the people had waited several hours to see the Pope and hear his blessing. When he appeared at the great window--borne aloft in the Sedia Cestatoria. wearing the triple crown and flanked by fan bearers—waves of cheering filled the square. The Piazza, with thousands of fluttering handkerchiefs, looked like a field of narcissi in ,a breeze. Pius XI. pronounced the triple benediction Et Orbi with full liturgical rites and with plenary indulgence. The cordon troops of the Italian Grenadier Guards presented arms and the band of the Palatine Guard played a papal anthem, while the faithful knelt. The April sun turned the vestments of the Pope and those of his retinue into a sheen of gold. Seen against the overpowering background of St. Peter’s, V'ilh the sound of trumpets faintly heard in the pauses in the cheering, the interplay of regal magnificence, military .pomp and religious ritualism •made the spectacle like .some vision of Imperial Rome. *-
Tbo first part of the morning ceremony began inside .St. Peter’s at 9.30, when the Pope said Mass at the alter of the Confessional—the first pontifical (Easter (Mass since 1870. After the exposure of the Holy Relics the papal procession moved out of the church and upstairs to the Hall of Benediction above the facade, where the Pontiff appeared. There were 47,000 ticket-holders in the church, and oinside there was tt cordon of 4000 Italian troops reserving o space for those in the church.
Another 4000 people were massed on fho ioof of the Bernini colonnade and on Vatican buildings, while according to police estimates, were packed into the public section of the Piazza as well as in all adjacent streets, at window*; and "roof tops. Among the •crowd there were 25,000 pilgrims from all European nations, with Germans predominating. The day proved somewhat fatiguing for the Pope, but he carried on with customary energy, and expressed his gre-t sense of satisfaction at the magnitude of the Holy Year •Faster response to his call.
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Hokitika Guardian, 15 June 1933, Page 7
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407EASTER BLESSING Hokitika Guardian, 15 June 1933, Page 7
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