around Rome, their connection with those churches very soon became purely nominal and formal ; and everything connected with the selection of them depended wholly on the will of the pontiff. Not so, as will be seen presently, their prerogatives when they had been created. And the limits, which might be supposed to have bounded the field from which the Pope could select the objects of his favour, became constantly enlarged. A few only of the many instances of creations illustrating this fact which are on record can be here mentioned. Clement VI., in 1348, created his nephew Peter Roger cardinal when he was seventeen. Sixtus IV., in 1477, created John of Aragon cardinal at the age of fourteen, and at the same time his nephew Raffaelle Riario who was seventeen. Innocent VIII. (f 1492) created Giovanni de Medici, afterwards Leo X., cardinal at fourteen, his eminence having been Apostolic Protonotary ever since he was seven ! Ippolite d Este had been au archbishop for the last nine years, when Alexander VI. created him cardinal in his seventeenth year. Alfred of Portugal was made cardinal by Leo X. when he was seven years old, on condition, however, that he should not assume the outward insignia of the dignity till he should be fourteen. The same pontiff made John of Lorraine cardinal at twenty, Alexander VL having previously made him coadjutor of the bishop of Metz at four years old. ( lenient VII. made Odet di Coligny cardinal at twelve. Paul III. Farnese (t 1549), created his nephew Alexander Farnese cardinal at fourteen ; his grandson Guiclo Ascanio Sforza, the son of his daughter Costanza, at sixteen ; his cousin Niccolo Gaetani at twelve ; his relative Giulio Feltre deila Rovere, at eleven ; and a second grandson, Ranuccio Farnese, at fifteen, having made him archbishop of Naples the year before. Paul also created Charles of Lorraine, brother of Mary Queen of Scots, cardinal at twenty-two, although he had a brother in the Sacred College at the time, which is contrary to the constitutions and the decree of one of the Pope s predecessors. But this is only one out of a hundred facts which demonstrate the futility of the attempt to bind the hands of one infallible autocrat by the rules enacted by his predecessors. Sixtus V. (t 1590), a great reformer of abuses, made his nephew Alexander Peretti cardinal at fourteen. Paul V. (t 1621) created Maurice of Savoy cardinal at fourteen, Carlo de Medici at nineteen, and Ferdinand of Austria at ten. Clement XII. (t 1740) made Luigi di Borbone archbishop of Toledo and cardinal at the age of eight. And, lastly, Pius VII. (t 1823) created a second Luigi di Borbone, the son of the above-mentioned archbishop of Toledo, cardinal at twenty-three. The list of such creations might be much extended. Previously to the publication of the bull " Postquam " by Sixtus V. the number of the Sacred College was extremely variable. John XXII., requested in 1331 to make two French cardinals, replied that there were only twenty cardinals hats, that seventeen of these were already French, and that he could, therefore, only make one more. At the death of Clement VI. (1352) the cardinals determined that their number should not exceed twenty. Urban VI. (t 1389) created a great number; and we find the college making representations to Pius II. (t 1464) to the effect that the dignity of the purple was diminished by such excess. Sixtus Iv. (t 1484), how ever, multiplied the number of his creations to an unexampled extent; and Alexander VI. (t 1503) exceeded him. Leo X. created thirty-one cardinals at one batch, leaving at his death sixty-five, a number unpre cedented up to that time. Paul III., however, created so verity -ono. But Paul IV. (t 1559) issued the bull called Compactum," by which it was decreed that the number of cardinals should never exceed forty. His immediate successor, however, Pius IV. (t 1565) raised of creation the number to forty-six. In 1590 came the final settle
ment at seventy by Sixtus V., as has been said.
Many volumes have been written on the different forms used by the popes in the creation of cardinals in different ages, and many more still larger treatises exprofesso on the strictly ecclesiastical, as well as what may be more properly called the social, portions of the accustomed ceremonial. But it must suffice here to characterize very generally the differences which have prevailed from age to age in the first respect, and to say but a few words on the second head.
The general tendency of the changes which have taken place in the methods used for the creation of cardinals may be very shortly stated. They have been such as indicate the steadily increasing absolutism of the pontiffs. A proclamation to the congregation including an invitation to any person to state any ground of objection known to him soon gave place to a real consultation of the college by the Pope, and a real assent on the part of the cardinals to the proposed new nominations, which in its turn dwindled off at a very early period to a mere form of asking and receiving consent. In the earlier centuries the crea tions almost always took place on the first Wednesday of the Quattro Tempora,[1] and generally in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. There, after the Introit and collect of the Mass had been said, a reader ascended the pulpit and proclaimed the intended creation of such and such persons, ending with an invitation precisely similar to that used in our churches in the publication of banns of marriage, and a real inquiry followed the statement of any objector. At a later period the Pope asked of the cardinals assembled in secret consistory whether in their opinion there should be a creation of cardinals, and of how many? And a deputation was sent to the residence of any cardinals who might be ill to bring back their replies to the same questions. Then, satisfactory answers having been obtained from at least the majority, the Pope said " Portetur nuda cathedra." The chair was brought, and placed at his right hand. Thereupon all the cardinals rose, and stood ranged against the wall at a distance out of earshot of the Papal throne. The dean of the Sacred College placed himself in the empty chair, and the Pope told him in a low voice whom he purposed to create, add ing " Quid vobis viddur ? " One by one all present were similarly interrogated, and then the Pope said aloud, " Deo gratias habemus de personis creandis concordiam omnium fratrum," or " quasi omnium, " or " majoris partis, " as the case might be. And then the pontiff at once pro claimed the new dignitaries: * Audoritate Dei Omnipo- tentis, Sanctorum Apostolorum Petri et Pauli, et nostra creamus Sanctce Romance Ecclesioe Cardinales Prcsbyteros quidem ... N. N. ... Diaconos vero ... N. N. . . . cum dispensationibus, derogaliombus, et clausulis necessariis et opportunist He then thrice made the sign of the cross, saying as he did so, " In nomine Patris, &c., Amen, " and the consistory was at an end.
consistory by the simple announcement, " Habemus fratres " so and so, the act of conferring the dignity with its insignia on the new recipients was performed at the Papal palace, and was accompanied by a mass of minutely ordered cere monial which rendered it one of the most pompous and gorgeous scenic performances of the Roman Church and court. It would need many pages to describe the form and order of the ceremony, the intricacies of which no one was ever expected to remember or understand save the professional masters of the ceremonies, whose business it
is to have mastered the science. And a description of it- ↑ The Quattro Tempora were the fasts with which each quarter of the year commenced.
