ficulty of getting home. The great number of guards, however, and the order which was maintained all the way from St. Peter's, on the Bridge of St. Angelo, and even into the city, prevented any accident occurring. The spectacle was splendid; in particular, upon the above-mentioned bridge across the Tiber, which lay, calm as a mirror, gleaming in the sunshine. I have never seen, in any city or any festival, such a vast magnificence of equipages and liveries. The carriages of the cardinals are distinguished above all others by their gilding and their magnificent horses. Nevertheless, the festival which was now being celebrated was in commemoration of Him who said, “My kingdom is not of this world!” But who now thinks of that? The vast crowd were here to behold the great splendor, to behold the Pope, in his triple crown, blessing the people!
In the afternoon, I went to the Colosseum, where I heard a Capuchin monk preach about the spiritual resurrection, and that in so truly an evangelical and popular manner as was pleasure to hear. Afterwards, people went in procession, La Via Crucis. I met many pilgrims going from church to church to perform their devotions.[1] During the whole of this week they are frequently met with in the streets of Rome.
- ↑ The feet-washing of the pilgrims belongs to the spectacles of the Holy-Week in Rome. In the year of Jubilee they come in great numbers, mostly of the lower class, to the papal capital, where they are received and entertained in houses established for the purpose, and where religious societies (confraternita), in which many persons of high rank are enrolled, come to wash their feet and to wait upon them. I visited, one evening, a house of this kind devoted to women. Long tables were co-
- Vol. II.—15
