Blessing the Golden Rose.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1815, 25 July 1891, Page 1 (Supplement)

Blessing the Golden Rose.

Description of a Coming Event of Interest

to Catholics.

The following interesting information is culled from an English exchange :—

The Rome correspondent of the Catholic Nnvs sends word that Archbishop G:iliraberti, Papal Nuncio at Vienna, has notified the Austrian Court that the Popo. will this year send the golden rose to the Empress of Austria. A few weeks ago it was stated in Paris that the Pope had sent the famous token toMme. Carno^, the wife of the president of the French Republic, The golden rose, which is solemnly blessed by the Pope, wus in former times given as a si gn of special devotion to cathedral churches and as a mark of high esteem and patornal aiieetion to Catholic kiflga and queens and great personages who deserved a special mark of respect from the Holy See. Its origin 13 uncertain, but it is supposed to date back to Gregory 1., the end of the sixth cenfcury. The benediction of the roses takes place on the fourth Sunday of Lent, or Mid-Lent, and is a special rite in which the incense, the balm and the perf ume3 which are placed in the flower are blessed. At the presentation of the rose to the person to whom it is sent a special ceremony is gone through at the end of mass. * After the maea the ablegate appointed by the Pops for the occasion reads the brief of the Holy Fatherland then hands the brief to the person to whom it is addressed. The recipient then places his hands on the vase containing the rose while the delegate recites the following formula : " Take from our hands the rose which we give you by special commission confided to us by the Most Holy Father Leo XLll. May this flower signify to you the joy of the Church Militant and Triumphant, for the rose, the mout beautiful of flowers, symbolises the crown of eternal glory." Then, if the recipient be a king or qiieen, the ablegate adds : "May your majesty kindly accept this present, and with it the Divine giace which the IToly Fathsr implores for you, full and entire, from God, who reigns forever and eYer,amen."

The recipient tten kissed the rose, and the ablegate announces that the Pope grants a plenary indulgence to all the members of the royal and imperial family.