Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli

Book Excerpt: urly little man, a sound judge of women and bulls, might be consulted gratis, preferably before the supreme heat of day. Seated beneath a sombre study of the Magdalen waylaying our Lord (a work of wistful interest ascribed to Vald s Leal), he was, with tactful courtesy, at the disposal of anyone soliciting information as to "vacant dates," or "hours available," for some impromptu function. Indulgences, novenas, terms for special masses--with flowers and music? Or, just plain; the expense, it varied Bookings for baptisms, it was certainly advisable to book well ahead; some mothers booked before the birth--; ah-hah, the little Juans and Juanas; the angelic babies And arrangements for a corpse's lying-in-state: "Leave it to me." These, and such things, were in his province.But the secretarial bureau was but merely a speck in the vast shuttered room. As a rule, it was by the old pagan sarcophaguses, outside the vestry-door, "waiting for Father," that aficianados of the cult liked best toRead More