Our first duty is to the cathedral, considered by many persons to be the finest building in the world. It was commenced by St. Ferdinand in 1227, on the site of a mosque, which, in turn, had been built upon a church founded in 587 by St. Eugenius, the friend and disciple of St. Denis, who introduced Christianity into Spain. It employed one hundred and forty-nine of the greatest artists of the world two hundred and sixty-six years to complete and render it the masterpiece it now is. The cathedral of Seville is grander, higher, more impressive from its austere simplicity; but this, from its greater lightness, the mingling of the early Gothic with the later and more florid style, from the Moorish carvings on the white stone of which it is built, is more graceful and beautiful; and from the thousand memories of great men and great deeds with which it is associated, its royal tombs and statues, its Muzurabic chapel, its great relics, its grand treasures, is infinitely more interesting.
We arrived in time to hear the high mass—the glorious organs, and fine voices, while the morning sunlight streamed through seven hundred and fifty stained windows and among eighty-eight colossal pillars. Picturesque groups knelt before the different shrines. We chose the chapel of St. Ildefonso, raised upon the spot where, according to the legend, he received the chasuble from the hands of the Blessed Virgin, which Murillo has made the subject of one of his finest pictures.
Near this chapel is the altar at which Ferdinand and Isabella heard mass after the conquest of Granada. The grand retablo of the main altar extends from the altar to the ceiling, and is considered a marvel of exquisite carving, representing the scenes in the passion of our Lord—the work of twenty-five artists, of whom John of Bologna was one.
On either side of this, (in niches,) are the tombs of Sancho the Brave, Alfonso VII., and Sancho the Wise, and, below these, that of the great Cardinal Mendoza. On each side of the altar are screens, of which the carvings in marble are exquisite, as are the seventy stalls of the choir, which are divided by jasper pillars. The two pulpits are of gilt metal resting on marble columns, and are of the finest workmanship. The chapels are exceedingly rich, especially that of Santiago, built by that worthless favorite of John II. of Castile, Don Alvaro de Luna, as the burial-place of his family. Upon his tomb was originally a statue which was contrived so as to rise and kneel at the time of the "elevation" during mass; but Queen Isabella, the wife of John II., (who was the means of bringing him to justice,) had it changed. He lies quietly enough now, with his sword between his legs, while kneeling figures of knights pray at each corner of the tomb.
The chapter-house contains portraits of all the archbishops of Toledo, many pictures, and a superb carved and inlaid ceiling of alerce wood. Here have been held all the important councils of Spain. There is a chapel filled with interesting relics, and the treasures of the church surpass those of all Spain in value. Among these is the cross which Cardinal Mendoza carried in procession at the surrender of Granada, and planted on the walls of the Alhambra; a custodia of gold and silver, weighing twenty-five arobas—about six hundred pounds—nine feet high, and covered with myriads of statuettes and exquisite ornaments. It was given by Queen Isabella, and made from the first gold sent by Columbus from America. There was one vestment covered with eighty-five thousand pearls; another with as great profusion of coral; a crown, and other ornaments of diamonds and other jewels; a missal, given by St. Louis; some silver plate carved by Benvenuto Cellini; and in the vestuario is the grandest display of vestments in the world. Those at St. Peter's are not so fine. Many of these were given by cardinals Mendoza and Ximenes, by Queen Isabella, and other sovereigns; and most of them many centuries old, yet preserving the brightness of the gold and silver work, and the colors of the embroidery. There were the chairs used by these great dignitaries, and the hangings used to adorn the church on the occasion of the thanksgiving for the victory of Lepanto.
But above all this is the interest felt in the "Muzarabic Chapel," built by Cardinal Ximenes, (Cisneros, as they call him in Spanish,) to preserve the ancient liturgy of the Muzarabes, (Muzarabes—mixed Arabs,) who were the Goths who, after the conquest of Spain by the Moors, agreed to live under the Moslem rule, retaining the Christian worship. This is the oldest ritual in Spain, introduced here by the apostles of this country, St. Torquatus and his companions. It was at first, in most respects, similar to the Roman liturgy; but underwent many changes after the conquest of Spain by the Visi-Goths and Vandals, who were Arians, and brought with them to Spain their liturgy, which was Greco-Arian, written in Latin.
This Gothic liturgy was almost exclusively adopted in Spain, after the fourth council of Toledo in 633, when St. Isidore of Seville and other celebrated Spanish bishops of this period, to put a stop to the disorders in the churches, arranged the ritual and obliged all to follow it. Even after the introduction of the Gregorian liturgy, the Spaniards retained their own, and it was universal up to the eighth century, when the Moors conquered Spain. By those Goths who submitted to the Moors, and who were promised freedom of their religion, it was guarded with the utmost vigilance; and even after Spain was conquered by the free Spaniards, (who had meantime adopted the Gregorian rite,) the Muzarabes retained their own Gothic rite, and it was allowed to them in six parishes, just as it had existed during the six hundred years of Moorish domination.
But as the Muzarabic families disappeared or mingled with others, their venerable and ancient liturgy gradually disappeared; and but for cardinals Mendoza and Ximenes, it must have been lost entirely. The first formed the design which Ximenes carried out—gathered up all the manuscripts of their liturgy, had them revised by their own priests, and printed a great number of the missals, and built this chapel in his own cathedral, (called "ad Corpus Christi,") and founded a college of thirteen priests to serve it, confiding to the chapter of the cathedral the protection of this religious foundation. Other bishops followed his example, and in the sixteenth century a chapel was founded in Salamanca, and another in Valladolid; but the one in Toledo seems to be the only one now existing: here the mass is said every day at nine o'clock; but few attend it, and it has become a mere liturgic curiosity.