Vatʹican

The palace of the Pope; so called because it stands on the Vatiʹcan Hill. Strictly speaking, the Vatican consists of the Papal palace, the court and garden of Belvidere, the library, and the museum.

“The sun of the Vatican sheds glory over the Catholic world.”—The Times.

The thunders of the Vatiʹcan. The anathemas of the Pope, which are issued from the Vatican,

The Council of the Vatican. The twenty-first General or Œcumenical Council. It commenced in 1869, Pius IX. being Pope. (See Councils.)

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.