p. 20 | With Outward Show

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 24, 1912

“With Outward Show”

SOME idea of the pomp and ceremony with which a professedly religious function is celebrated by the Roman hierarchy in a Catholic state where there is a union of the civil and the ecclesiastical power, may be gathered from the reports of the twenty-third eucharistic congress recently held at Vienna. The great procession, the closing feature of the congress, is thus described in a press despatch:—

“Vast crowds, principally women, lined the route from the Cathedral of St. Stephen to the Hofburg, standing patiently for hours for the procession to pass.

“The miners from Tyrol, in quaint costumes, headed the procession, and were followed by the bakers’ gild from Munster in picturesque attire. Then came the various Catholic societies and the representatives from foreign countries in national groups, including Belgium, Bavaria, England, France, Switzerland, Spain, Albania, Hungary, Croatia, and Bosnia. The four groups last named wore gorgeously colored peasant costumes.

“The second division was composed of the clergy and bishops and civil authorities to the number of ten thousand. It was headed by the seminarians, and these were followed by members of the Reichsrath, provincial diets, and the council of Vienna, and government and municipal officials. The clergy, to the number of eight thousand, were in full vestments.

“The court division, a

quarter in length, formed the last part of the procession. The emperor drove in a magnificent state coach of plate glass and drawn by eight horses, led by grooms in black-and-gold liveries, from the Hofburg to the cathedral to attend the removal of the host from the high altar to the state coach of the papal legate.

“Privy councilors and the highest officials of the court and empire went first in court carriages, and then the archbishops and cardinals. The cardinal archbishop of Olmutz, one of the wealthiest of the Austrian sees, drove in a splendid golden wagon built in the reign of Maria Theresa. It was drawn by six fine horses brought from Olmutz for the occasion.

“Following these dignitaries came the archdukes in state coaches, and last of all the emperor. Behind the monarch rode the most striking figure in the whole procession, the papal legate, Cardinal Van Rossum, bearing the host. His carriage was a ponderous gilded affair, specially built for the Empress Maria Theresa. The monstrance containing the sacred elements was one of the most costly specimens of church plate in the empire.”

The next congress is to be held in Malta, and it is openly hinted that in 1914 this papal gathering may take place in the United States. Will the President, his Cabinet, and the men filling the highest positions in the state be found in the procession? Their attendance at Thanksgiving services and military masses is preparing the way for just such a spectacle.