at the Vatican on holy Thursday and good Friday, that they might be
spared the trouble of returning to their respective palaces before
Tenebræ; and anciently the Pope used to dine with them at the Lateran
palace, in the hall called the Triclinium Leonianum[77]. The Pontiff
wore on such occasions his cope and mitre, and the Cardinals were
habited in sacred vestments with mitres. After dinner a sermon was
preached before the Cardinals. _Mons. Maggiordomo_ used to invite on
these days prelates, officers, and others engaged in the _cappella_ or
palace, to a dinner at which he presided.

[Sidenote: Tenebræ etc.]

[Sidenote: Recapitulation.]

In the afternoon, at the office of Tenebræ, among other signs of
mourning, the cross is veiled in black, and the candles are of yellow
wax: the Pope's throne is stripped of its usual ornaments, and is
without a canopy: the cardinals' and prelates' benches also are
without carpets. The Cardinal Penitentiary goes to S. Peter's, where
the minor Penitentiaries are Conventuals of S. Francis. We have spoken
on these subjects in the preceding chapters. We may here recapitulate
the principal ceremonies of the day, as Morcelli has done in his
Calendar. The oils are blessed in S. Peter's; the Pope assists at mass
in the Sixtine chapel, carries the B. Sacrament to the Pauline chapel,
gives His solemn benediction from S. Peter's, washes the feet of
thirteen priests and serves them at table. In the afternoon Tenebrae
in the Sixtine chapel; and the Cardinal great Penitentiary goes to S
Peter's.

[Sidenote: S. Peter's on holy thursday-evening.]