The announcements set forth in these
strange placards were all of the same nature and directed to the same
end. In each of them the Bishop of Rome informed his 'pious and
honourable brethren', the inhabitants of the city, that, as the next
days was the anniversary of the Martyrdom of St. Luke, the vigil would
necessarily be held on that evening in the Basilica of St. Peter; and
that, in consideration of the importance of the occasion, there would be
exhibited, before the commencement of the ceremony, those precious
relics connected with the death of the saint, which had become the
inestimable inheritance of the Church; and which consisted of a branch
of the olive-tree to which St. Luke was hung, a piece of the noose--
including the knot--which had been passed round his neck, and a picture
of the Apotheosis of the Virgin painted by his own hand. After some
sentences expressive of lamentation for the sufferings of the saint,
which nobody read, and which it is unnecessary to reproduce here, the
proclamation went on to state that a sermon would be preached in the
course of the vigil, and that at a later hour the great chandelier,
containing two thousand four hundred lamps, would be lit to illuminate
the church.
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