Golden Rose

Queen Elizabeth, slim, valiant helpmate of slim, valiant King Albert I of the Belgians, received last week a sprig of 19 roses, roses that smelled sweetly of balsam and musk, the gracious appreciation of a noble woman held in high esteem by His Holiness Pius XI, who was born Achille Ratti, a papal gift for her silver wedding anniversary. The roses were artificial and constituted the famed Golden Rose.

The Golden Rose has long been the symbol by which the Vatican linked itself to notable current events, or expressed appreciation of outstanding acts of piety. Formerly it was given yearly to the incumbent prefect of Rome for guiding the reins of the Pope's horse in procession. Gradually the presentation has become rare until now, when the Rose to Elizabeth is only the second given in the last three pontificates. Only once has the Rose come to an American rulerLeo X sent it to Duke Frederick of Saxony, supplicating him, in vain, not to sustain Devil-seeing Martin Luther in his rebellion against the Roman Church, the rebellion Luther had started when in 1517 he nailed his famed list of denunciations on Wittenberg's church door.

The Golden Rose has rarely consisted of a single rose. The one given to Queen Elizabeth has 19 buds and full-blown blossoms, and 290 leaves. Petals and leaves the Pope's cunning goldsmiths have beaten out of 22-carat gold, just as some 400 years ago self-righteous, scapegrace Goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini beat out ingenious knicknacks for Giulio de' Medici (Pope Clement VII). These smiths have tinted lightly the petals of this Rose with pink, the leaves with green, so that the spray glistens with a heart-stopping iridescence of varied movement and light. To aid verisimilitude the spray contains a secret phial which the Pope himself filled with balsam and essence of musk before handing it to Monsignor Ferdinand de Croji, whom he charged to deliver it to Queen Elizabeth as a testimonial of his esteem. The Rose, for the benefit of the calculating, weighs 1.100 kilograms (2b.). The base bears the inscription in Latin: "To Elizabeth, Queen of Belgium, given by Pius XI P. M. on the XXV anniversary of her august wedding."

Before despatching this splendid symbol to Brussels, his Holiness waited until mass was over, then blessed the Rose, sprinkled it with holy water, read the ancient prayers of the Rite of the Golden Rose, and imparted his Apostolic Blessing, while a master of ceremonies held the gift in his hands, kneeling at the Pope's feet.