3-028-561 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Papal Great Council at Rome: Reading Out The Decrees, 1870. '...the act of formally reading out the decrees of the Council, as performed by the Secretary, Monsignor Fessler, at a plenary session in the Council Hall...[in] St. Peter's Cathedral...[A] seat for the Pope is partly shown to the left hand in our Engraving, which looks directly across the hall, towards the benches of the Bishops and towards the gallery of the foreign ambassadors and ladies...The most conspicuous object is a portable wooden pulpit, which is brought into the Council Hall...for the solemn promulgation of its transactions. The Pope, though not visible in our Engraving,...[is] present on his throne, far to the left hand, and the Secretary of the Council turns his face towards the Pope while reading the decrees. All the prelates of the Council wear their mitres upon this occasion, being in the exercise of their deliberative and legislative authority; but their mitres are laid aside, of course, when engaged in religious worship. The splendidly attired Church dignitary, to the left, with a gorgeous stole hanging over his shoulders in front and behind, and with an expanding dome-shaped head-dress, surmounted by a jewelled cross, is one of the Oriental Bishops'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.