Page:On papal conclaves (IA a549801700cartuoft).djvu/187

but the Universe, as stands written upon the inscription on its front. On this occasion, the Pope traverses the whole city of Rome in solemn procession, accompanied by all the Cardinals and the representatives of all the ecclesiastical hierarchy connected with the Court of Rome. Down to a very recent time it was customary for the Pope to ride a white steed, and to be escorted by the Sacred College on horseback. When Pius IX. made his progress to the Lateran, he expressed his desire to revive the practice, but the idea was abandoned owing to the remonstrances of the many very aged Cardinals, who protested their incapacity to sit on their horses for so long a ride. It was also the custom for the Jews to line the portion of the way between the Arch of Titus and the Colosseum, and there to present in sign of homage a copy of their law to the Pope; but since Pius VI.'s time they have been dispensed from this service. The ceremony in the church itself offers nothing that calls for special observation. It is simply an act of taking possession, unaccompanied by anything which implies a conditional tenure dependent on the observance of certain specified and defined vows.