So our Mass goes back, without essential change, to the age when it first developed out of the oldest liturgy of all. It is still redolent of that liturgy, of the days when Cæsar ruled the world and thought he could stamp out the faith of Christ, when our fathers met together before dawn and sang a hymn to Christ as to a God. The final result of our enquiry is that, in spite of unsolved problems, in spite of later changes, there is not in Christendom another rite so venerable as ours. ~Fortescue
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Sedie gestatorie
Coronation Celebration of Pope Leo * *
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Pius VIII *
His Holiness Pope Pius XI, sitting in the Sedia Gestatoria, being carried in procession after the joint recognition agreement between the Church and the State of Italy.