VISITE DI CALORE. — This is the name given to the visits which the newly elected cardinal begins to receive immediately after receiving from the cardinal secretary of state the note informing him of his appointment, from persons wishing to express their congratulations.
These visits continue on the evening of the appointment and on the following two days, when the antechamber of the new cardinal is opened: in the morning, two hours before noon, and in the afternoon until ten o’clock. Besides, naturally, the relatives of the newly elected cardinal and those who have friendly relations and customary association with him, members of the Pontifical Chapel and Household, the Roman Curia, the officers of the Pontifical armed corps, and ambassadors accredited to the Holy See come to offer him their congratulations. In former times, the senator of Rome also attended, and the principal personages fixed the time of their visit.
When receiving visitors, the new cardinal always remains standing on the threshold of the room in which the throne canopy will subsequently be erected; and if he invites the most distinguished personages to sit down, he himself sits in the place where the canopy will be set up. As visitors arrive, the chamberlain of the new cardinal informs the master of the chamber, who signals to the cardinal to dismiss the person he is receiving in audience. The cardinal’s noble household is charged with receiving and accompanying the visitors. The dress customarily worn for receiving such visits—before the imposition of the biretta—has varied at different times. At present, the new cardinal wears a cardinal’s cassock and mozzetta, holding the red biretta in his hand.
There have been cases in which exemption from these visits was granted (Pius IX, for example, granted it at the cardinalitial promotion of 7 March 1853, since it fell during Lent), and cases in which someone else was substituted to receive such visits on account of illness or other reasons (an example occurred at the promotion of 15 March 1858: the ailing Cardinal Milesi-Peroni-Ferretti had Monsignor Camillo Narducci-Boccaccio substitute for him).