The Pope has presented the Golden Rose, "the mystic rose
bedewed with balm and musk, typifying the sweet odours which should exhale from the good deeds of all of us," to Queen Isabella of Spain. It was presented to her on the 8th inst., as " evidence of the earnest love we bear thee, as much for thy signal services towards this Apostolic See, as for the high virtues by which thou shinest among women." It is perhaps natural that the only "devoted" Sovereign in Europe should be honoured by this, the highest mark of the Church's approval, and still more natural that the last Bourbon left upon a throne should be dear to the Papacy, which for centuries has counted that family amongst its most beloved allies ; but considering how thoroughly the Pope must know the Queen, the wording of the Brief must be accepted as almost an absolution. The gift will greatly strengthen the Queen's hold on a superstitious peasantry.
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