Cardinal Wiseman was enthroned, at the Roman Catholic " Cathedral
" of St. George's, Southwark, yesterday, the festival-day of St. Nicolas. Externally, everything in the neighbourhood was quiet, and even sombre ; a thick fog enveloping all.
The Cardinal came to the church privately, at an early hour. "At a quarter to twelve o'clock the door of the sacristy opened, and the procession began to more into the cathedraL First came a number of acolytes, or at- tendants on the services, wearing surplices and black coloured head-pieces, termed a Loretta, or trinity cap,' who, after making a genuflexion towards the altar at the gate of the chancel, proceeded two by two down the centre aisle. They were followed by a deacon bearing a large gilded cross, on either side of which an attendant held a lighted candle. The priests of the different parishes in the new archdiocese of Westminster, to the number of about one hundred and fifty, advanced next in order. They were succeeded by the priests of St. George's Church, all of them being arrayed in full vestments. Cardinal Wiseman then issued from the sacristy. He had on his head a crimson-coloured pointed cap, which he shortly after- wards laid aside and did not resume. His person was robed in the cappa parve, a garment of great splendour and richness : above his head was held a linen canopy with coloured fringes, from the sides of which were sus- pended little silver bells, which produced a tinkling music as the bearers moved along. Instead of following the procession down the centre aisle, the Cardinal, who constantly maintained the attitude of benediction, advanced along the South aisle towards the West door, where the ceremony of his formal reception was to take place. At the Western porch he was met by the clergymen who had formed the procession down the centre aisle, with Dr. Doyle at their head, bearing. the large cross. In reverence for the symbol which he carried, the priest did not make any obeisance to the Archbishop; but the latter genuflected to the sign of the redemption in the hands of Dr. Doyle. The cross was next delivered to a Deacon, and the Archbishop then received the salutations of Dr. Doyle and the remainder of the clergy. The Archbishop had afterwards some holy water presented to him, and was incensed from a thurible carried by an attendant pnest. He was then clothed with the cope and the mitre ; and having assumed the crozier, the procession was reformed, and advanced in the same order as before up the centre aisle of the church. The organ, which up to this hour had played a soft monotonous soothing air, suddenly pealed forth, in tones that rolled and echoed through every vaulted arch of the stupendous building, the triumphant notes of the antiphon, Ewe Sacerdos Magnus,' followed by the Hallelujah chorus from Beethoven's Mount of Olives. The priests ranged off on either side of the aisle ; and Archbishop Wiseman, preceded by Mr. Bowyer, who now bore the archiepiscopal cross, advanced to the chapel of the holy sacrament, which stands on the left-hand side of the chancel, opposite to that of the Virgin. Here the Archbishop remained for some momenta offering up devotions; at the conclusion of which the procession again fell into order, and entered through the screen into the chancel."
Mass was celebrated ; and Dr. Wiseman delivered an address on the mitt monies of enthronization, which he said had come down from' the earliest times, as was proved by the representations in the Catacombs at Rome. R was the inauguration of the Roman Catholic Church in England. The con- gregation listened with breathless attention, and was dismissed with ex- hortations to charity, meekness, and love. After the ceremony, Dr. Wiseman dined with his principal clergy, in the refectory of the church ; and in the evening he gave an entertainment to a large and distinguished company, at his residence in Golden Square.
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