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COUNCIL
COVERAGE
COUNCIL
COVERAGE
HALF MILLION PEOPLE PACK
ST. PETER’S SQUARE TO SEE
OPENING COUNCIL PROCESSION
BY MSGR. JAMES I. TUCEK
VATICAN CITY, (NC) - An
estimated 500,000 people jost
led and strained to witness the
passing of history as the mem
bers of the Second Vatican
Ecumenical Council marched in
procession across St. Peter’s
Square and into the basilica to
begin the council.
This high moment in the
Church’s history started at 8:30
a.m. when the long procession
of the world’s bishops made
their way to the basilica walk
ing in front of His Holiness
Pope John XXIII, who was car
ried on his portable throne.
The council Fathers had
assembled at 8 a.m.: the car
dinals in the Vatican’s Hall
of Benedictions and the Borgia
Apartments; the bishops in the
Hall of Inscriptions, and the
Pope in the Hall of Vestments.
The Pope vested in mantle and
jeweled miter, the cardinal
bishops in copes, the cardinal-
priests in chasubles and the
cardinal deacons in tunics.
The Oriental Rite patriarchs
were vested in the solemn vest-,
ments of their own varying
rites. The bishops, arch
bishops and abbots donned white
copes. All — cardinals, pat
riarchs, archbishops, bishops,
abbots — put on simple white
miters with their double poin
ted crowns rising high on their
heads. Oriental Rite prelates
wore the episcopal crown, a tall
bulbous metal head - dress,
richly ornamented, modeled
after the crown of the Roman
Emperor Constantine.
When all were vested, the
Pope entered the Pauline Chapel
of the Vatican Palace where the
Blessed Sacrament was ex
posed. There he intoned the an
tiphon, Ave Maris Stella (Hail
Star of the Sea), and the solemn
procession began.
Walking before the Pope, the
long procession wound its way
down the Royal Stairs, led by
the Crucifix and followed by the
guards, the laymen and the ec
clesiastics of the papal court.
Behind them followed the of
ficials of the Vatican’s courts,
ministries and offices; then the
representation of Religious
orders, the abbots, the bishops,
archbishops, patriarchs, car
dinals and prince assistants at
the papal throne — all in finery
to befit the solemn event and
following the sign of their Sav
iour.
The procession moved slowly
through the great Bronze Doors
and into St. Peter’s Square,
passing between two lines of the
assembled diocesan and reli
gious clergy of Rome. They
marched through the huge
throng in the square, chanting
the fifth-century hymn: "Sing
ular Virgin, make us meek and
chaste.’’
Those in the front of the pro
cession carried the chant into
the basilica through its central
door where others, who had al
ready taken their seats, took up
the song and sent it ringing
through the gilt and brilliantly
lighted vaults.
For a full hour the procession
passed: every race and color
and tongue, every rite, every
degree of dignity, every cir
cumstance of human existence,
respected and persecuted, af
fluent and poor—all one in creed
by baptism, in purpose of sal
vation.
At the end, flanked by the im
mediate members at his court,
borne on his portable throne,
came Pope John. He was solemn
faced and in prayer: no longer
the Angelo Roncalli who walked
barefoot to school, but entering
this assembly as the supreme
judge and legislator on earth
of Christ’s Church.
The procession ended as the
Pope stepped down from the
portable throne and went to the
altar erected before the tomb
of St. Peter. There he intoned
a second hymn, the Veni Crea
tor Spiritus, by which he and all
those present who took up the
chant implored the guidance of
the Holy Spirit in the work now
begun.
The Pope went to his throne
and Eugene Cardinal Tisserant,
Dean of the College of Car
dinals, began preparing to cele
brate Mass in honor of the Holy
Spirit as the assembly contin
ued the hymn: "Enlighten our
senses; implant love in our
hearts.”
At the end of the Mass the
Pope removed his miter and
mantle and vested as for Mass.
After a ceremony similar to the
"Dry Mass” of the former Good
Friday ritual, the Gospel
was read from the podium—the
same which was used in the first
Vatican Council—and then the
book of the Gospels was placed
on the center of the altar. It
would, in a manner, reign there
for the duration of the council.
Now the Fathers of the coun
cil went to the papal throne to
make their obeisance to the
Pontiff; first the cardinals then
the patriarchs, then two each
of the archbishops, bishops and
abbots representing the whole
assembly.
The ceremony of the opening
of the Second Vatican Council
concluded with an allocution by
the Pope.
After his allocution, the Pope
ascended the portable throne
and was borne out alone, accom
panied only by the members of
his personal service. The car
dinals, patriarchs and the other
council Fathers then filed out
without procession.
The Second Vatican Council
had now begun. Three years of
preparation had come before
this day. All the powers of
heaven and earth had been
summoned to assure a suc
cessful outcome of what would
follow. What would follow was
known only to the mind of God
whose Holy Spirit was already
at work.
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ST. PETER’S SQUARE JAMMED FOR COUNCIL
OPENING - Estimated 500,000 of the faithful jam
St. Peter’s Square to catch a glimpse of the historic
opening of the Second Vatican Council, October 11.
Some 3,000 Council Fathers representing almost every
area of the world passed through the crowds and into
the Basilica for the opening session of the Council.
Newsmen, photographers, television and radio crews
from throughout the world recorded the history
making event on the spot. (NC Photos)
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3,000 Take Part In Largest
Council In History Of Church
BY BURKE WALSH
VATICAN CITY, (NC) - His
tory is in the making here.
The greatest meeting of
Church dignitaries in all the
Christian era is in session in
St. Peter’s basilica.
In many ways already one
of the great assemblies of all
time, its full impact is expected
to be felt far in the future.
Events of enormous importance,
probably unfolding slowly over
many years, will be traced to
it.
Gathered about His Holiness
Pope John XXIII are cardinals,
patriarchs, archbishops and bi
shops from the farthest corners
of the earth to the number of
some 2,600. Together they con
stitute the Fathers of the Second
Vatican Ecumenical Council.
Theologians and other expert
consultants swell the number
of those present to about 3,000.
It is an ecumenical council,
and only the 21st ever to be
convened. The first met in 325
in Nicea in Bithynia (now apart
of Turkey) with 318 persons
taking part. The last previous
one, the First Vatican Council,
was held here more than 90
years ago. There have been
many more than a score of
large and important meetings
in the two Christian millenia,
but to date only 21 have been
accorded the rank of general
councils.
An ecumenical, or general,
council is a solemn assembly
of the bishops of the world
called by the pope to consider
and decide, under the presi-
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dency of the pope, matters con
cerning the whole of Christen
dom.
The current ecumenical
council is by far the largest,
the best prepared for, the most
widely heralded, the most en
thusiastically received of all
general councils.
In a motu proprio issued
almost on the eve of the
meeting’s opening, Pope John
said, “the coming ecumenical
council by virtue of the number
and variety of those who will
participate in its meetings evi
dently will be the greatest of the
councils held by the Church so
far.”
The Pontiff also expressed
the expectation that the council
will prove to be the “most
moving and most solemn spec
tacle offered to the world of
angels and of man.”
The largest previous meeting
of this kind was the First Vati
can Council, which convened
here on December 8, 1869, and
recessed prematurely on July
18, 1870, when Garibaldi and his
insurgents approached the City
of Rome. Pope Pius IX subse
quently became a voluntary
"prisoner in the Vatican” and
the council was never reconven
ed.
The First Vatican Council had
737 persons attending its open
ing sessions. The council met
in the right transept of St. Pe
ter’s which had been closed off
and furnished to accommodate
such a meeting.
The Second Vatican Council
is meeting in the much larger
nave of St. Peter’s. The Fa
thers of the council are seated
in chairs set in two tiers, each
10 rows high, which rise on
either side of the nave. In their
robes, the bishops form a ver
itable canyon of color extending
more than 360 feet from the
inner doors of the basilica to
the tomb of St. Peter under the
great dome.
The Throne of Pope John, ele
vated so that he is visible to
every council Father, is situa
ted in the nave at St. Peter’s
tomb. Places for 88 cardinals
and nine patriarchs are in a spe
cial section at the Pope’s right.
The ecumenical council now
in progress has special and
interesting facets seemingly
without number. To mention
only some:
Never before, not even in the
time of its empire, has Rome
been the focal point of interest
for so many people in such scat
tered and farflung places round
the world.
No council before ever had
available to it electric lights,
telephones, typewriters and so
many other devices that people
of today take for granted. What’s
more, loudspeakers make the
voice of a speaker heard every
where in the council hall, and
electronic machines Tabulate
the ballots.
This council is receiving far
greater coverage from news
media of every description than
any previous council received.
It is the first, of course, whose
news is being reported by radio
and television.
It is only the second general
council in which bishops from
the United States have taken
that these bishops constitute the
second largest group from any
one nation. Only the bishops
here from various parts of
Italy are more numerous.
A bench of five cardinals pre
sided over the general congre
gations, or working sessions, of
the First Vatican Council. At
this council 10 cardinals from
nine nations, including Fran
cis Cardinal Spellman, Arch
bishop of New York, are taking
turns presiding over the meet
ings at which the Pope is not
present.
This, it has been said, is the
first council in history to meet
free of interference by any
secular government. It is the
first since the eighth-century
beginning of the Papal States to
meet under circumstances of
complete separation oTChurch
and State in Italy.
It is attended by representa
tives from more places in the
world than were present at any
council in the past.
It is the first since the Pro
testant Reformation to be at
tended by non-Catholic ob
servers officially delegated by
their church authorities.
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