[Sidenote: Mass of Pope Marcellus.]
The mass sung on this day is that of Pierluigi da Palestrina, called
the mass of Pope Marcellus; not because it was composed during his
pontificate; but because, according to Baini, Pierluigi had intended
to dedicate a work to that Pope, to whom he was grateful and attached,
but was disappointed by His Holiness' premature death; and therefore
he persuaded Card. Vitellozzi to give it that name in honour of
his former patron. This is the celebrated mass, which rescued
ecclesiastical music from the dangers which surrounded it in the
Pontificate of Pius IV (as we have related in The Papal Chapel, Rome,
1839), and not of Marcellus II, as Baini has proved. It is said, that
when it was first sung in the papal chapel, the Card. dean Francesco
Pisani was so enraptured with it, that he exclaimed with Dante,
Paradise, Canto X.
_Render e questo voce a voce in tempra_
_Ed in dolcezza, ch' esser non puo nota_
_Se non cola dove il gioir s'insempra._
to whom, with all the readiness of the bucolic shepherds, whom this
classic soil even now produces, Card. Sorbelloni, the Pope's cousin,
replied:
_Risponda dunque; O beata sorte!_
_Risponda alla divina cantilena_
_Da tutte parti la beata Corte,_
_Si ch' ogni vista ne sia pia serena._
Baini Mem. Stor. T. 1.
[Sidenote: Ceremonies at S. John Lateran's.]
The ceremonies of holy-week are performed at S.
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