Rufino Cardinal Santos

A kind reader sent in this photo of Rufino Santos' elevation to the cardinalate, which made him the first Filippino cardinal.

Once upon a time: Priestly Ordinations

All photos from Italy

Postcard-Week: Feast of Joan of Arc in Orleans

The "Fêtes de Jeanne d'Arc" are celebrated every year on May 7th/8th since 1457. This is the big one in Orleans, often called the "fête nationale d’Orléans", and millions of postcards are in circulation showing different aspects of the celebrations. Of course, I'll kind of concentrate on the photos containing proper "far sight" stuff...

You'll meet all kinds of prelates. Amongst others Cardinals Granito de Belmonte and CErretti, acting as papal nuncios. Then you'll meet the cardinals from the last two posts again, Touchet and Amette. And then there's countless other major or minor mitred men.

Unfortunately the postcards rarely ever give you the date (except for May 7th/8th - D'oh!). A year would have been nice, fellas!





Those first four photos apparently are from the 500-year-jubilee in 1912. The 500 years refer to the birth of Joan of Arc and are not to be confused with the next 500-year-jubilee...


...in 1929! This refers to the triumph of the French under Joan of Arc during the siege of Orleans in 1429.


Here's one more postcard with a year: 1921.



Cardinal Touchet (in the second photo with future Cardinal Baudrillart).



Cardinal Granito de Belmonte



Cardinal Lucon



Nuncio Cerretti

Quito 1841

By now most readers will be familiar with the splendiferous "Arrastre de las Caudas" from Quito, Ecuador.

Now I found another interesting report dealing with the customs during Holy Week in Quito. The French naturalist Alcide D'Orbigny recorded in his work A Picturesque Voyage Across the Two Americas the amazement felt by the eyewitness account of his countryman, Raigecourt, during his Holy Week visit in 1841, where he wrote about the Good-Friday-Procession: "A thousand saintly souls led the procession. A cortege of musicians masked and draped in purple robes. a multitude of negroes dressed uniformly in royal blue robes. two lines of nuns. a huge hubbub of individuals dressed in every sort of vestment, armed with sticks, sabres, swords, lances and lanterns to hand. These represented the Jews."

"These documents give an idea of the huge size of this procession, in which absolutely the whole of the city of Quito acted or watched. Nobody was left out!" explains Alfonso Ortiz Crespo, an historian of Quito and author of a work on Holy Week during the Spanish Colony. According to Crespo, soon after the establishment of the town in the 16th century, this Christian ceremony of remembrance and reflection became one of the most impressive and well attended throughout the Spanish Empire. Despite this fervour and popularity, the event fell foul of liberal ideology in the mid–19th century when President José María Urbina suppressed it entirely.

The celebration couldn’t be completed rubbed from popular memory, and by the 20th century Holy Week had recovered its place in Quito society. In 1964, the chronicler of the city, Luciano Andrade Marín, wrote "Nothing was more grandiose or more solemn in Quito in the time of my grandparents than the Good Friday procession." His description of the celebration evokes “an entire legion of faithful penitents carrying thick ropes around their necks and even signs asking for mercy, who made their way on their knees, fainting at every turn. These were pursued by horrible devils who tempted the penitents, harsh–looking Jews, saintly souls in white robes, capricious dancers and float–bearers begging for alms”. Andrade Marín assures us that the height of the tops of the cucuruchos’ hats (people wearing traditional conical, pointed–hat robes, like those worn in Spain and famously by the Klu–Klux Klan) touched the balconies of the city where citizens gathered in huge numbers to watch the impressive procession.

Here is a picture of the procession drawn according to the 1841-report (it's a rather large file, but you want to see the details):

Xempeachem Prusanv

Yeah, that's right! Pronounce THAT!


Well, it seems like the "arrastre de las caudas" got some competition...

Every year on Good Friday, the cathedral canons of Se Cathedral in Goa celebrate the "procession of tails" or Xempdeanchem Pursanv (I don't even know if this is the correct spelling. I also found Xempdeanchem Pursanv, Xeppdeanchem Pursanv, Xepdeanchem Pursao...). Anyways, here is a description from the "Times of India" of what you see in the photos:

Although it doesn't match the popularity of the Procession of Saints at Goa Velha, the unique Good Friday ceremony popularly known as Xempeachem Pursanv or Procession of Tails brings in the religious from the Tiswadi villages of central Goa.

Sources say this Good Friday practice may have started any time after February 4, 1557, when the Chapter of the Cathedral was established during the Portuguese era.

The procession starts after the archbishop's blessing to the rattling sound of wooden clappers, instead of the more cheerful bells.

From a corner near the main altar, the canons in black capes set forth. As the choir sings motets or penitential hymns, the faithful line up on either side as the procession winds it way past the four corners of the Cathedral.

Leading the way are the confrades with a cross, then come the altar boys, then the canons, and finally the Archbishop brings up the rear.

The solemn procession is a commemoration of the sufferings and death of Christ.

This is the Day of Canons, senior priests with a long and noteworthy record appointed by the Church. They have a prominent role in the ceremonies on Good Friday.

There are 10 canons but only four participated in the procession, as the others are too infirm, sources say. What is arresting is the black dress or capuso that trails on the floor like a bridal gown.

Only the canons' faces remain visible below the hood. The procession moves slowly as the people jostle to kiss the shroud on the cross or the feet of Christ in the coffin' carried by pall bearers.

The procession culminates near the tomb at one of the many altars of the Cathedral. The coffin is placed at the foot of a wooden cross. After a final prayer, the Archbishop kisses the feet of Christ and the others follow.

So much for the description. Here are the photos:

Black is beautiful

Here are some photographic impressions from this year's Arrastre de Caudas in Quito, collected from all over the web:















































If you want to see some moving pictures, here is a 5 minute feature from a TV station in Ecuador. The language is Spanish, of course, but the pictures are great. I especially like the scene in the sacristy, where you can see how the canons are vested for the event.