PAPAL CAVALCADE. — This was the generic name given to the procession that accompanied the Pope when he moved from his ordinary residence to go to the various places in the city or to undertake a journey. When this did not take place in an entirely private manner, it was carried out with greater or lesser solemnity according to the circumstances. Until the middle of the sixteenth century, and in part even thereafter, such movements were made on horseback; and the cardinals, household officials, and every other dignitary accompanying the Pope also proceeded on horseback. When the carriage came into common use and ceased to be a novelty, two cardinals usually accompanied the Pope in his carriage, followed by the service carriages and the household officials on horseback, according to a new ceremonial which, in keeping with the customs of the time, was sumptuous and solemn.
Particular solemnity marked the c. that took place when the Pope went to the basilicas and churches of the City on special days, for the annual chapels or for some extraordinary visit, and the procession was regulated according to the importance of the occasion; but none attained the magnificence of that which took place when the Pope moved from the Vatican to take possession, after his election, of the Lateran Basilica, which was his cathedral church.
When the Pope’s ordinary and habitual residence was in the Lateran palace, taking possession of the basilica was for the Pope merely an immediate consequence of his election or of his entering the palace. When, however, after returning from Avignon, the Pope took up habitual residence at the Vatican, on the very day on which he was crowned he departed from there with the precious tiara on his head, in a procession that became ever longer and more complicated: it included the civic bodies and representatives, the troops present in Rome together with the palace guards, the entire prelature, and the Sacred College with their retinues on horseback. Having crossed the Borgo, the procession passed over the Ponte Sant’Angelo, where the Pope received the homage of the Jews; it proceeded through Parione along the richly paved papal road, crossed the Forum, and by way of the road to S. Giovanni escorted the Pope to the Basilica, where the ceremonies of taking possession were performed. Triumphal arches bearing inscriptions were erected along the route, and money was thrown to the people as a sign of liberality. Detailed descriptions of such processions exist, as do copper engravings depicting them.
The magnificence of the cardinals’ processions was related to the wealth and power of each of them, particularly when they belonged to the Pope’s family, were of princely origin, or represented princes and sovereigns at the Curia. In addition to the c. that took place on the occasion of their election and of their going to the Conciatore pubblico to receive the hat, particular solemnity was attached to the c. accompanying the cardinal legate when, having received the cardinalitial cross at the Conciatore, he set out for his destination, accompanied to outside the gate by his colleagues and their families; or when, on his return to the Curia, he was escorted from outside the gate to the Conciatore, where he delivered the public report of his legation.
When a sovereign, an illustrious prince, or a solemn embassy approached the city, it was the duty of the cardinals to go out to meet them as far as the gates, with their families on horseback, in order to lend solemnity to the entrance. Individual cardinals did the same on their own initiative upon the arrival or departure of a particularly close colleague, of an ambassador—especially one from their own country—or of another illustrious personage; when they did not personally take part in the c., they sent their household officials with mules fitted out in ceremonial trappings as a sign of honour.
There were also other solemn c., such as that of the auditors of the Rota on the day when, accompanied by all the curials, they inaugurated the juridical year, or those in which the principal papal officials performed special solemn acts pertaining to their office. — Vedi Tav. LXVIII.