joint action of the whole community, as falling into the three classes, of civil authorities, people, and clergy. Every other provision connected with public institutions was subjected to incessant revolution; but, amidst this endless influx of change and counterchange, it never occurred until the middle of the eleventh century to make the nomination of the Pope, in law, independent of the civil power, still less to lodge it in the hands of a select body of ecclesiastics, whose choice would be entitled to exact the homage of the clergy and people. It was the period when the Church, as represented by the dignitary who presided over the See of Rome, had drifted down the troubled stream of time, to find itself wedged in against the rocky mass of the Empire, hardened by centuries of high imperial traditions, and specially sharpened by the individual character of the vigorous princes of the Salic race, who then were its imperious representatives. The situation was one in which the timbers of the Church's barque must either push stoutly over obstacles to freer waters beyond, or else that vessel must inevitably wreck itself upon the jagged sides of the hard barrier against which it was jammed. Such a predicament instinctively inspired a demand for increased motive power to the ecclesiastical machinery in the breasts of those who might not be disposed to acquiesce in a timid abandonment of the Church to its fate. It happened, by one of those coincidences which some call providential, and others organic, that at this conjuncture the destinies of the Church were lodged in the hands of men, and especially of one man, who were pre-eminently endowed with the instincts demanded by the moment. The commanding figure of Hildebrand looms before us grandly as the overshadowing genius of the Papacy during the eventful reigns of six Popes, by whose sides he stands as an unfailing counsellor and prompter, until at the culminating hour of time he chooses to seat himself upon that episcopal chair, which, mainly through his own fostering efforts, had then become actually transformed into a throne of power. It was Hildebrand who, taking advantage of public discussions in Rome, secured by adroit management the sudden nomination of Nicolas II. at Florence in 1058, and then induced his nominee to issue the Bull which must be regarded as the original charter of the College of Cardinals-the Magna Charta on which reposes the existing structure of that body—a deed of abiding importance for the constitution of the Roman See. By it the College of Cardinals was called into creation as an Ecclesiastical Senate, invested organically with

the elective franchise which can give a Head to the Church. What may have been before the peculiar prerogatives of the dignitaries bearing this title, is a point difficult to define with certainty; but what does not admit of doubt is that from the Bull of Nicolas II. dates first the organic consummation of a revolution that had long been working its way underground, by which the highest constitutional functions in the government of the Roman See came to be taken away definitively from the ecclesiastical body at large, and vested exclusively in this corporation. The preamble of the Bull rehearses succinctly the political causes which moved the Pope to issue the samethe troubles, namely, which supervened on the demise of his predecessor, and the great grief which the Pope felt at the sad consesequences that had befallen the Church through a disturbed election. To obviate similar occurrences for the future, Nicolas II. solemnly decreed, therefore, that the election of Pope appertains first to the Cardinal Bishops who officiate for the Metropolitan, then to the Cardinal Clerks, and that the remainder of the Clergy and the People tender but their acquiescence in the election, so that the Cardinals have the lead in making choice of Popes-the others but following them.' The innovation thus ventured upon was two-edged. It was calculated to provoke at once the resentment of the tumultuous populace, civil and ecclesiastical, of Rome, that saw itself deprived of the privileges which practically it had enjoyed of actively sharing in the choice of a Pope, and of the Imperial Crown that had always claimed an influential, and generally even an absolutely controlling voice in such an election. To propitiate these influences Nicolas II. introduced two rather vague provisions. The Roman populace received the sop that the Pope should be selected in preference out of the bosom of the Roman Church, and only in the event of no fitting subject being there forthcoming, out of that of another congregation. The Emperor was sought to be conciliated by inserting the proviso, 'saving the honour and reverence due to our beloved son Henry, at present King, and who with God's favour it is to be hoped will become Emperor, as likewise to his successors, who may have personally acquired this right from the Apostolical See.' This reservation is memorable, for in after times it was often invoked in the conflicts between the Papacy and the Crown, while a quite recent historian, Gfrörrer, has fallen into the mistake of making this special sav ing clause for soothing the Emperor's pride the origin for the privilege which certain

VI. Idiis Junii MCCLXX. Apost. Sede Va- | cante,' and addressed to the Podestà, the Town-captain, and the Commonalty of Viterbo by seventeen Cardinals, whose seals are affixed, in which it is requested that, on the ground of his sickness, free passage out of the palace in which they are shut up, be allowed to their colleague Cardinal Henry of Ostia, it being expressly stated that he has waived for this one occasion his right of voting. The careful insertion of this clause deserves attention, as proving that at this period it had not yet been definitively ruled that every Cardinal's active participation was not an indispensable condition for settling a Papal election beyond challenge. The sharp measures devised by the Viterbese proved, however, as the remonstrances of kings in making these stiff-necked prelates concur in the choice of a Pope. For more than a year longer did they quarrel and fight on amongst themselves, until at last, it is said mainly by the fervent words of the great Franciscan preacher Saint Bonaventura, they were induced to endow six out of their body with the absolute power of nominating a Pope, whom the others stood pledged to acknowledge. This is the earliest precedent we believe for a Pope made by the electoral process technically termed Compromise-a process that has been put in practice repeatedly, and which is still held not to have become obsolete. On the 1st September 1271, the choice of these six Grand Electors fell on Theobald Visconti, Archdeacon of Liege, and not a Cardinal, who assumed the style of Gregory x.-a man worthy of his august position, whose conscientious nature was painfully affected with a sense of the spectacle which the Church had been exhibiting during the interregnum. He at once called together at Lyons a General Council to regulate abuses, and make provisions for securing harmony in Christendom. The assembled fathers of the Church solemnly promulgated a Constitution wherein, with elaborate minuteness, are prescribed forms to be observed in Papal Elections, that were manifestly suggested by the sad occurrences of the last Conclave, and the desire to establish safeguards against their recurrence.

As the Constitutions of Nicolas II. and Alexander III. are the fundamental instruments for the organic powers of franchise vesting in the College of Cardinals, so must that of Gregory x. be held to be the fundamental instrument for the ceremonial which has come to be observed on the occasion of Cardinals meeting in Conclave; for the modifications that have been introduced affect only points of detail. In this mem

orable decree the principle was first laid down of locking up the Church's electors, with the view of shutting out the action of secular influences. It had before happened that Cardinals suffered imprisonment at the hands of violence, but now it was decreed that they should always be immured as long as they were engaged in the sacred avocation of creating a Pope. It was ruled that on a Pope's decease ten days must be allowed to elapse before his successor could be chosen, with the view of giving time for Cardinals at a distance to come to Conclave; on that tenth day the Cardinals present could proeeed to an election, the legitimacy of which could not be impugned on account of the absence of any colleagues. Meeting in the very palace wherein the Pope died, in the event of the decease happening in the city which was the seat of the Papal Court, the Cardinals were enjoined that they might be accompanied only by one attendant each, unless for particular reasons in individual cases a special permission for two were conceded; they were to inhabit one hall in common, without any division in the shape of wall or hanging, and so closed on all sides that no one could get in or out; excommunication was to be incurred by whoever should presume to look in upon the Cardinals while engaged in their electoral labours, although it was lawful, by general consent of all the assembled Cardinals, to confer with a person without, whom it might be deemed necessary to see in reference to matters appertaining to the election. One window alone should be opened upon this hall of assembly, of sufficient size to admit the necessaries of life, it being expressly prohibited, under the aforesaid pain of excommunication, that this aperture be ever used for letting pass in any human being. Should it happen, 'which God forefend,' that no Pope be chosen within three days, the cardinals should then be restricted to one dish each at dinner and supper during the next five days, and if after that the chair of St. Peter be still vacant, they should be furnished during the remainder of their stay in Conclave with bread, wine, and water alone; nor should it be lawful for a Cardinal to profit by any benefice falling vacant during the interregnum, or to draw any revenue from sources appertaining to the Pontifical Chamber; and no Cardinal could be re-admitted who had left the Conclave for any reason except stress of health, although its doors were to be opened to the same on recovery from sickness, and to every Cardinal who arrived after commencement of the election, it being expressly decreed that in neither case could absence invalidate aught that had been done during the time.

If the Pope's decease occurred away from his established residence, the Cardinals were to assemble in the city, or the region dependent on that city in which he had died, except in the case of these localities being under interdict; and finally, the faithful observance of these provisions was intrusted to the guardianship of the civil authorities of the locality in which the Conclave met, under penalty of incurring excommunication for neglect of this duty. Taken together, these three Constitutions of Nicolas II. (1059), Alexander II. (1179), and Gregory x. (1171), comprise all the essential features in the mechanism which is now still in force at Papal elections. In the last quarter of the thirteenth century the Pontifical Court had then definitively attained its present organism, and slid into the groove in which its wheels have since run.

Once only has there been a memorable in novation upon what may be considered as the principles embodied in these prescriptions. This happened on the occasion of the Papal election which ensued in consequence of the resolutions arrived at in the Council of Constance. The Church of Rome has never since been exposed to trials of the same nature as those from which she delivered herself by the intervention of this Council. She has indeed been subsequently confronted by difficulties of no slight order, but these have all preserved the character of an external origin, whereas then the Church was racked by inward throes convulsing her very heart. Until such time as a sentence of reversal, accompanied by deliberate rejection of this precedent in the emergency of an analogous crisis, shall have been pronounced by the Church against what then was done, this incident must be taken therefore in evidence of what the Roman Establishment would hold it to be not contrary to its principles to sanction, in the event of equally critical circumstances coming once more into play. The Council of Constance is distinguished from every other Council by its convocation having been due, not to the individual impulse of a Pontiff as a part, but to the spontaneous instinct of society in general, exhausted by the evils flowing from the great schism, and panting for repose from confusion and discussion. All the landmarks of legitimacy had become removed, and an Egyptian darkness enveloped society, when rival pretenders to the Papacy circulated freely in the world without its being possible to arrive at a conclusion who was legitimate and who was spurious. Against such a bewildering state of things the conscience of the Church instinctively rose, and the Council of Constance is the act of this

uprising by the Churchmen of the day, in rescue to the institution they cherished, from what they felt to be exceptional evils requiring exceptional remedies. Accordingly, in this assembly, which restored peace to the Church, and the proceedings of which have been recognised without protest as legitimate by the authorities of the Church, two Popes, who then divided the world-John XXIII. and Gregory XII.,-and whose elections, let it be borne in mind, were originally so unimpeachable in form that they have both continued to figure as Popes on the list put forth by the Roman Church-were sol emnly compelled to abdicate (1415), and in their stead a new Pope, Martin v., was created by a special constituency formed for that occasion, so as to secure for him a broader title than under the deplorable circumstances of the schism could be furnished by Cardinals alone, all of whom had more or less participated actively in its incidents. It is this acknowledgment of the necessity of special measures for special situations, and this dispensation from a pedantic observance of specified forms, when felt to be hurtful to vital interests-a dispensation which has been ratified in the unhesitating acknowledgment by the Church of what was done on this occasion,-which renders the election of Martin v. a most memorable event. At this time, the exclusive prerogative of the Cardinals to provide a Pope had been in force nearly four centuries without challenge. All popular memory of those other rights of franchise which once existed had quite passed away. No antiquarian reminiscences weighed with the assembled divines, but simply the living instinct of what was demanded by the gravity of the moment, too great to be trifled with, and by the claims of interests too important to be sacrificed from a rigid spirit of formalism. Accordingly, the Council constituted an especial electoral college, composed of the Cardinals and thirty divines, selected from out of its members, five from each nation present, who together could represent the genuine conscience of the Church; and these were able to supply a Pontiff who could appease the troubles which had so long afflicted Christendom. The measure was distinctly proclaimed exceptional, and explicitly limited to a particular occasion, whereby its importance as a precedent is heightened; for this involves the principle that the Church considers itself free to invent new forms, which their adoption may seem advisable for meeting the exigencies of particular times. The Roman Bullarium contains, indeed, a string of Bulls subsequent to the three we have mentioned, that bear on Papal elections, but where they

do more than solemnly confirm the above, they deal with matters of quite secondary importance, modifying points of mere detail. No new organic principle has been imported into the machinery of Papal elections since the days of Gregory x. The only subsequent Pontifical utterance on this subject that can lay any claim to the importance of an organic law, is the bull issued in 1621 by Gregory xv., and which was followed in the year after by an elaborate injunction of ceremonial, which is the one still observed. To go through these successive enactments in their chronological order would, however, be merely, to run through a wearisome catalogue, without any but a dry antiquarian interest. Our object is not to inquire what may have been the particular forms and practices embodied in the Roman Court at each period, but what are the powers and forces that come into play in its present organisation; and to this end it will be enough if we confine our notice of Papal enactments to such points as may incidentally stand in connexion with, or tend to serve in illustra tion of, the practices and regulations which at the present day are still in force.

sor.

As soon as the Pope's state of health indicates imminent dissolution, the duty devolves on the Cardinal Secretary of State to communicate with the Dean of the Sacred College, that he may summon his brother Cardinals to hasten to the dying Pope's residence, and with the Cardinal Vicar, whose functions are those of Prefect of the ecclesiastical police in the city of Rome, that he may issue orders for offering up public prayers in the churches. Upon the Cardinal Penitentiary, who is the official depositary of the specifically spiritual powers vested in the Pope, falls the obligation of attending him in the last moments, along with his ConfesWhen decease has occured, the fact is immediately notified to the Cardinal Camerlengo by the Secretary of State, who then divests himself of his office, which remains in abeyance until the Cardinals have actually entered the Conclave, when they nominate a secretary, who is, however, not one of themselves. The Cardinal Camerlengo is in precedence one of the highest functionaries in the Roman Court, and figures prominently on all State occasions during the interregnum. He is considered to represent the dignitary who in the earlier times was entitled Vestiarius, and had in charge the stewardship of the Church's properties. Down to very recent times the Cardinal Camerlengo continued to be a very powerful, probably the most powerful personage next to the Pope, in the States of the Church; for within his attributes fell the administration of whatever stood

connected, however remotely, with the interests of the Papal Exchequer; while he was besides possessed of immediate jurisdiction over all secular cases in the city and district of Rome. But that process of functional centralisation which has gradually reduced the official organisation of Rome to a Pope and a Secretary of State has deprived the Camerlengo of the realities of greatness, and left him a mere lay figure of his former self. Instead of being, as once he was, a dictator for the time of the interregnum, the real King of Rome during the interval between the death of one and the creation of another Pope, whose authority was actively invoked to secure the peace of the city at that season, and did effectively intervene in the course of general government at all periods, the Camerlengo is now confined to the exercise of mere ceremonial, and the hollow display of a dumb show of authority. From the moment, however, that the Pope has breathed his last, he figures as the first man in the State, and during the days before the Conclave can be constituted, as its direct representative, inaugurating the exercise of his provisional powers by a truly quaint piece of ceremony, the symbolism whereof is ob scure. At the head of the Chierici di Camera, the Camerlengo hastens to hold an inquest on the reported demise of the Pope. Proceeding to the death-chamber, the Cardinal strikes the door with a gilt mallet, calling on the Pope by name. On receiving no reply, he enters the room, when he taps the corpse on the forehead with another mallet of silver, and falling on his knees before the motionless body, proclaims the Pope to be in truth no more. It is after this that he forwards to the Senator the notification for the ringing of the great bell in the Capitol, which is to announce to the Romans that their Sovereign has died. This bell, which is tolled only on this occasion and on the opening of the Carnival, has a curious history. It was originally the communal bell of Viterbo. Between this city and Rome a fierce enmity prevailed in the twelfth century, which after hot conflicts ended by the overthrow of the Viterbese in the year 1200. By the terms of capitulation, the Romans carried off, as trophies and signs of supremacy, besides the recovered bronze gate of St. Peter's, which the Viterbese had captured in 1167, a chain and city gate key, which were suspended at the arch of Gallienus, and the communal bell, which from that time has been hung in the Capitol. It was surnamed La Paterina, a denomination which has been derived, with apparent foundation, from the Paterini, Viterbo having been notorious for harbouring a quantity of these sectarians.