mistress of the vatican.pdf - End Time Deception

Mistress of the Vatican
but the church canons, expecting such a move, were waiting behind the
door and tried to yank the box out of his hands. The medals, they declared,
belonged to them, and not to Cardinal Maidalchini, who was
not the archpriest or even a proper substitute. Cardinal Maidalchini,
terrified of Aunt Olimpia’s fury, got into a brawl with the canons over
possession of the box.
The spectators were furious at Cardinal Maidalchini for several reasons.
First of all, he was ugly. Second, he had botched the sacred ceremony.
Third, he was trying to steal the holy medals. The crowd rushed
him, almost crushing him against the wall of the church. The little cardinal
somehow wriggled out of their clutches and in the confusion
raced out of the church clutching the box of medals. He jumped into his
coach and galloped to the Piazza Navona palace with his mission accomplished.
And so, on the evening of December 24, 1649, Olimpia was the
proud possessor of three of the four boxes of holy medals. It wasn’t a bad
take, but still, it could have been better.
On January 8, 1650, Innocent, irritated at tourists smoking pipes in
the sacred space of Saint Peter’s, became perhaps the first person ever to
set up a no-smoking sign. All smokers would be excommunicated immediately
and, without the sacraments of the church, would go to hell.
Smoking stopped.
On January 9, Olimpia made a pompous cavalcade to the four jubilee
churches. She had in her carriage her daughter Maria, Princess Giustiniani,
and a retinue of many noble ladies followed in their own carriages.
They rode first to Saint John Lateran, where on their knees, they
climbed the holy stair, which was believed to have come from the Jerusalem
palace of Pontius Pilate, and down which Jesus was said to have
walked carrying the cross. Spots of miraculously indelible blood could
still be seen on certain stairs. Saying a Hail Mary or an Our Father on
each step, they made the painful ascent. It must have been agonizing for
Olimpia, whose knees swelled and ached with arthritis.
Olimpia and other wealthy Catholics made the rounds of the four
churches in comfortable carriages. For most people, however, the exhausting
journey in all kinds of weather was done on foot. The entire
[ 263 ]