HEAT VISITS. — This is the name given to the visits that the newly elected cardinal, immediately after receiving from the Cardinal Secretary of State the notice of his appointment, begins to receive from those who wish to express their congratulations.
These visits continue into the evening and the two following days after the appointment, with the antechamber of the new cardinal opening: in the morning two hours before noon and in the afternoon until 10 p.m. Besides, needless to say, the relatives of the newly elected cardinal and those who have with him ties of friendship and daily association, the members of the Papal Chapel and the Pontifical Household, the Roman Curia, the officers of the Papal armed forces, and the ambassadors accredited to the Holy See come to congratulate him. In past times, the Senator of Rome also went there, and the principal personages would set the time of their visit.
The new cardinal, in receiving the visits, always stands on the threshold of the hall where the canopy of the throne is to be erected, and if he is to sit for the most illustrious personages, he sits in the place where the canopy will be placed. As the visitors arrive, the dean of the hall of the new prince of the Church informs the Master of the Chamber, who signals to the cardinal to dismiss the person he is currently receiving. The noble court of the cardinal is charged with receiving and accompanying the visitors. The dress worn for receiving such visits — before the placing of the biretta — has varied at different times. At present, the new cardinal wears the cassock and mozzetta with the red biretta in hand.
There have been cases of dispensation from such visits (for example, Pius IX granted one at the consistory of 7 March 1853, since it fell during Lent) and cases of substitution in receiving such visits on account of illness or other reasons (an example occurred at the consistory of 15 March 1858, when Cardinal Milesi-Peroni-Ferretti, who was ill, was represented by Monsignor Camillo Narducci-Boccaccio).