The body of the late Pope Pius XI, clad in a red chasuble and mitre of cloth-of-gold, lay one day last week in a triple coffin near the high altar of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. For three days before, throngs (estimated as high as 1,200,000) had ceaselessly filed past the chapel where the Pope's body lay upon a catafalque.
For the tumulation (burial) of the Holy Father, a scattering of candles lit St. Peter's, in whose dim, religious light sat several thousand invited diplomats, nobles, churchmen and Vatican functionaries. The clergy of the Basilica committed Pius XI to his God...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
