Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 February 1902 — THE DEATH OF A POPE.| [ARTICLE]

THE DEATH OF A POPE.|

ImprcMlva Solemnity of the Lying in State at Rome. The lying in state of no earthly potentate could be half so impressive as that of a pope. For here it is no material, secular loyalty which is engaged, '■tout we seem to penetrate the barrier which separates the things that are unseen from our mortal vision. All the burning love and devotion of the church universal, that great company which no man could number, and all their deepest thoughts and feelings come winging their way here from the uttermost parts of the earth. The air Is laden with the mysterious incense of prayer; the desire of the myriad souls of the whole Catholic world Is centered here; here the fieldhand on a western ranch, the courtly Australian' noble, the old Connemara peasant woman, the lonely subaltern on an Indian frontier post, all direct their thought in a common sorrow and a common faith, says Mrs. BelloeLowndes, in the January Lippincott. The third day wears on, and row in the gathering dusk the long procession again takes up the precious body and conducts it to St. Peter's, and there protected by iron railings within a chapelle ardente, it lies in state,viewed by streams of people for several days. By ancient custom the

right foot is extended that the faith ful may kiss the cross on the embroidered slipper. At last on the tenth day after the death, the final and most solemn requiem is sung in St. Peter’s, and on the evening of that day the pope is burled in a temporary vault. After the space of a year the body will be taken to the tomb chosen by the pontiff during his lifetime.