In the year 1610 Pope Paul V. canonised Cardinal St. Charles
Borromée, who, under the pontificate of Pius IV., his uncle, was
patron of the kingdom of Portugal, and that grateful nation wished to
honour him publicly.
In order that it should be done with the greater solemnity, they put
his image on board a ship, as if he were coming back once more to
assume the protection of the kingdom of Portugal.
“A richly decorated vessel with flying sails of divers colours and
silk cordage of magnificent hues, carried the image of the saint
under a canopy of gold brocade. On its appearance in the roads all
the vessels in port, superbly arrayed, advanced to meet it, and
rendering military honours, brought it back with great pomp, and
a salute from the guns of Lisbon and all the vessels in Port. The
reliquaries of the patron Saints of Portugal, carried by the nobles
of state and followed by the religious, civil and military bodies,
received the new Saint on disembarcation.”
As soon as the image was landed, it was received by all the monks
and the whole of the ecclesiastical body, who went to meet it in
procession with four large chariots containing different tableaux.
The first car represented Fame, the second the town of Milan, the
third Portugal, and the fourth the Church. Besides the chariots, each
company of monks and each Brotherhood carried its own particular
Saint on rich litters, called by the Portuguese “andarillas.” The
image of St. Charles was ornamented with precious stones to the value
of twenty-six to twenty-seven thousand crowns; several others to the
value of sixty, seventy and eighty thousand crowns, and the jewels
that were displayed at this fête were estimated at more than four
millions.
Between each chariot were troops of dancers, who represented,
in dancing, the more notable of the acts of the Saints. Octavio
Accoromboni, Bishop of Fossombrone, who obtained these honours
for St. Charles, was at this time in the town of Lisbon, where he
had gone to collect certain monies that Portugal was giving to
the Pope. He has left us a description of this fête, in which he
remarks that “the Italians and more especially the Romans, should
not be surprised to read that dances and ballets formed a part of so
sacred a ceremony, because in Portugal processions and fêtes would
not seem elevated nor serious enough unless accompanied by these
manifestations of joy.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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