GOLDEN
029
GOLDEN
Golden Legend. See Jacopo de Voragine.
Golden Number. See Epact.
Golden Rose, a ])iecious and sacred oniaiiient made of pure gold by .skilled art iticers, which the poix;.s have been accustomed for centuries to bless each year, and occasionally confer upon illustrious churches and sanctuaries as a token of special reverence and devo- tion, upon Catholic kings or Cjueens, princes or prin- cesses, renowned generals or other distinguished per- sonages, upon governments or cities conspicuous for their Catholic spirit and loyalty to the Holy See, as a mark of esteem and paternal afVection. The significa- tions of the rose and La;tare Sunday (fourth of Lent), the tlay on which it is blessed, so blend that the Sun- day is oftentimes called Rose Sunday, and rose-col- oured vestments, altar and throne and chapel dra- peries (signs of hope and joy) are substituted for the penitential purple during the solemn function. The Church on this Sunday bids her children who have been so far engaged in prayer, fasting and other peni- tential works, as also in serious meditation upon the malice of sin and the terrible punishment exacted on account of it, to look up and beyond Calvary and .see in the first rays of the Easter sun, the risen Christ, Who brings them redemption, and "Rejoice". The golden flower and its shining splendour show forth Christ and His Kingly Majesty, \Mio is heralded by the prophet as "the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys"; its fragrance shows the sweet odour of Christ which should be widely diffused by His faithful followers (Pope Leo XIII, Acta, vol. VI, 104); and the thorns and red tint tell of His Passion accord- ing to Isaias (Ixiii, 2): "Why then is thy apparel red, and thy garments like theirs that tread in the wine- press?"
Among the many mystical significations, as set forth in the papal diplomas accompanying the gift, as also in sermons of the popes in conferring it, the fol- lowing of Innocent III is worthy of note: As Lajtare Sunday, the day set apart for the function, represents love after hate, joy after sorrow-, and fullness after hunger, so does the rose designate by its colour, odour, and taste, love, joy, and satiety respectively. Ad- verting to the spiritual resemblance, he continues that the rose is the flower spoken of by Isaias (xi, 1), "there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a tiower shall rise up out of his root ' '. Prior to the pontificate of Sixtus IV (1471-84) it consisted of a simple and single rose made of pure gold and slightly tinted with red. For greater embellishment, yet still retaining the mystical meaning, a ruby placed in the heart of the rose, and afterwards many precious gems set in the petals, were used instead of the red colouring of the gold. Pope Sixtus IV substituted in place of the single rose a thorny branch with leaves and many roses (a half-score and sometimes more), the largest of which sprang from the top of the branch and the smaller ones clustered naturally around it. In the centre of the principal rose was a tiny cup with a per- forated cover, into which the pope, when he blessed the rose, poured the musk and balsam. The whole ornament was of pure gold. The Sixtine design has been maintained; but it has varied as to decoration, size, w'eight, and value. Originally it was little over six inches in height, and was easily carried in the left hand of the pope, whilst with his right he blessed the multitude through which he passed in procession from the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (in Rome) to the Lateran Palace. After%vards, and especially when a vase and large pedestal became part of the or- nament, it required a robust cleric to carry it, who pre- ceded the papal cross in the procession. The rose sent to .Amelia of Brunswick, wife of Joseph I, after- wards emperor, by Innocent XI, weighed twenty pounds of gold. In height it was almost eighteen inches, and in form a bouiiuet ; from the stem sprang
three dilTerent branches which after many natural
windings came togetlier at the top, and supported the
largest and jirinciiKil rose in the midst of a beautiful
cluster of leaves. The va.se whence rises the shajx'ly
and elegant flower, as also the pedestal supporting the
va.se, varied as to material, weight, and form. In the
beginning they were made of gold; but afterward of
silver heavily gilt with gold. The pedestal was either
triangular, quadrangular, or octangular, and was
richly ornamented with various decorations and basso-
rilievos. In addition to the customary inscription,
the coat of arms of the po[)e who had the ornament
made, and that of him who blessed and conferred it,
were engraved on the pedestal. Their value varied
according to the mimificence of the pontifTs or the eco-
nomical circumstances of the times. Father Baldas-
sari, S.J. (De Rosa Mediana, p. 190) says that the rose
conferred about the year 1G50 cost five hundred dol-
lars. The two roses sent by Alexander VII were val-
ued at eight and twelve hundred dollars respectively.
Clement IX sent the Queen of France one costing
twelve hundred dollars, the gold alone used weighing
eight pounds. The workmanship on this rose was e.x-
ceedingh' fine, for which the artificer received three
hundred dollars. Innocent IX caused eight and one-
half pounds of gold to be formed into a rose, which
was further embellished with man)- sapphires, costing
in all fourteen hundred dollars. In the nineteenth
century not a few of the roses cost two thousand dol-
lars and more. The skill and workmanship of the
papal artificers are something truly w-onderful.
The custom of gi\'ing the rose supplanted the an- cient practice of sending to Catholic rulers the Golden Keys from St. Peter's Confessional, a custom intro- duced either by St. Gregory II (716) or St. Gregory III (740). A certain analogy exists between the rose and the keys, inasmuch as both are of pure gold blessed and"bestow-ed by the Vicar of Christ upon il- lustrious children of the Church, and further, both partake somew-hat of the nature of a reliquary — the rose containing musk and balsam, the keys filings from the Chair of St. Peter.
The exact date of the institution of the rose is un- know-n. According to some it is anterior to Charle- magne (742-S14) , according to others it had its origin at the end of the twelfth century. It is certain, how-ever, that it antedates the year 1050, since Pope Leo IX UOol) speaks of the rose as of an ancient in- stitution at his time. The blessing of the rose w-as not coeval w^ith its institution. It wasintroduced to render the ceremony more solemn and induce greater reverence for it on the part of the recipient. Accord- ing to Cardinal Petra (Comment, in Constit. Apostol- icas. III, 2, col. 1), Pope Innocent IV (1245-54) was the first to bless it. Innocent III (1198-1216) and Alexander III (1159-81) and Leo IX (1049-55) have each strenuous defenders of their respective claims to the authorship of the ceremony. Of the last it is said that he (a. d. 1051) imposed upon the monastery (nvms) of Bamberg in Franconia, then subject to the pope, the obligation of furnishing each year the Golden Rose to be blessed and carried by the pope on Lietare Sunday (Theop. Raynaud, De rosa mediana a pontifice consecrata, IV, 413). Pope Benedict XIV attests that the ceremony of blessing had its origin in the beginning of the fifteenth or at the end of the fourteenth century. Catalanus. papal master of cer- emonies, is of opinion that the use of musk and balsam was coeval with the institution, but the bless- ing with prayers, incense, and holy water had its inception later on, yet earlier than the pontificate of Julius II (150.3-13). The pope blesses the rose every year, but it is not always a new and different rose; the old one is used until it has been given away.
Originally the rose was blessed in the Hall of Vest- ments (sacristy) in the palace where the pope was; but the solemn Mass and the donation of the rose took
