persuaded, not to elect in the usual way,-that would have involved an abnegation of which those fierce partisans and good haters were incapable, but to consent to appoint six of their number to nominate a Pope, pledging themselves to agree to and confirm the nomination so made.

These six electors, thus empowered, named Theobald Visconti, at that time Archdeacon of Liege, who was not a cardinal, and who at that time was at Acre, having left England, where he had contributed to the successful establishment of Henry III.'s throne, for the purpose of accompanying the crusaders as Papal Legate; an election which has been commemorated in the following characteristic lines, by Giovanni of Toledo, the then Bishop of Porto:

"Papatus munus tulit Archidiaconus unus

Quem Patrem Patrum fecit discordia fratrum."

This was the first instance of that mode of election, which has since taken its place as one of the three recognized methods by which a Conclave may elect a Pontiff, and which is known as Election by Compromise. But of this it will be necessary to speak by-and-by in its proper place.

This Theobald Visconti, whom the Bishop of Porto somewhat superciliously thus speaks of as "one archdeacon," being recalled by the news of his totally unexpected elevation to the Papacy, reached Viterbo on the second of February, 1272, and was subsequently crowned in Rome as Gregory X. (ob. 1276).

Mindful of the evils which had in very terrible abun

dance visited the Church and the States of the Church by reason of the interregnum, and of the difficulties and scandals attending such a Conclave as the last, Gregory called a General Council of the Church (the fourteenth), at Lyons, in 1274, by which the following code of laws for the regulation of future Councils was established. Here at last, then, we do touch solid ground, and the fluid state of the institutions on which the elections of the Popes depend may be said to come to an end with the constitution of Gregory X.

The rules in question are somewhat lengthy, and all of them are not of equal importance. But inasmuch as they are the foundation and charter of that which has been, for the last six centuries, the practice of the Conclaves, it will hardly be thought unnecessary to give them—not quite in extenso, but with considerable fulness.

"I. When the Pope is dead, the cardinals shall wait for those who are absent ten days only; at the end of which, having for nine days celebrated the obsequies of the deceased Pontiff in the city in which he resided with his Court, they shall all shut themselves up in the palace which the Pope inhabited, contenting themselves each with one sole attendant, either clerk or lay, unless there shall be evident necessity for two, for whom permission may be in such case granted; the choice of such attendant being left to each cardinal for himself."

Pius IV. by Bull bearing date 9th October, 1562, declared that the day of the Pope's death should be counted as one of the ten days. And ecclesiastical writers maintain that it is within the competency of the College to defer the election beyond the time

specified, in case any danger threatening the interests of the Church should require it.

"II. In the palace in which the Pontiff dwelt, let a Conclave be formed in which let all the cardinals live in common, without any wall, or curtain, or veil to separate them from one another, one secret chamber being reserved. Let this Conclave be so closed on every side that nobody can enter or go out of it."

The rigour of this rule was in some degree moderated by Clement VI., by a Bull dated 6th December, 1351, permitting the beds of the cardinals in Conclave to have simple curtains.

"III. Let there be no access to the cardinals shut up in Conclave. Let no one have the possibility of speaking to them secretly; nor let it be possible for them to receive anybody, save such as may be summoned by the consent of all present solely on matters pertaining to the election. Let no one have the power of sending messages or writings to the cardinals, nor to any of the conclavists, under pain of excommunication."

The strictness of this well-intentioned rule also has been modified in practice, to the facilitating of intrigues, which it was the object of Gregory to render impossible. In modern times, whoso wishes to speak with a cardinal, or with any of those shut up in Conclave, is not prevented from doing so, except, as regards the cardinals themselves, during the actual time of the voting. Such speaking must take place, however, in public, that is

* These are the attendants provided for in the first rule. They are in practice always clerks, are always two if not more (the latter very rarely), and are very important personages in the conduct of all the affairs of the Conclave.

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to say, at the "rota" in the presence of the officials appointed for the service of the Conclave on the inside, and on the outside the prelates and others appointed for guarding the assembly. But it will be very readily understood that, if a private communication were desired, there would be little difficulty in shutting the ears of undesired hearers, especially when the person desiring so to shut them may, within a few hours, be the despotic sovereign of the hearers in question.

"IV. Nevertheless, let an opening of the Conclave be left, by which food may be conveniently passed in to the cardinals, but such that no one can pass in to them by that means. [The 'rota' spoken of.']

“V. If at the end of three days from the entry into Conclave the election of the new Pope has not been accomplished, the prelates and others deputed to guard the Conclave shall, during the next five days, prevent more than one single dish from being served at the table of the cardinals either at dinner or at supper. And when these five days shall have passed, they shall after that not permit the cardinals to have aught save bread and water until such time as the election shall be completed."

Clement VI. modified this rule also. Such severity, it is stated, was found to injure the health of those in Conclave; and Clement therefore contented himself with recommending a "moderate frugality" during

The "rota," of which much will be heard in connection with the interior arrangements and practices of the Conclave, are the apertures, with turning tables, after the fashion of the means provided for receiving infants at continental foundling hospitals, which are used for passing food into the Conclave, and other necessary communications.

the entire time of the Conclave. He laid down rules, however, for the more precise defining of this moderate frugality. Meat or fish, or eggs, together with salted things, vegetables, and fruit, might be used, whether at dinner or supper. But Clement expressly forbad the cardinals from accepting any of these things one from another. It would seem that the object of this last prohibition must have been to prevent their Eminences from clubbing their provisions together, and so securing a more varied repast. Pius IV., an ascetic and zealous man, recalled into vigour these rules, decreeing that the cardinals should be content, as they were bound to be, with one sole dish, whether at dinner or supper. Whereupon an erudite prelate* wrote a long and learned work on papal elections, in the course of which he treats at great length on the permissible component parts of this one dish.

"VI. The cardinals shall, during the time of the Conclave, take nothing from the apostolic treasury or from its revenues, which shall during the vacancy of the see remain in the custody of such faithful and upright person as shall have the custody of them. With the death of the Pope let all ecclesiastical offices and the tribunals of the Courts cease and determine, with the exception of the Chief Penitentiary and the Treasurer, who shall continue in office during the vacancy of the

see.

"VII. Let the cardinals treat of no other business in the Conclave save that of the election of a new Pope, unless the necessity of defending the territory of the Monsigr. Cumarda, De Elect. Pont.