Thanks to the respect that their monastic garb inspired, Josephin and his nephew were allowed to clear the barrier which separated them from the first ranks of the procession, and finally to fall in line with the same.
Romish idolatry and royal pride exhibited themselves in the midst of the pomp and circumstance of the occasion. King, Queen, Princes, Princesses, Cardinals, Archbishops, Marshals, courtiers, ladies in waiting, high dignitaries of the courts of justice, magistrates, consuls, bourgeois, guilds of artisans—all were about to batten upon the torture and death of the heretics, whose only crime consisted in the practice of the Evangelical doctrine in its pristine purity.
Read, O, sons of Joel, the narrative of this execrable ceremony, transmitted by a spectator, an ardent Catholic and fervent royalist, Dom Felibien. Preserve the pages in our family annals, they are the irrefutable witnesses of the religious fanaticism of those days of ignorance, under clerical domination and monarchic despotism. Dom Felibien says:
"At the head of the procession marched the Swiss of the King's guard. They preceded the Queen, who was richly attired in a robe of black velvet lined with lynx skin. She rode a white palfrey with housings of frizzled gold cloth, and was accompanied by mesdames the King's daughters, likewise richly accoutred in robes of crimson satin embroidered with gold thread, and riding beautiful and splendidly caparisoned palfreys. Many other dames and princesses, besides a troop of knights, seneschals and palace dignitaries on horseback, pages, lackeys and Swiss Guards on foot marched beside the Queen.
"After her came the Cordelier monks in large numbers, carrying many relics, each holding a little lighted taper with profound devotion.
"After these came the preaching Jacobin friars, also carrying many relics. Each bore a chaplet of Notre Dame, and all were devoutly engaged in prayer to God.
"After these, the Augustinian monks, marching in similar order, and also carrying many relics.
"After these, the Carmelites, in the same order, and, in their wake all the parish priests of the city of Paris, each with his cross, robed in their capes, and carrying relics surrounded with numerous tapers.
"After these, the collegiates of the churches, carrying many relics and holy bodies, the latter surrounded by many tapers.
"After these, the Mathurins, dressed all in white. They marched devoutly wrapped in prayer and holding tapers.