Pagina 940 di 1118

Three days were employed in preparation; on the 11th of June the

procession left the cathedral at daybreak: a long file of people,

composed for the most part of women, their faces covered with

silk masks, and many of them with bare feet, and clothed in

sackcloth, appeared first. The tradesmen came next, preceded by

their banners; the societies, in habits of various forms and

colours; then the brotherhoods, then the secular clergy, each

with the insignia of his rank, and holding a lighted taper in his

hand. In the midst, among the brilliant light of the torches, and

the resounding echo of the canticles, the case advanced, covered

with a rich canopy, and carried alternately by four canons,

sumptuously attired. Through the crystal were seen the mortal

remains of the saint, clothed in his pontifical robes, and his

head covered with a mitre.