Many of our readers will be familiar with scenes of canonizations from the Vatican prior to the 1970's. They include the Roman tradition of red festal hangings, suspended chandeliers, and all the majesty and solemnity that counter-reformation Catholicism could muster, set within the most splendid of all ceremonial occasions: the solemn papal Mass.
Well, recently we came across some interesting images that show, amongst other things, some of the preparations that were involved with this. Like most papal masses, these events came with a ticket to admit one to entrance for the liturgical occasion, as well as a book prepared fro the occasion. In this particular instance, we are looking at the canonization of St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle and St. Rita of Casia which was celebrated on May 24, 1900 in the pontificate of Pope Leo XIII. Here is the ticket for that event:
Now these tickets are commonly enough seen, but what is not so common are the following depictions providing the faithful, the clergy and diplomats with a kind of index showing them what they could expect to see in terms of the solemn decoration of the basilica for this occasion; its hangings, lampada, sacred images depicting the new saints and so on.
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| The decoration of the main nave of the basilica, showcasing various hangings between the arcades, on the columns, as well as numerous candles above. |
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| The banner of St. Jean-Baptiste de la Salle located between one of the arcades. |
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| The papal throne and choir. The altar and ciborium have been purposefully left out of this view. |
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| The interior of the entrance to the basilica. Do take note of the images of St. Rita of Cascia and St. Jean-Baptiste de la Salle located to each side of an image of Christ. |
We are also fortunate to have the following images, showing the basilica being prepared for this same occasion. In that regard, it is a rare look at the work of the Sanpietrini in progress.
Here too is the papal throne. One will note that it is slightly different in form from what one saw with successive popes in the twentieth century, covering more of the Altar of the Chair.
Another, better look. One can see that the papal cathedra has not yet even been centred in place.
This taller form of the throne strikes me as both being in better proportions to the rest of the basilica, while also given the choir a truer feeling of actually being an enclosed choir.
The amount of effort that must have gone into this, in times when much of the work was manual, must have been staggering. Yet, that only makes it all the more impressive an undertaking. A type of offering in its own right. These things bespeak a time when the greatest attention to detail was to be found, and no effort was spared in order to construct a solemn liturgical occasion.
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