Hot Search
No search results found
- Write an articleShare your insight
- Start discussionAsk a question or spark a debate
- Create a listRecommend your favorite films
- Post a videoUpload a reaction or review video
As the newly chosen pope proceeded from the sacristy of St. Peter's Basilica in his sedia gestatoria, the procession stopped three times. On each occasion a papal master of ceremonies would fall to his knees before the pope, holding a silver or brass reed, bearing a tow of smoldering flax. For three times in succession, as the cloth burned away, he would say in a loud and mournful voice, 'Pater Sancte, sic transit gloria mundi!'