E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Pope’s Sermon (A).
Only once has a pope been known to preach a sermon in three hundred years. In 1847 a great crowd had assembled to hear the famous Padre Ventura preach in Santa Andrea della Valle, of Rome, but the preacher failed to appear; whereupon Pius IX. ascended the pulpit, and gave a sermon. (De Liancourt: History of Pius IX.)
1
The Pope’s slave. So Cardinal Cajetan calls the Church. (Sixteenth century.)
