The council of Constance reduced them to twenty-four. But as the see of Rome could nevi r brook control'', Sixtus I V., totally disregarding the enactment of the council, restored the former norther of cardinals, and Leo raised them to sixty-live.
WI" the. pope purposes to "Tate ally he causes their names to be read in the after he has hil•rmed those who are present, fratres &Meets, that is, you for brothers, Etc. whu arc elected are not at a great. distance, they are immediately sent for, and they revel% e red caps from his holiness. The cap is sent to those who are absent by a person of dis tinction, Inn they must receive the hat Ilion his own hands ; and when they ale introduced for this purpose, they are reedited with great pomp and ceremony. Their dress, like that of all the different orders in the Romish communion, is prescribed, and defined with great ac curacy. it consists of a roc&t, over which is a short purple mantle ; and, upon extraordinary occasions, the mozette, and a papal cap over it. The colour of their garment is either red or violet, according to circum stances. The regular cardinals wear no silk, nor any other colour, excepting that of their order. The red hat and cap are common to them all.
Whatever 'nay have been the original occasion of the institution of this singular order, or by what means soccer they acquired that 'ascendency over all the ecclesiastics of the same communion, it must appear evident, that in arranging the various ecclesiastical and political measures which were deemed most expedient to be adopted, the pope himself was altogether inadequate. IIis claim to supremacy, as well as that of the city of Rome to be considered as the metropolitan city of the Christian world, naturally gave a precedence, or rather a most substantial influence to those of the hierarchy who were near to the pope's person, and whose interest so powerfully co-operated with tl.at of his holiness. In the course of time it became an object of the highest ambition to enterprising men to obtain a cardinal's hat. This was sometimes the reward of literary merit, or of having rendered essential services to the papal see ; but, in general, the chapter consisted of opulent ecclesiastics, who, in consequence of their own private fortune, and the affluence and high rank of their family, or the politi cal influence which they possessed at the different courts of Europe, rendered them persons upon whom it was expedient to confer honours. The cardinals can be
view ed in no other light than that of the pope's privy council. All measures of state, or whatever regarded the real or supposed interests of the Catholic church, were first the subjects of consideration in the conclave, and the sanction of their authority was necessary to the validity of any measure which related to the interests of the church. Besides the influence that they necessarily possessed as the advisers, and even the leaders, of papal politics in the city of Rome, they w ere frequently employ ed in negotiations in foreign countries ; and as a proof of the immense power that was vested in the Pope, they were designated legates a latcrc. They were thus inferior to the Pope, but in rank superior to any one else. Whatever may have been the manner in which the patriarch of Rome was at first elected, it is certain, that for many ages the cardinals have claimed this piivilege as their unalienable right. They have even gone farther, and succeeded in establishing it as a settled point in ecclesiastical policy, that the head of the Runtish church must be elected from their body. So eagerly did the Pope enter into this right, that Stephen ordered the body of his prVIIrt(ShOl' to be dog up, be( :“! .
had only attained to the rank of lii,hup ttbtu he Vut elt %anal to the papal chair. It was t, r jilt' VIII. v. no expressly commanded, that the Is Should ad dr•sscd by the title of ChlinenCC. (If t r? t is as promulgated in 1630 ; pre% ions to that pi t iod they is crt called most illustrk,us. They have lo la .11 e ,o•eined as possessing a rank next to the pop . e Du Can gr, Onnphriaa, D uarcnta, Noreri, Cutc9nus, L.htl .31%41ton- . (a)