Marcello at Rome, and
his frescoes in the Doria place at Genoa, are well-known; at the
Vatican he assisted Giovanni d'Udine in his arabesques, Polidoro in
his antique chiaroscuri, and executed some of the most beautiful
historical paintings of the loggie di Raffaello. Hence may we judge of
the versatility of his talents.]
[Footnote 113: Why does a deacon perform this ceremony? since other
benedictions are reserved to bishops and priests. Rupert assigns as a
reason, that Christ's body was wrapped in spices by his disciples, and
not by the apostles whose successors are bishops and priests: besides,
the hymn sung by the deacon is the praeconium Paschale, or announcement
of the Resurrection, which was first made by inferiors to their
superiors, by the women to the apostles. We may add that both the fire
and the 5 grains of incense are previously blessed by the priest, and
in the praeconium itself there is not any form of blessing, strictly
speaking. In the church of Ravenna however the bishop used to
bless this candle (S. Gregory ep. 28, lib. 9). In the Roman church,
according to cardinal Gaetani, the last of the Cardinal priests
usually blessed the fire, and the last Card. deacon lighted the _lumen
Christi_, or triple candle, and the Paschal candle. The deacon used
to bless the latter either at the steps of the presbytery, or from the
ambo; and hence we find a marble column, intended to support it, fixed
to the ambo in S.
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