Notwithstanding the pontiffs bestowal of the apostolic benediction in articulo mortis upon Victor Emmanuel, the attitude of the Vatican had remained so inimical as to make it doubtful whether the conclave would be held in Rome.
The final imposition of hands and the bestowal of power to forgive sins at the end of the ordination rite for priests in the Roman Pontifical is later even than the tradition of instruments.
The bestowal of alms, offerings of rice to priests, the founding of a monastery, erection of pagodas, with which the country is crowded, the building of a bridge or rest-house for the convenience of travellers are all works of religious merit, prompted, not by love of one's fellowcreatures, but simply and solely for one's own future advantage.
In 1540 Leland, without sufficient reason, credits Athelstan with the bestowal of such privileges as it then enjoyed, and describes it as a parish full of fishermen and Irishmen.
The most celebrated instance of the formal bestowal of the style is that of King Edward of England, who was made a "Confessor" on his canonization by Pope Alexander III.