The shadow of Peter, the handkerchiefs which
had touched the body of Paul, could cure diseases, as the Scripture
witnesseth; but here are the relics of a greater than Paul, of a
greater than Peter: O then let us kneel, and love, and venerate them;
for they were closely united to Him who is the author and object
of our faith, the only foundation of our hope, the centre and the
consummation of our love.
[Sidenote: Recapitulation.]
It does not fall within my plan to speak of the devotion of the three
hours of agony, practised on this day in many churches, as at the
Gesu, S. Lorenzo in Damaso etc. or of that which is practised after
the _Ave Maria_ at S. Marcello, Caravita etc. or of the elegies
recited by the Arcadian pastors over their Redeemer. Let us rather
briefly recapitulate with Morcelli the principal ceremonies of
the day: Station at S. Croce; service in the Sixtine chapel,
the veneration of the Cross; the B. Sacrament carried thither in
procession from the Pauline chapel, Mass of the Presanctified and
Vespers. In the afternoon Tenebrae, and veneration of the relics at S.
Peter's.
[Footnote 82: See a MS. Apamean Pontifical ap. Marthene T. 3, p.
132, Benedict Canon of S. Peter's in his _Ordo Romanus_, Marangoni,
_Istoria dell antichissimo Oratorio o Cappella di S. Lorenzo nel
Patriarchio Lateranense_. Roma 1747. S. Louis of France used to walk
barefooted on this day to the churches, praying and giving abundant
alms, as did also William, king of the Romans.
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