CONCLAVE, both the apartment in which is conducted the election of a Pope and the college of cardinals assembled there. The pro cedure in electing popes is substantially the same to-day as it was in 1274 when it was pre scribed by the Council of Lyons. When a Pope dies, a secretary of the college of cardi nals summons all the cardinals to an election to be held on the 10th day after the demise. In whatever city the Pope dies, there the con clave must be held. The conclave apartment must be immediately prepared in such a place and manner as will ensure safety of person and non-interference from outsiders. If the con clave is held in Rome, the great halls of one of the papal palaces are divided by wooden partitions into small rooms or cells, two or at most three cells for each cardinal and his per sonal attendants. The apartments all open on one corridor, and to that there is but one means of access from without, and that is strictly guarded. After the 10 days have elapsed, t'.e cardinals all assemble in the Vati can church and assist at the Mass of the Holy Ghost, after which they form a procession and proceed to the conclave, each one taking the apartments assigned to him. The first day the conclave is open to the public, and numer ous persons, high and low, avail themselves of the permission to enter. In the evening all outsiders leave, and the cardinals must remain until a Pope is chosen. A two-thirds majority vote is requisite. Since 1848 food is prepared in the conclave: if no election is had after five days the food supply is restricted to bread, wine and water, or rather used to be, for the rigor of the law is now much relaxed. A car dinal coming from a distance is admitted after closure. The election is made by scrutiny, that is, by ballot, or by compromise, that is, by a committee chosen by a majority of the con clave, or by acclamation. Formerly each car
dinal in the name of his country had the right of excluding a candidate not acceptable to his government. This privilege he could exercise but once during the conclave. The last time this right of veto was allowed was at the con clave of 1903 when Cardinal Rampolla was excluded as obnoxious to Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria. On 20 Jan. 1904, Pius X prohibited any cardinal, under pain of excom munication, to exercise the right of veto. The cardinals take an oath to this effect. Cardinals only may vote, but non-cardinals are eligible to the Papacy. All are sworn to secrecy. No voting by proxy is allowed. A two-thirds vote is necessary to elect. Sometimes a conclave has sat many weeks, or even months, before reaching an election: the conclave which elected Pius VII (1799) sat during six months. The conclave in which Leo XIII was elected Pope consisted of 62 cardinals, and it began its session the evening of 18 Feb. 1878. The scrutiny of the morning of the 20th showed that Cardinal Pecci was chosen. The election was then ended and he was made Pope by ac clamation. The conclave at which Pius X (q.v.) was elected began its session 31 July 1903, and the first ballot was cast the morning of 1 August. The scrutiny of the morning of 4 August, the seventh ballot, showed that Cardinal Sarto, patriarch of Venice, was elected. He chose the name of Pius X. This conclave was remarkable as being the first of which a cardinal from the United States was a member.