Today at Lauds I read the collect for the Commemoration of St Paul followed by the antiphons, versicles, and collect for St. Peter. Whenever the feast of one arrives a commemoration is always made of the other in the various pre-Conciliar rites, but why on this day is St. Peter commemorated rather than the octave of Ss. Peter and Paul? Better yet, why is there a day called the Commemoration of Saint Paul when there was a feast of Ss. Peter & Paul yesterday?
The answer is actually missing in the texts of yesterday's Offices and Mass. On the feast of Ss. Peter & Paul there is hardly any mention made of St. Paul in the Mattins readings (other than allusion by St Leo), the antiphons on the Major Hours, and none at Mass save for the collect. This underscores a subtle oddity in the liturgical history of the Eternal City: June 29th was not the single feast of Ss. Peter and Paul, but it was the feast of both Saint Peter and Saint Paul, two feasts in one day.
As Pierre Batiffol recounts in his History of the Roman Breviary, feasts in the first few post-Nicene centuries were often unique to the churches of Rome and celebrated in honor of the saints whose relics were contained there. By the time of St. Gregory the Great Rome had declined to a meager population of about 30,000 from its Imperial peak of a million. Yet the devout in his small population could ambulate through the vast city to churches that held the relics of saints and celebrate the vigil and Mass with the Lord Pope of the City with relative ease, the origin of the "stational churches" of great feasts, vigils, and fasting days that are still observed during Lent to this day. As such, feasts of multiple saints usually pertained to the saints buried in a given church. Sancti Apostoli in Rome holds the bones of Ss. Philip and James, and so the transfer of their relics to that church elicited their feast on May 11. The same would have been true earlier this week for Ss. John and Paul. But this feast of two saints is precisely what would not have happened on June 29th or 30th....
Instead, the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Wall and the Vatican Basilica of Saint Peter would each have observed the feasts of their patronal saint whose relics rested beneath the main altar. In times of old the Pope would begin the evening at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside for the vigil (Vespers, Mattins, and Lauds) and continue until day break, when he would travel to Saint Peter's on the Vatican Hill for the celebration of the Mass. Because the Mass took place at the Vatican Basilica the Missal texts that come down to us are for the patronal feast of that particular church just as any pre-John XXIII hand missal gives St. Peter's as the station for June 29. The 10th century Gregorian Sacramentary gives June 29th as the feast of St. Peter, despite mentioning both Apostles in the oration, and June 30th as the feast of St. Paul. By the Middle Ages June 29th was conceded as the feast of both Saints, in accordance with ancient prerogative, and the uniquely Pauline Offices and Mass of June 30th were rebranded as the Commemoration of Saint Paul giving the Doctor Gentium the due he would one have received on June 29th in the Basilica that assumes his name.
Interior of St. Lawrence by Francesco Diofebi source: schwarzgallery.com
Each rite and usage has its own peculiar and particular feasts which characterize the diocese of that rite's origin, be it Greek, Latin, or Assyrian. The Greeks have their feasts, like "Mid-Pentecost" and the "Protection of the Theotokos." We Latins have a number, too, many of which are coming up next month.
The month begins with St. Peter in Chains, recalling the chains that held St. Peter while he was imprisoned under Herod and Nero, the Jewish and Gentile persecutors of the Church, as well as the cardinatial church that holds two links of those chains. Pope Julius II's tomb, bearing Michelangelo's Moses, resides in this church. The Greeks have a feast commemorating the chains in January, but Rome possesses the actual church with these relics. Rome held a unique place among the churches of Christendom in that it could claim the two foremost Apostles of Christ as its fathers in faith, prompting the city to do its best to multiply their presence throughout the seven hills for stational liturgies.
Next is the feast of the Dedication of Our Lady of the Snows—the "Liberian basilica" of St. Mary Major. The Constantinian basilicas of Rome were dedicated to Our Lord (Lateran cathedral) and Ss. Peter & Paul, but the Virgin had no church dedicated to her. Snow began to fall over one rectangular space in the city, which St. Liberius took as a sign. The saintly pope began construction on the basilica, which is the Roman stational church for the Nativity of Christ and Pascha.
Lastly, Rome enjoys a vigil and an octave for St. Lawrence, the deacon of Rome who teased his torturers and entered eternal life with true Christian joy (I imagine that were he a martyr, St. Philip Neri would have died in a similar manner). His octave and vigil remind us that prior to Pius XII, the local church occupied a place of liturgical prominence: a Double of the First Class with an octave was observed for both the dedication of a parish and its patron saint. St. Lawrence enjoyed a similar place as a foundational saint for the spirit of the Roman church. When the popes wore the maniple on their left arms, it always bore gold and red thread. Gold for the joy of the Byzantine Church, red for the martyrs of the Roman Church.
In the Apostle Peter, the Roman Church recalls the place given to her by the Prince of the Apostles. In the miracle of Our Lady, she recalls that Our Lady laid the cornerstone of her own enduring presence in the Eternal City. In St. Lawrence, she recalls her happy witness to Christ. These feasts do not celebrate Biblical events nor do they teach theological lessons. These feasts are acts of worshipping God for God's own sake, for thanking Him for counting the saints as the closest intimates of the city of Rome, for showing gratitude for His continuing presence in the Roman Church. August, as much as June 29, is an appropriate time to sing O felix Roma.
"These twain be thy fathers, these be in good sooth thy shepherds, these twain be they who laid for thee, as touching the kingdom of heaven, better and happier foundations, than did they that first planned thine earthly ramparts, where from he that gave thee thy name took occasion to pollute thee with a brother's blood. These are they who have set on thine head this thy glorious crown, that thou art become an holy nation, a chosen people, a city both Priestly and Kingly, whom the Sacred Throne of blessed Peter hath exalted till thou art become the Lady of the world, unto whom the world-wide love for God hath conceded a broader lordship than is the possession of any mere earthly empire. Thou wast once waxen great by victories, until thy power was spread haughtily over land and sea, but thy power was narrower then which the toils of war had won for thee, than that thou now hast which hath been laid at thy feet by the peace of Christ."
Pope St. Leo the Great, first sermon on the feast (second nocturne of Mattins)
The following beginning verses from chapter 20 of St. John's gospel were read during the octave last week at Mass and the Office. I attended the Divine Liturgy for Monday of Bright Week. The pericopes there, the priest explained, already anticipate the mission of the Church and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the Byzantine tradition has a unique focus on the Trinity and the Holy Spirit which is not found in the Roman Church. The Roman rite, solidified in its fundamental elements when the fluid Byzantine Church was the battle ground of heresies, glosses over many of the matters concerning the Godhead mentioned in the Greek liturgy. Instead, the Roman liturgy is very Christ-centered, centered on Christ as God and as Man. This Scriptural pericope is quite fitting for the Roman tradition:
"And on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalen cometh early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre; and she saw the stone taken away from the sepulchre.She ran, therefore, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith to them: They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went out, and that other disciple, and they came to the sepulchre.And they both ran together, and that other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.And when he stooped down, he saw the linen cloths lying; but yet he went not in. Then cometh Simon Peter, following him, and went into the sepulchre, and saw the linen cloths lying,And the napkin that had been about his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but apart, wrapped up into one place.Then that other disciple also went in, who came first to the sepulchre: and he saw, and believed.For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead."
At face value, the Evangelist recounts the startling news given to the Apostles that the tomb in which Jesus once laid was now empty and that "they believed." What did they believe? Nothing that we would recognize, at least not yet. Before the descent of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles were faithful and foolish friends, quick to sing the Lord's praises and endear themselves to Him, but not entirely sure why. One thinks of them squabbling over who would have a place of honor in the kingdom of heaven. Even after the Resurrection they seem no better off that before, asking at the Ascension if Christ would finally become the terrestrial and material Messiah for which the Jews longed, one who would free them from Roman oppression and begin a tangible reign of the kingdom of God on earth. When John says "they believed," we are not unfair to ask "What did they believe?"
Living two thousand years later, we enjoy the wisdom of the Fathers, the teachings of the popes, bishops, and their convened councils, as well as the accumulation of centuries of common sense. We know that miracles were outward acts of mercy on the part of Our Lord to point people to His Divinity, to draw people to His teachings and His words. Peter and the rest might have understood the miracles to have shown His favor with God, but not that He was God. Peter's confession of faith was that Jesus was the "Christ, the Son of the living God." None of the brethren understood that He was God made Man or that He must rise from the dead, as the last verse of the Johannine passage reveals.
It would not be unlikely that Peter and the other apostle, likely John, saw the empty tomb, which had been guarded by soldiers from the Sanhedrin's forces, and presumed an assumption of Christ's body into heaven like that of Elijah when he was alive and possibly Moses after his death. Christ may, to them, have been the greatest and most amazing of all the prophets, those witnesses to God. Yet what could Jesus have accomplished as a prophet, a man, who worked miracles, died a gruesome death at the hands of his own people, and was then bodily removed from the earth? They "believed" without understanding what they believed because they could not possibly know without seeing Him and touching Him that He was God and that, unlike the miracles of prophets of old, He rose from the dead without the prayers of another man. Later, He appeared to the Apostles and to Thomas, and there He revealed His divinity most explicitly.
This is the Catholic paradigm of God. God is Who He is ("I am Who I am" is His name in Hebrew) regardless of what we want God to be. We encounter Him and He tells us about Himself if we listen. We can know about God by reason. We cannot know Him intimately without knowing Him as a person though. "The Lord is God and has revealed Himself to us" from Byzantine Mattins always seemed plain to me until I considered that it was an adaptation to refer to the "Lord" God as a master, a personhood Who comes before creatures of far lesser capacity to understand and tells us what we need to know about Him. This is the Incarnation! This is the purpose of the great condescension! Without this great consideration we demote Christ and the faith to an intellectual proposition, not what "faith" is—a word that shares a Latin root with the same word that means "loyalty." Peter had not understanding, but when he saw the empty tomb his loyalty returned and prepared him to meet his master, risen from the dead.
Readers will by now have noticed that the Rad Trad is not one partial to Ultramontanism, that odd Jesuitical view of the Pope as the active will of God on earth. He has written on Ultramontanism here and given a favorable review to anti-Utramontanist Dr. Adrian Fortescue's history of the papacy in the pre-Chalcedonian Church here. Indeed this blog has argued in favor of a more local approach to disciplinary and liturgical matters in principle (fully aware that such a move would not be successful in practice given the current state of affairs). Still, while a de-centralized approach would be beneficial, we ought not forget that the Pope, unlike Patriarchs and Archbishops, has a Divine commission to a very important ministry in the Church. I would advise all to read this sober little musing by Fr. John Hunwicke. It is very much in line with Dr. Fortescue's four-fold concept of the Petrine office rather than the hyper-Papalist whims so fashionable in the last two centuries.
Today is the feast of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Ss. Peter and Paul, two of the four patriarchal basilicas of the Roman Church. The current buildings are fairly recent (St. Peter's is a 16th century replacement of a 4th century basilica and St. Paul's is a 19th century reconstruction of the original, which burned and imploded). The Rad Trad did not get to St. Paul outside the Wall during his visit to Rome, but did manage to spend a full day in St. Peter's Basilica. The current building has very little to do with the one which preceded it, other than that it too houses the relics of the Prince of the Apostles. For more on the previous building have a look here (and watch the video at the bottom, it is quite something).
I have re-posted some older material, a photo tour of the current basilica, for readers' edification. As stated on our previous post for the feast of the Dedication of the Lateran, these photos are perhaps better than what one will find online because they were taken during a progression through the church and hence give a clearer impression of the arrangement, scale, and style of the place. Some photos towards the end show the Rad Trad in personal horror (not a fan of heights).
The second lesson in the second nocturn of Mattins today seems to be based upon the fictitious Donation of Constantine (did Benedict XIV not want to rid us of this sort of thing?), but concludes with the interesting, and more historically feasible, statement that the consecration of a stone altar by St. Sylvester, Pope at the time, marked an official point of transition from wood to purely stone altars.
Happy feast!
Approach from the square
Sneak by the Swiss Guards
Our Lord watches this place
Where we hear "Habemus Papam"
Friends of the Rad Trad awaiting entry into the nave
First altar on the right contains the Pieta
Peering through the right-side door
A rather ugly statue of Pope Pius XII, among many statues of saints and popes
Looking back from the first chapel. This place is big!
A shot across to the altar of the Presentation
The baptismal font is enormous. Scale dominates this place
The dome over the baptistery
The coffered ceiling
Tomb of St. Pius X
The domes under the side chapels are quite colorful
The chapel of the choir, south of the high altar, which contains relics of St. John Chrysostom
Tomb of St. Gregory the Great. The Pope once vested for Solemn Mass here
while the schola sang terce
Apse of a transept
The baldacchino over the high altar is over 70 feet in height,
the largest piece of bronze work in the world
St. Andrew. There are many statues in the nave, but none of Apostles or Our Lady.
Those of the Apostles are to be found around the (ill-defined) sanctuary.
The entrance to the tomb of St. Peter and the Clementine chapel
St. Peter presiding at the basilica. A line of people wait to kiss his foot.
Confession in 22 languages from 7AM to 7PM
Looking from the altar to the nave
A friend of mine, who is over six feet tall, for size comparison
St. Gregory the Illuminator, disciple to Armenia
"I saw water flowing from the right side of the temple...."
The altar at the Petrine Throne with the Holy Ghost descending upon it.
It makes much more sense to see this during a Mass, which we did!
Saints watch and keep vigil
As we depart....
Later that day the Rad Trad visited the dome
The Rad Trad does not like heights
The Rad Trad really does not like heights.
Grabbing the cornice for dear life!
The Four Evangelists at the corners of the sanctuary
The inside of the dome
That ant below is a person! We were well over 200 feet above the floor
Ss. Peter and Paul sharing a rather unlikely embrace
"Dearly beloved brethren, in the joy of all the holy Feast-days the whole world is partaker. There is but one love of God, and whatsoever is solemnly called to memory, if it hath been done for the salvation of all, must needs be worth the honour of a joyful memorial at the hands of all. Nevertheless, this feast which we are keeping to-day, besides that world-wide worship which it doth of right get throughout all the earth, doth deserve from this city of ours an outburst of gladness altogether special and our own. In this place it was that the two chiefest of the Apostles did so right gloriously finish their race. And upon this day whereon they lifted up that their last testimony, let it be in this place that the memory thereof receiveth the chiefest of jubilant celebrations. O Rome these twain are the men who brought the light of the Gospel of Christ to shine upon thee These are they by whom thou, from being the teacher of lies, wast turned into a learner of the truth.
"These twain be thy fathers, these be in good sooth thy shepherds, these twain be they who laid for thee, as touching the kingdom of heaven, better and happier foundations, than did they that first planned thine earthly ramparts, wherefrom he that gave thee thy name took occasion to pollute thee with a brother's blood. These are they who have set on thine head this thy glorious crown, that thou art become an holy nation, a chosen people, a city both Priestly and Kingly, whom the Sacred Throne of blessed Peter hath exalted till thou art become the Lady of the world, unto whom the world-wide love for God hath conceded a broader lordship than is the possession of any mere earthly empire. Thou wast once waxen great by victories, until thy power was spread haughtily over land and sea, but thy power was narrower then which the toils of war had won for thee, than that thou now hast which hath been laid at thy feet by the peace of Christ.
"It well suited for the doing of the work which God had decreed that the multitude of kingdoms should be bound together under one rule, and that so the universal preaching of the Gospel should find easier entry into all peoples, since all were governed by the empire of one city. But this city, knowing not Him, Who had been pleased to make her great, used her lordship over almost all nations to make herself the minister of all their falsehoods and seemed to herself exceeding godly because there was no false god whom she rejected. But the tighter that Satan had bound her, the more wondrous was the work of Christ in setting her free." (Second nocturn of Mattins, from the festive sermon of St. Leo the Great)
On the altar are two Papal tiaras to the Epistle (right) side and two episcopal mitres to the Gospel side (left). Seven candles adorn the altar, with the crucifix in the center, and another row of candles in front of the altar over the tomb of St. Peter. Relics of Saints are often placed on the altar, as are two small statuettes of Ss. Peter and Paul. The Pope and the ministers of Mass arrive at the main altar of St. Peter's Basilica, with the sedia gestatoria left right behind the Pope, as it will be needed momentarily.
The cardinals who are not ministers of the Mass or acting as chaplains to the Pope at his throne go to their choir stalls in the apse of the Basilica. Their choir dress for Papal Mass is something of a remnant of ancient concelebration mixed with the dress of Canons: They wear a red cassock with a train, a rochet, their pectoral cross, the mitre, and, depending on rank, a dalmatic, chasuble, or cope—for cardinal deacons, cardinal priests, and cardinal bishops respectively.
Cardinal Deacon
Cardinal Priest
Cardinal Bishop
The Pope and his ministers pray the normal prayers at the foot of the altar, with the Iudica me psalm and the two Confiteor prayers, putting on the maniple after the Indulgentiam. At this point the Pope turns from the altar and sits again in the sedia gestatoria. The pallium, a woolen scarf-like vestment adorned with crosses and worn by all major bishops, is retrieved from the altar and the three cardinal bishops of Albano, Porto, and Ostia pray over the Pope:
God, who are present without distinction whenever the devout mind invokes you, be present, we ask you, we and this your servant, __, who to the summit of the apostolic community has been chosen as the judge of your people, infuse with the highest blessings that he experience your gift who has reached this point.
We supplicate you, Almighty God, effect your customary devotion and pour out on this your servant, __, the grace of the Holy Spirit that he who is constituted at the head of our church as the servant of the mystery, you would strengthen with the fullness of virtue.
God, who willed your Apostle Peter to hold first place in the inner fellowship of the apostles, that universal Christianity overcome evil, look propitiously we ask on this your servant, __, who from a humble position has suddenly been enthroned with the apostles on this same principal sublimity, that just as he has been raised to this exalted dignity, so may he likewise merit to accumulate virtue; in bearing the burden of the universal church, help him, make him worthy and for thee who are blessed may merits replace vices.
Then the senior-most cardinal deacon would place the pallium on the Pope's shoulders saying: "Accept the pallium, representing the plenitude of the Pontifical office, to the honour of Almighty God, and the most glorious Virgin Mary, his Mother, and the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and the Holy Roman Church." (Coronation Rites, Reginald Wooley [Cambridge, univerity Press; 1915] 160).
Paul VI reads the Introit and Kyrie at a Papal Mass in 1964.
Here begins a normal Pontifical High Mass. The Pope incenses the altar during the introit (Si diligis me, "If thou lovest me, Simon Peter, feed my sheep"), then he is incensed, makes his way to the throne at the back of the apse with his ministers, and reads the opening texts during the Kyrie. He intones the Gloria in excelsis Deo, which the choir sings. At the end he greets the congregation with Pax vobis ("Peace to you) and prays the collect found in any Missal "pro Papa," though adjusted for the difference in who says the prayer ("me famulum tuum... da mihi...."). He says another prayer for himself privately.
Here another difference from an ordinary Pontifical or Papal Mass arises. Cantors from the choir, wearing choir dress and copes, go into the confessio, the entrance to St. Peter's tomb, and intone a litany asking the Saints to pray for the Pope; all remain standing. Rather than the customary response "Ora pro nobis" or "Ora pro eo" the response to the invocations to the Saints is "Tu illum adiuva" ("Grant him aid").
The litany beings at 1:28
A neat note: the Greek and Latin subdeacons and deacons do not sit to the side or with the Pope but, per the primitive practice at Papal liturgies, on the steps of the altar.
Pius XII listens to the Gospel at Mass
from: newliturgicalmovement.org
The Epistle, taken from the first letter of St. Peter, is sung by the cardinal Latin subdeacon and then by the Greek subdeacon according to the language and full ceremonies of the rites to which they belong. They then kiss the Pope's feet and receive his blessing while the choir sings the Gradual. During the Gradual the Pope reads the Gospel quietly as the Greek and Latin deacons make their own preparations to read the text aloud. During the Gospel procession seven candles, instead of the two at any non-Papal Mass, are carried. The Latin cardinal deacon sings the Gospel, taken from the 16th chapter of St. Matthew, after the Dominus vobiscum. He is followed immediately by the Greek deacon who sings the text in Greek, again with the introduction and full ceremonies accorded to the Byzantine rites. This is a wonderful example of the full extent of the Papal ministry, which is not limited to the Latin Church, although it also respects the traditions, history, and privileges of the Eastern Churches. As per the Byzantine custom, only two candles are present during the Greek reading of the Gospel, so five candle-bearers leave.
Greek reading of the Gospel
The Latin and Greek subdeacons bring the Pope Latin and Greek Gospel books to kiss, and then the Pope is incensed. He immediately intones the Credo.
Archdale King describes the remarkable measures taken against poison from here until the Pope's communion:
"Precautions are taken against poison, and a pregustatio ceremony for the tasting of the bread and wine takes place at the offertory. After Et homo factus est has been sung in the Creed, the cardinal bishop and apostolic subdeacon wash their hands at a credence, and then unfold a linen cloth, edged and divided with gold lace, over the mensa of the altar. The cloth originally served as a corporal and covered the oblata. The subdeacon in a humeral veil brings up the burse and corporal, two purificators and a silver box of hosts. The burse and hosts are received by the deacon, who spreads the corporal. In the meanwhile, the sacristan in a humeral veil carries the chalice, paten, purificators and gold spoon to the papal credence on the gospel side of the altar, accompanied by an acolyte with two empty cruets and a small vase. The sacristan assisted by the cup-bearer or pantler, then purifies the sacred vessels, spoon and cruets with wine, and the water cruet with water. A small quantity of wine and water are poured into a vessel, and consumed by the cup-bearer: the remainder put into the cruets and given to the acolyte. The sacristan in a humeral veil places the vessels on the altar. Then the cardinal deacon takes the three hosts, and lays them on the paten: with one of them he rubs the paten, and with another touches the inside and outside of the chalice. These two hosts are consumed by the sacristan with his face turned towards the Pope; while the third serves for the Mass. The testing of the oblations is concluded by the cardinal deacon pouring a little of the wine and water into a vessel, which the cup-bearer immediately drinks. The deacon pours enough wine into the chalice for three people, and the subdeacon adds the water with a gold spoon. If the occasion of the Mass should be a canonisation, candles, bread, wine, water, young turtle-doves and two other small birds are offered to the Pontiff after the Creed.
Eight prelates carry torches for the elevation, but there is no bell either then or at any other time in a papal Mass. The use of a small bell has never been introduced, even for a Mass said in the presence of the Pope.
Aside from these measures, the Mass is quite standard until the consecration, except no bells are rung, as they were never introduced to Papal Mass. The honor guards kneel—and salute—during the consecration, as do the ministers of Mass, but the Greek deacon and subdeacon only make a profound bow—as is the norm in their rite. During the elevation of the Blessed Sacrament and the Chalice the Pope turns in half circles, so as to show Jesus Christ to each point of the compass. During the elevations the baroque jazz section that gave us so much grief earlier redeems itself by playing a lovely piece called the Silveri Symphony.
Canon from John XXIII's coronation. Start at 2:35
Paul VI communicates from the chalice via the fistula in 1964.
After fracturing the host following the Pater Noster the Pope says the communion prayers and retires to his throne. At this point a deacon would again consume part of the Host, this time consecrated, to test for poison. The Latin subdeacon receives the Blessed Sacrament on a Byzantine styled plate with a covering called an asterisk and brings the Sacrament to the Pope at the throne for communion. The Latin deacon brings the Chalice with the Blood of the Lord and a gold straw called a fistula used to communicate from the chalice but not risk spilling anything, as there are no altar cloths to sop up any potential accidents.
The Pope then gives communion to the Latin deacon, standing, and subdeacon, kneeling. Both kiss his ring before receiving communion. No one else receives communion at Papal Mass, coronation day or otherwise. The Pope then gives the Kiss of Peace, the pax, to the deacon and subdeacon and ablutes his fingers in a small chalice. He then resumes his pontifical gloves and returns to the altar, blessing the cardinals and canons in choir as the passes them.
At the altar the Pope reads the communion verse, "Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam" ("Thou art Peter and upon this rock I shall build my church), then greets the people and sings the post-communion prayer aloud. The dismissal, "Ite, missa est," is sung by the deacon behind him. As the altar of St. Peter's is both ad orientem and versus populum neither the Pope nor deacon turns when they make their greetings. The Pope then gives the standard three-part pontifical blessing of any bishop, but without the mitre on his head, and says the prologue from St. John's Gospel, the "Last Gospel," on the Gospel side of the altar. During the blessing the "Auditor of the Roman Rota," a legal counselor who works in the Holy See, holds the Papal processional cross next to the Pope. The Pontiff then gets re-mitred, returns to the sedia gestatoria, and is taken in procession to the place of the coronation, accompanied by more of those damn horns (you thought you escaped them when Mass started, did you not?). Were this not a coronation Mass, the Pope would take off the pallium and maniple following the Mass and leave them at the altar, as shown below.
Pius XII after a Papal Mass in the 1940s. By 1950 his health was in rapid decline and he began using low Masses or had cardinals celebrate public Masses in his presence
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