John Inglesant: A Romance (Volume 2 of 2)Shorthouse, J. H. (Joseph Henry)
History
John Inglesant: A Romance (Volume 2 of 2)
Shorthouse, J. H. (Joseph Henry)
Great Britain -- History -- Charles I, 1625-1649 -- Fiction; Religious fiction
When every Cardinal has deposited his paper, the Cardinal-Bishop takes
them out of the chalice one by one, and hands them to the
Cardinal-Deacon, who reads out the name of the elected, but not of the
Cardinal who had placed the paper in the chalice (which is written on
part of the paper so folded that even the reader does not see it); and
as he reads the name, every Cardinal makes a mark upon the scroll of
names he has before him. When all the names have been read, the
Cardinal-Priest, from a paper which he has prepared, reads the name of
him who has had the most voices and the number of the votes. If the
number be more than two-thirds of the whole, the Cardinal who has
received the votes is thereby elected Pope; but if not, the
Cardinal-Priest rings the silver bell once more, and at the signal the
master of the ceremonies, Monsignor Fabei, advances up the Chapel,
followed by a groom carrying a brazier of lighted coals, into which, in
the face of the whole assembly, the papers are dropped one by one till
all are consumed.
At the beginning of the Conclave the Cardinals were always divided into
two, if not more parties, of such relative strength as to make the
attainment of such a majority by either of them impossible for many
days. It was not until the persistent intrigues of a fortnight had
increased the majority of any one Cardinal so much as to give a
probability of his being ultimately elected, that the waverers of all
sides, not willing to be known as the opponents of a new Pope, recorded
their voices in his favour, and thus raised the majority to its
necessary proportion. For this very delicate matter occurred at this
period of the election, that, should the requisite majority of voices be
obtained, the master of the ceremonies and his brazier were no longer
called for, but the whole of the papers were opened to their full
extent, and the names of the voters given to the world, whereby, as one
conversant in these matters observes, "Many mysteries and infidelities
are brought to light." It is evident, therefore, that, as the majority
of any one Cardinal increased or showed signs of increasing, morning and
evening, as the suffrages were taken, the voting became a very exciting
and delicate matter. No one could be certain but that at the next
voting the majority from the cause mentioned would suddenly swell to the
necessary size, and every man’s name be made clear and plain on whose
side he had been.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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