THE FUNERAL

Hokitika Guardian, 15 February 1939, Page 6

THE FUNERAL

OF POPE PIUS XI.

(United Press Association--By Electric Telegraph—Copyright;.

(Received this day at 12 noon)

ROME, February '4

With sombre ritual, the body ti Pope Pius XI. was entombed in a crypt between the coffin ol Piux X and the coffins of three Stuart ’Princes, one of whom was Bonnie, Prince Charlie-. :

One great bell at St. Peters was tolled, while., Canons; bearing flaming torches, the choir intoning * ‘Miserere”, and yipigt-robed cardinals and bishops walked m procession along the. Papal guarded nave with , the body of the Pope borne, on a litter to an altar beneath, the seat of St. Peter. . - . . ; Here, •‘in the chapel, lighted by 100 candles, were two ■immense braziers. Absolution was pronounced.

Cardinals and Bishops and. the Pope’s relatives kissed the Pope’s feet. ~,, , . The body was laid by noble, guards in a coffin'of cypress, wood. The Major Homo -covered the body with a red silk veil. - ■ ,: ■ . A Prelate read a Latin summary of the Pope’s life from a parchment and placed it in the coffin, which was closed and sealed, and placed in a second lead ,coffin; This'was sealed and placed in, a qpffin of polished elm and borne to its position in the vaults, where the choir >Mng-d‘4\liserere;iN ’ ■Then v ftl.b departed while the hymn—reioicinrr *' praise..* “In iParadism,” was ■ V sm|:°6nfy left to pray. Thereafter silence fell on the vast Basilica which will be unbroken until the entry of the new Pope.