has been no sermon, the Card. celebrant announces from the altar the Pope's usual grant to all present of an indulgence[43] or remission of the _temporal_ punishment due for past sins, whose guilt has been already remitted. [Sidenote: indulgences] When the mass is ended, the palms are carried home by those who have received them, and are preserved with respect. Two larger than the rest are kept until the ascension, in the sacristy called the _Letto dei Paramenti_ because anciently the aged Pontiffs after their fatiguing walk to the stational churches used to repose on a _letto_ or bed prepared for them in the sacristy, where they afterwards put on the _paramenti_ or vestments. The paschal candle also, an emblem of Christ the true light, as we shall afterwards see is removed on the day of the ascension: this circumstance may explain the above-mentioned custom. [Sidenote: Cardinal penitentiary at S. John Lateran's.] In the afternoon of palm-sunday, the Cardinal great Penitentiary goes in state to S. John Lateran's. He is met, before he enters their college, by the minor penitentiaries, who at this basilic are Franciscans, _minori osservanti_. Having sprinkled those present with holy water, he goes up to their private oratory[44] in the Lateran palace, whither he is escorted by the prelates and other ministers of the apostolic _Penitenzieria_. After a short prayer, he proceeds to the library, where he holds the _Segnatura_ or tribunal for signing documents relating to his office, and afterwards enters the basilic of St. John Lateran's, where he is received by four canons. Here seated at his tribunal of penance, he touches with his rod the heads of the prelates, ministers and others who approach to him; and for this act of humiliation they receive an indulgence, or remission of the canonical penance, of 100 days. He also hears the confessions of any persons who may choose to present themselves: but the solution of difficult cases and absolution from crimes reserved to his jurisdiction may be obtained without confessing to his Eminence on so public an occasion[45].