Chapter XII: The Esquiline (2)

In the time of Julian the Apostate, there dwelt in Rome a Christian
unity, consisting of Flavian, his wife Dalfrosa, and his two
daughters, Bibiana and Demetria. All these died for their faith.
Flavian was exiled, and died of starvation; Dalfrosa was beheaded;
the sisters were imprisoned (A.D. 362) and scourged, and Demetria
died at once under the torture. Bibiana glorified God by longer
sufferings. Apronius, the prefect of the city, astonished by her
beauty, conceived a guilty passion for her, and placed her under
the care of one of his creatures named Rufina, who was gradually to
bend her to his will. But Bibiana repelled his proposals with
horror, and her firmness excited him to such fury, that he
commanded her to be bound to a column, and scourged to compliance.
"The order was executed with all imaginable cruelty, rivers of
blood flowed from each wound, and morsels of flesh were torn away,
till even the most barbarous spectators were stricken with horror.
The saint alone continued immoveable, with her eyes fixed upon
heaven, and her countenance radiant with celestial peace,--until
her body being torn to pieces, her soul escaped to her heavenly
bridegroom, to receive the double crown of virginity and
martyrdom."[268]

After the death of Bibiana, her body was exposed to dogs for three
days in the Forum Boarium, but remained unmolested; after which it
was stolen at night by John the priest, who buried it here.

The church, founded in the fifth century by Olympia, a Roman matron, was modernised by Bernini for Urban VIII., and has no external appearance of antiquity. The interior is adorned with frescoes; those on the right are by _Agostino Ciampelli_, those on the left are considered by Lanzi as the best works of _Pietro da Cortona_. They pourtray in detail the story of the saint:--

1. Bibiana refuses to sacrifice to idols.
2. The death of Demetria.
3. Bibiana is scourged at the column.
4. The body of Bibiana is watched over by a dog.
5. Olympia founds the church, which is dedicated by Pope Simplicius.

The statue of the saint at the high altar is considered the masterpiece of _Bernini_. It is dignified and graceful, and would hardly be recognised as his work.

"This statue is one of his earliest works; and it is said that when
Bernini, in advanced life, returned from France, he uttered, on
seeing it, an involuntary expression of admiration. 'But,' added
he, 'had I always worked in this style, I should have been a
beggar.' This would lead us to conclude, that his own taste led him
to prefer simplicity and truth, but that he was obliged to conform
to the corrupted predilection of the age."--_Eaton's Rome._

The remains of the saint are preserved beneath the altar, in a splendid sarcophagus of oriental alabaster, adorned with a leopard's head. A column of rosso-antico is shown as that to which Sta. Bibiana was bound during her flagellation. The _fête_ of the martyred sisters is observed with great solemnity on December 2.

"Il est touchant de voir, le jour de la fête, le Chapitre entier de
la grande et somptueuse basilique de Sainte-Marie-Majeure venir
processionellement à cette modeste église et célébrer de
solennelles et pompeuses cérémonies en l'honneur de ces deux
vierges et leur mère: C'est que si ces trois femmes étaient faibles
et ignorées selon le monde, elles sont devenues par leur foi,
fortes et sublimes; et l'Église ne croit pouvoir trop faire pour
glorifier une pareille grandeur."--_Impressions d'une Catholique à
Rome._

On or near this site were the _Horti Lamiani_, in which the Emperor Caligula was hastily buried after his assassination, A.D. 41, though his remains were shortly afterwards disinterred by his sisters and burnt. These gardens were probably the property of Ælius Lamia, to whom Horace addressed one of his odes.[269] At an earlier period Elius Tubero lived here, celebrated for his virtue, his poverty, and his little house, where sixteen members of the Elian Gens dwelt harmoniously together.[270] He married the daughter of L. Emilius Paulus, "who," says Plutarch, "though the daughter of one who had twice been consul and twice triumphed, did not blush for the poverty of her husband, but admired the virtue which had made him poor."

On the other side of the Trophies of Marius, the Via Porta Maggiore leads to the gate of that name (see Ch. XIII.). Approached by a gate on the left of this road, most desolate, until the making of the railway amid its vineyards and gardens, and crowned with lentiscus and other shrubs, is the picturesque ruin generally called the _Temple of Minerva Medica_, from a false impression that the Giustiniani Minerva, now in the Vatican, had been found here.[271] It is now generally decided to be a remnant of the bath built by Augustus in honour of his grandsons Caius and Lucius Cæsar (sons of Agrippa and Julia). It is a decagon, with a vaulted brick roof, and nine niches for statues; those of Æsculapius, Antinous, Hercules, Adonis, Pomona, and (the Farnese) Faun, have been found on the site.

Near this is a curious _Columbarium of the Arruntia Family_, and a brick-lined hollow, supposed to be part of the Naumachia which Dion Cassius says that Augustus constructed "in the grove of Caius and Lucius."

Just where the lane turns off to Sta. Bibiana is the entrance to the courtyard of the _Church and Monastery of S. Eusebio_, built upon the site of the house of the saint, a priest of noble family, martyred by starvation under Constantius, A.D. 357. His body rests under the high altar, with that of St. Orosus, a Spanish priest, who suffered at the same time. The ceiling of the church is painted by _Mengs_, and represents the apotheosis of the patron saint. The campanile dates from 1220. In this convent (which was conceded to the Jesuits in 1825 by Leo XII.) English clergymen about to join the Roman Catholic Church frequently "make a retreat" before their reception; Archdeacon Wilberforce is one of many converts who have been received here.

Turning towards Sta. Maria Maggiore, on the left is a _Cross_ on a pedestal formed by a cannon reversed, and inscribed "In hoc signo vinces,"--a memorial of the absolution given by Clement VIII. in 1595 to Henry IV. of France on his being received into the Roman Catholic Church.

Opposite this is a peculiar round arched doorway--unique in Rome--forming the entrance to the _Church of S. Antonio Abbate_, said to occupy the site of a temple of Diana. The church is decorated with very coarsely-executed frescoes of the life of the saint,--his birth, his confirmation by a bishop who predicted his future saintship, and his temptation by the devil in various forms.

"S. Antonio, called 'the patriarch of monks,' became a hermit in
his twentieth year, and lived alone in the Egyptian desert till his
fifty-fifth year, when he founded his monastery of Phaim, where he
died at the age of 105, having passed his life in perpetual prayer,
and often tasting no food for three days at a time. In the desert
Satan was permitted to assault him in a visible manner, to terrify
him with dismal noises; and once he so grievously beat him that he
lay almost dead, covered with bruises and wounds. At other times
the fiends attacked him with terrible clamours, and a variety of
spectres, in hideous shapes of the most frightful wild beasts,
which they assumed to dismay and terrify him; till a ray of
heavenly light breaking in upon him, chased them away, and caused
him to cry out, 'Where wast thou, my Lord and Master? Why wast thou
not with me?' And a voice answered, 'Anthony, I was here the whole
time; I stood by thee, and beheld thy combat: and because thou hast
manfully withstood thy enemies I will always protect thee, and will
render thy name famous throughout the earth.'"--_Butler's Lives of
the Saints._

"Surely the imagery painted on the inner walls of Egyptian tombs,
and probably believed by Anthony and his compeers to be connected
with devil-worship, explains his visions. In the 'Words of the
Elders' a monk complains of being troubled with 'pictures, old and
new.' Probably, again, the pain which Anthony felt was the agony of
a fever, and the visions which he saw its delirium."--_Kingsley's
Hermits._

In the chapel of S. Antonio is a very ancient mosaic, representing a tiger tearing a bull.

"Le tigre en mosaïque conservé dans l'église de St. Antoine, patron
des animaux, est, selon toute apparence, le portrait d'un acteur
renommé."--_Ampère, Hist. Rom._ iv. 28.

Hither, on the week following the feast of St. Anthony (January 17), horses, mules, and cows are brought to be blest as a preservative against accidents for the year to come. On the 23rd, the horses of the pope, Prince Borghese, and other Roman grandees (about 2½ P.M.) are sent for this purpose. All the animals are sprinkled with holy water by a priest, who receives a gift in proportion to the wealth of their master, and recites over each group the formula,--

"Per intercessionem beati Antonii Abbatis, hæc animalia liberantur
a malis, in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen!"

"Les bergers romains faisaient la _lustration_ de leurs taureaux;
ils purifiaient leurs brebis à la fête de Pales (pour écarter d'eux
toute influence funeste), comme ils les font encore asperger d'eau
bénite à la fête de Saint Antoine."--_Ampère, Hist. Rom._ ii.
329.[272]

"'Long live St. Anthony,' writes Mabillon (in the 17th century) as
he describes the horses, asses, and mules, all going on the saint's
festival to be sprinkled with holy water, and receive the
benediction of a reverend father. 'All would go to ruin,' say the
Romans, 'if this act of piety were omitted.' So nobody escapes
paying toll on this occasion, not even Nostro Signore
himself."--_Stephens' French Benedictines._

"S. Antonio Abbate is the patron of the four-footed creation, and
his feast is a saturnalia for the usually hard-worked beasts and
for their attendants and drivers. Gentlefolks must be content on
this day to stay at home or go on foot, for there are not wanting
solemn tales of how the unbelievers who had obliged their coachmen
to drive out on this day have been punished by great misfortunes.
The church of S. Antonio stands in a large piazza, usually looking
like a desert; but to-day it was enlivened by a varied throng:
horses and mules, with tails and manes splendidly interlaced with
ribbons, are brought to a small chapel standing somewhat apart from
the church, where a priest armed with a large asperge plentifully
besprinkles the animals with the holy water which is placed before
him in tubs and pails, sometimes apparently with a sly wish to
excite them to gambols. Devout coachmen bring larger or smaller
wax-tapers, and their masters send alms and gifts, in order to
secure to their valuable and useful animals a year's exemption from
disease and accident. Horned cattle and donkeys, equally precious
and serviceable to their owners, have their share in the
blessing."--_Goethe, Romische Briefe._

"At the blessing of the animals, an adventure happened, which
afforded us some amusement. A countryman, having got a blessing on
his beast, putting his whole trust in its power, set off from the
church door at a grand gallop, and had scarcely cleared a hundred
yards before the ungainly animal tumbled down with him, and over
its head he rolled into the dirt. He soon got up, however, and
shook himself, and so did the horse, without either seeming to be
much the worse. The priest seemed not a whit out of countenance at
this; and some of the standers-by exclaimed, with laudable
steadfastness of faith, 'That but for the blessing, they might have
broken their necks.'"--_Eaton's Rome._

"Un postilion Italien, qui voyait mourir son cheval, priait pour
lui, et s'écriait: O, Sant' Antonio, abbiate pietà dell' anima
sua!"--_Madame de Staël._

"The hog was the representative of the demon of sensuality and
gluttony, which Anthony is supposed to have vanquished by the
exercise of piety and by the divine aid. The ancient custom of
placing in all his effigies a black pig at his feet, or under his
feet, gave rise to the superstition, that this unclean animal was
especially dedicated to him and under his protection. The monks of
the Order of St. Anthony kept herds of consecrated pigs, which were
allowed to feed at the public charge, and which it was a
profanation to steal or kill; hence the proverb about the fatness
of a 'Tantony pig.'"--_Jameson's Sacred Art_, p. 750.

We now enter the Piazza of Sta. Maria Maggiore, in front of which stands a beautiful Corinthian column, now called _Colonna della Vergine_. This is the last remaining column of the Basilica of Constantine, and is forty-seven feet high without its base and capital. It was brought hither by Paul V. in 1613. The figure of the Virgin on the top is by Bertelot.

The _Basilica of Sta. Maria Maggiore_, frequently named from its founder the _Liberian Basilica_, was founded A.D. 352, by Pope Liberius, and John,[273] a Roman patrician, to commemorate a miraculous fall of snow, which covered this spot of ground and no other, on the 5th of August, when the Virgin appearing in a vision, showed them that she had thus appropriated the site of a new temple.[274] This legend is commemorated every year on the 5th of August, the festa of La Madonna della Neve, when, during a solemn high mass in the Borghese chapel, showers of white rose-leaves are thrown down constantly through two holes in the ceiling, "like a leafy mist between the priests and worshippers."

This church, in spite of many alterations, is in some respects internally the most beautiful and harmonious building in Rome, and retains much of the character which it received when rebuilt between 432 and 440, by Sixtus III., who dedicated it to Sta. Maria Mater Dei, and established it as one of the four patriarchal basilicas, whence it is provided with the "porta santa," only opened by the pope, with great solemnity, four times in a century.

The west front was added under Benedict XIV. (Lambertini) in 1741, by Ferdinando Fuga, destroying a portico of the time of Eugenius III., of which the only remnant is an architrave, inserted into which is an inscription, quoted by its defenders in proof of the existence of Mariolatry in the twelfth century:--

"Tertius Eugenius Romanus Papa benignus
Obtulit hoc munus, Virgo Maria, tibi,
Quæ Mater Christi fieri merito meruisti,
Salva perpetua Virginitate tibi.
Es Via, Vita, Salus, totius Gloria Mundi,
Da veniam culpis, Virginitatis Honos."

In this portico is a statue of Philip IV. of Spain by _Lucenti_. In the upper story are preserved the mosaics which once decorated the old façade, some of them representing the miracle which led to the foundation of the church.

"To 1300 belong the mosaics on the upper part of the façade of Sta.
Maria Maggiore (now inserted in the loggia), in which, in two rows,
framed in architectural decorations, may be seen Christ in the act
of benediction, and several saints above, and the legend of the
founding of the church below--both well-arranged compositions. An
inscription gives the name of the otherwise unknown master,
'Philippus Rusuti.' This work was formerly attributed to the
Florentine mosaicist Gaddo Gaddi, who died 1312."--_Kugler._

Five doors, if we include the walled-up Porta Santa, lead into the magnificent nave (280 feet long, 60 broad), lined by an avenue of white marble columns, surmounted by a frieze of mosaic pictures from the Old Testament, of A.D. 440--unbroken, except where six of the subjects have been cut away to make room for arches in front of the two great side chapels. The mosaics increase in splendour as they approach the tribune, in front of which is a grand baldacchino by Fuga, erected by Benedict XIV., supported by four porphyry columns wreathed with gilt leaves, and surmounted by four marble angels by Pietro Bracci. The pavement is of the most glorious opus-alexandrinum, and its crimson and violet hues temper the white and gold on the walls. The flat roof (by Sangallo), panelled and carved, is gilt with the first gold brought to Spain from South America, and presented to Alexander VI. by Ferdinand and Isabella.

"The mosaics above the chancel arch are valuable for the
illustration of Christian doctrine: the throne of the Lamb as
described in the Apocalypse, SS. Peter and Paul beside it (the
earliest instance of their being thus represented); and the four
symbols of the Evangelists above; the Annunciation; the Angel
appearing to Zacharias; the Massacre of the Innocents; the
Presentation in the Temple; the Adoration of the Magi; Herod
receiving the head of St. John the Baptist; and, below these
groups, a flock of sheep, type of the faithful, issuing from the
mystic cities, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. We see here one curious
example of the nimbus, round the head of Herod, as a symbol of
power, apart from sanctity. In certain details these mosaics have
been altered, with a view to adapting them to modern devotional
bias, in a manner that deserves reprobation; but Ciampini
(Monumenta Vetera) shows us in engraving what the originals were
before this alteration, effected under Benedict XIV. In the group
of the Adoration the child _alone_ occupied the throne, while
opposite (in the original work) was seated, on another chair, an
elderly person in a long blue mantle veiling the head--concluded by
Ciampini to be the senior among the Magi; the two others, younger,
and both in the usual Oriental dress, with trousers and Phrygian
caps, being seen to approach at the same side, whilst the mother
_stood_ beside the throne of the child,--her figure recognisable
from its resemblance to others in scenes where she appears in the
same series. As this group is now before us, the erect figure is
left out; the seated one is converted into that of Mary, with a
halo round the head, though in the original even such attribute
(alike given to the Saviour and to all the angels introduced) is
_not_ assigned to her."--_Hemans' Ancient Christian Art._

The vault of the tribune is covered with mosaics by Jacopo da Turrita, the same who executed those at the Lateran basilica.

"A general affinity with the style of Cimabue is observable in some
mosaics executed by contemporary artists. Those in Sta. Maria
Maggiore are inscribed with the name of Jacobus Torriti, and
executed between 1287 and 1292. They are surpassed by no
contemporary work in dignity, grace, and decorative beauty of
arrangement. In a blue, gold-starred circle is seen Christ
enthroned with the Virgin; on each side are adoring angels,
kneeling and flying, on a gold ground, with St. Peter and St. Paul,
the two St. Johns, St. Francis, and St. Anthony (the same in size
and position as at St. J. Lateran), advancing devoutly along. The
upper part is filled with graceful vine-branches, with symbolical
animals among them. Below is Jordan, with small river gods, boats,
and figures of men and animals. Further below are scenes from the
life of Christ in animated arrangement. The group in the centre of
the circle, of Christ enthroned with the Virgin, is especially
fine: while the Saviour is placing the crown on His mother's head,
she lifts up her hands with the expression both of admiration and
of modest remonstrance.[275] The forms are very pure and noble; the
execution careful, and very different from the Roman mosaics of the
twelfth century."--_Kugler._

In front of and beneath the high altar Pius IX. has lately been preparing his own monument, by constructing a splendid chamber approached by staircases, and lined with the most precious alabaster and marbles.

On the right of the western entrance is the tomb of the Rospigliosi pope, Clement IX. (1667--69), the work of Ercole Ferrata, a pupil of Bernini. His body rests before the high altar, surrounded by a number of the members of his family. Left of the entrance is the tomb of Nicholas IV., Masci (1288-92), erected to his memory three hundred years after his death by Sixtus V. while still a cardinal. He is represented giving benediction, between two allegorical figures of Justice and Religion,--a fine work of Leonardo da Sarzana.

"It is well to know that this pope, a mere upstart from the dust,
sought to support himself through the mighty family of Colonna, by
raising them too high. His friend, the Cardinal Giacomo Colonna,
contributed with him to the renewal of the mosaics which are in the
tribune of Sta. Maria Maggiore, and one can see their two figures
there to this day. It was in this reign that Ptolemais, the last
possession of the Christians in Asia, fell into the hands of the
Mohammedans; thus ended the era of the Crusades."--_Gregorovius._

Behind this tomb, near the walled-up Porta Santa, is a good tomb of two bishops, brothers, of the fifteenth century, and in the same aisle are many other monuments of the sixteenth century, some of them fine in their way.

Nearly on a line with the baldacchino is the entrance of the _Borghese Chapel_, built by Flaminio Ponzio for Paul V. in 1608, gorgeous with precious marbles and alabasters. Over its altar is preserved one of the pictures attributed to St. Luke (and announced to be such in a papal bull attached to the walls!), much revered from the belief that it stayed the plague which decimated the city during the reign of Pelagius II., and that (after its intercession had been sought by a procession by order of Innocent VIII.) it brought about the overthrow of the Moorish dominion in Spain.

"On conserve à Sainte Marie Majeure une des images de la Madonne
peintes par St. Luc, et plusieurs fois on a trouvé les anges
chantant les litanies autour de ce tableau."--_Stendhal._

The "Scheme of decorations in this gorgeous chapel is so
remarkable, as testifying to the development which the theological
idea of the Virgin, as the Sposa or personified Church, had
attained in the time of Paul V.--the same pope who in 1615
promulgated the famous bull relative to the Immaculate
Conception"--that the insertion of the whole passage of Mrs.
Jameson on this subject will not be considered too much.

"First, and elevated above all, we have the 'Madonna della
Concezione,' 'Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception,' in a glory of
light, sustained and surrounded by angels, having the crescent
under her feet, according to the approved treatment. Beneath, round
the dome, we read in conspicuous letters the text from the
Revelation:--SIGNUM. MAGNUM. APPARAVIT. IN. CŒLO. MULIER.
AMICTA. SOLE. ET. LUNA. SUB. PEDIBUS. EJUS. ET. IN. CAPITE. EJUS.
CORONA. STELLARUM. DUODECIM. Lower down is a second inscription
expressing the dedication. MARIÆ. CHRISTI. MATRI. SEMPER. VIRGINI.
PAULUS. QUINTUS. P.M. The decorations beneath the cornice consist
of eighteen large frescoes, and six statues in marble, above life
size. We have the subjects arranged in the following order:--

"1. The four great prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel,
in their usual place in the four pendatives of the dome.

"2. Two large frescoes. In the first the Vision of St. Gregory
Thaumaturgus, and Heretics bitten by Serpents. In the second, St.
John Damascene and S. Ildefonso miraculously rewarded for defending
the majesty of the Virgin.

"3. A large fresco, representing the four Doctors of the Church who
had especially written in honour of the Virgin: viz., Irenæus and
Cyprian, Ignatius and Theophilus, grouped two and two.

"4. St. Luke, who painted the Virgin, and whose gospel contains the
best account of her.

"5. As spiritual conquerors in the name of the Virgin, St. Dominic
and St. Francis, each attended by two companions of his Order.

"6. As military conquerors in the name of the Virgin, the Emperor
Heraclius, and Narses, the general against the Arians.

"7. A group of three female figures, representing the three famous
saintly princesses, who in marriage preserved their virginity,
Pulcheria, Edeltruda (our famous Queen Ethelreda), and Cunegunda.

"8. A group of three learned Bishops, who had especially defended
the immaculate purity of the Virgin, St. Cyril, St. Anselm, and St.
Denis (?).

"9. The miserable ends of those who were opposed to the honour of
the Virgin. 1. The death of Julian the Apostate, very oddly
represented; he lies on an altar, transfixed by an arrow, as a
victim; St. Mercurius in the air. 2. The death of Leo IV., who
destroyed the effigies of the Virgin. 3. The death of Constantine
IV., also a famous iconoclast.

"The statues which are placed in niches are--

"1--2. St. Joseph, as the nominal husband, and St. John the
Evangelist, as the nominal son, of the Virgin; the latter, also, as
prophet and poet, with reference to the passage in the Revelation,
xii. i.

"3--4. Aaron, as priestly ancestor (because his wand blossomed),
and David, as kingly ancestor, of the Virgin.

"5--6. St. Dionysius the Areopagite, who was present at the death
of the Virgin, and St. Bernard, who composed the famous 'Salve
Regina' in her honour.

"Such is this grand systematic scheme of decoration, which, to
those who regard it cursorily, is merely a sumptuous confusion of
colours and forms, or at best a 'fine example of the Guido school
and Bernini.' It is altogether a very complete and magnificent
specimen of the prevalent style of art, and a very comprehensive
and suggestive expression of the prevalent tendency of thought in
the Roman Catholic Church from the beginning of the seventeenth
century. In no description of this chapel have I seen the names and
subjects accurately given: the style of art belongs to the
_decadence_, and the taste being worse than questionable, the
prevailing _doctrinal_ idea has been neglected, or never
understood."--_Legends of the Madonna_, lxxi.

On the right is the tomb of Clement VIII. (1592--1605), the Florentine Ippolito Aldobrandini, the builder of the new palace of the Vatican, and the cruel torturer and executioner of the Cenci. He is represented in the act of benediction. The bas-reliefs on his monument commemorate the principal events of his reign,--the conclusion of peace between France and Spain, and the taking of Ferrara, which he seized from the heirs of Alphonso II.

On the left is the tomb of Paul V. (1605-1621), Camillo Borghese,--in whose reign St. Peter's was finished, as every traveller learns from the gigantic inscription over its portico,--who founded the great Borghese family, and left to his nephew, Cardinal Scipio Borghese, a fortune which enabled him to buy the Borghese Palace and to build the Borghese Villa.

"It is a truly herculean figure, with a grandly developed head,
while in his thick neck, pride, violence, and sensuality seem to be
united. He is the first pope who wore the beard of a cavalier, like
that of Henry IV., which recalls the Thirty-years' War, which he
lived through; as far as the battle of the White Mountain. In this
round, domineering, pride-swollen countenance, appears the
violent, imperious spirit of Paul, which aimed at an absolute
power. Who does not remember his famous quarrel with Venice, and
the rôle which his far superior adversary Paolo Sarpi played with
such invincible courage? The bas-reliefs of his tomb represent the
reception given by the pope to the envoys of Congo and Japan, the
building of the citadel of Ferrara, the sending of auxiliary troops
to Hungary to the assistance of Rudolph II., and the canonization
of Sta. Francesca Romana and S. Carlo Borromeo."--_Gregorovius._

The frescoes in the cupola are by _Cigoli_; those around the altar by the Cav. D'Arpino; those above the tombs and on the arches by _Guido_, except the Madonna, which is by _Lanfranco_. The late beloved Princess Borghese, _née_ Lady Gwendoline Talbot, was buried in front of the altar, all Rome following her to the grave.

The funeral of Princess Borghese proved the feeling with which she
was regarded. Her body lay upon a car which was drawn by forty
young Romans, and was followed by all the poor of Rome, the
procession swelling like a river in every street and piazza it
passed through, while from all the windows as it passed flowers
were showered down. In funeral ceremonies of great personages at
Rome an ancient custom is observed by which, when the body is
lowered into the grave, a chamberlain, coming out to the church
door, announces to the coachman, who is waiting with the family
carriage, that his master or mistress has no longer need of his
services; and the coachman thereupon breaks his staff of office and
drives mournfully away. When this formality was fulfilled at the
funeral of Princess Borghese, the whole of the vast crowd waiting
outside the basilica broke into tears and sobs, and kneeling by a
common impulse, prayed aloud for the soul of their benefactress.

The chapel has been lately the scene of a miraculous story, with reference to a visionary appearance of the Princess Borghese, which has obtained great credit among the people, by whom she is already looked upon as a saint.

The first chapel in the right aisle is that of the Patrizi family, and close by is the sepulchral stone of their noble ancestor, Giovanni Patricino, whose bones were found beneath the high altar, and deposited here in 1700. A little further is the chapel of the Santa Croce, with ten porphyry columns. Then comes the _Chapel of the Holy Sacrament_, built by Fontana for Sixtus V. while still Cardinal of Montalto. Gregory XIII., who was then on the throne, visited this gorgeous chapel when it was nearly completed, and immediately decided that one who could build such a splendid temple was sufficiently rich, and suppressed the cardinal's pension. Fontana advanced a thousand scudi for the completion of the work, and had the delicacy never to allow the cardinal to imagine that he was indebted to him. The chapel, restored 1870, is adorned with statues by Giobattista Pozzo, Cesare Nebbia, and others. Under the altar is a presepio--one of the best works of Bernini, and opposite to it, in the confession, a beautiful statue of S. Gaetano (founder of the Theatines, who died 1547[276]), with two little children. On the right is the splendid tomb of Pius V., Michaele Ghislieri (1566--72), the barefooted, bareheaded Dominican monk of Sta. Sabina, who in his short six years' reign beheld amongst other events the victory of Lepanto, the fall of the Huguenots in France, and the massacre of St. Bartholomew, events which were celebrated at Rome with _fêtes_ and thanksgivings. The figure of the pope, a monk wasted to a skeleton (by Leonardo de Sarzana), sits in the central niche, between statues of St. Dominic and St. Peter Martyr. A number of bas-reliefs by different sculptors represent the events of his life. Some are by the Flemish artists Nicolas d'Arras and Egidius.

On the left, is the tomb of Sixtus V. (1585-90), Felice Perretti, who as a boy kept his father's pigs at Montalto; who as a young man was a Franciscan monk preaching in the Apostoli, and attracting crowds by his eloquence; and who then rose to be bishop of Fermo, soon after to be cardinal, and was lastly raised to the papal throne, which he occupied only five years, a time which sufficed for the prince of the Church who loved building the most, to renew Rome entirely.

"If anything can still the spectator to silence, and awaken him to
great recollections, it is the monument of this astonishing man,
who, as child, herded swine, and as an old man commanded people and
kings, and who filled Rome with so many works, that from every side
his name, like an echo, rings in the traveller's ear. We never
cease to be amazed at the wonderful luck which raised Napoleon from
the dust to the throne of the world, as if it were a romance or a
fairy story. But if in the history of kings these astonishing
changes are extraordinary accidents, they seem quite natural in the
history of the popes, they belong to the very essence of
Christendom, which does not appeal to the person, but to the
spirit; and while the one history is full of ordinary men, who,
without the prerogative of their crown, would have sunk into
eternal oblivion, the other is rich in great men, who, placed in a
different sphere, would have been equally worthy of
renown."--_Gregorovius._

In a little chapel on the left of the entrance of this--which is as it were a transept of the church--is a fine picture of St. Jerome by _Spagnuoletto_, and in the chapel opposite a sarcophagus of two early Christian consuls, richly wrought in the Roman imperial style, but with Christian subjects,--Daniel in the den of lions, Zaccheus in the sycamore-tree, Martha at the raising of Lazarus, &c.

At the east end of the right aisle, near the door, is perhaps the finest gothic monument in Rome,--the tomb of Cardinal Gonsalvi, bishop of Albano, _c._ 1299.

"A recumbent statue, in pontifical vestments, rests on a
sarcophagus, and two angels draw aside curtains as if to show us
the dead; in the background is a mosaic of Mary enthroned, with
the Child, the apostle Matthias, St. Jerome, and a smaller kneeling
figure of Gonsalvi, in pontifical robes; at the apex is a
tabernacle with cusped arch, and below the epitaph 'Hoc opus fecit
Joannes Magister Cosmæ civis Romanus,' the artist's record of
himself. In the hands of St. Matthias and St. Jerome are scrolls;
on that held by the apostle, the words, 'Me tenet ara prior'; on
St. Jerome's,'Recubo presepis ad antrum', these epigraphs
confirming the tradition that the bodies of St. Matthias and St.
Jerome repose in this church, while indicating the sites of their
tombs. Popular regards have distinguished this tomb; no doubt in
intended honour to the Blessed Virgin, lamps are kept ever burning,
and vases of flowers ranged, before her mosaic image."--_Hemans'
Mediæval Christian Art._

At the west end of the right aisle is the entrance of the _Baptistery_, which has a vast porphyry vase as a font. Hence we reach the _Sacristy_, in the inner chamber of which are some exceedingly beautiful bas-reliefs by _Mino da Fiesole_.

One of the greatest of the Christmas ceremonies is the procession at 5 A.M., in honour of the great relic of the church--the Santa Culla--_i.e._, the cradle in which our Saviour was carried into Egypt, not, as is frequently imagined, the manger, which is allowed to have been of stone, and of which a single stone only is supposed to have found its way to Rome, and to be preserved in the altar of the Blessed Sacrament. The "Santa Culla" is preserved in a magnificent reliquary, six feet high, adorned with bas-reliefs and statuettes in silver. On the afternoon of Christmas eve the public can visit the relic at an altar in a little chapel near the sacristy. On the afternoon of Christmas Day it is also exposed, but upon the high altar, where it is less easily seen.

"Le Seigneur Jésus a voulu naître dans une étable; mais les hommes
ont apporté précieusement le petit berceau qui a reçu le salut du
monde, dans la reine des cités, et ils l'ont enchâssé dans l'or.

"C'est bien ici que nous devons accourir avec joie et redire ce
chant triomphant de l'Église: _Adeste, fideles, læti triumphantes;
venite, venite in Bethleem_."--_Une Chrétienne à Rome._

Among the many other relics preserved here are two little bags of the brains of St. Thomas à Becket.

It was in this church that Pope St. Martin I. was celebrating mass in the seventh century, when a guard sent by the Exarch Olympius appeared on the threshold with orders to seize and put him to death. At the sight of the pontiff the soldier was stricken with blindness, a miracle which led to the conversion of Olympius and many other persons.

Platina, the historian of the popes, was buried here, with the epitaph: "Quisquis es, si pius, Platynam et sua ne vexes, anguste jacent et soli volunt esse."

Sta. Maria Maggiore was the scene of the seizure of Hildebrand by Cencius:

"On Christmas Eve, 1075, the city of Rome was visited by a dreadful
tempest. Darkness brooded over the land, and the trembling
spectators believed that the day of final judgment was about to
dawn. In this war of the elements, however, two processions were
seen advancing to the Church of Sta. Maria Maggiore. At the head of
one was the aged Hildebrand, conducting a few priests to worship at
the shrine of the Virgo Deipara. The other was preceded by Cencius,
a Roman noble. At each pause in the tempest might be heard the
hallelujahs of the worshippers, or the voice of the pontiff,
pouring out benedictions on the little flock which knelt before
him--when Cencius grasped his person, and some yet more daring
ruffian inflicted a wound on his forehead. Bound with cords,
stripped of his sacred vestments, beaten, and subjected to the
basest indignities, the venerable minister of Christ was carried to
a fortified mansion within the walls of the city, again to be
removed at daybreak to exile or death. Women were there, with
women's sympathy and kindly offices, but they were rudely put
aside; and a drawn sword was already aimed at the pontiff's bosom,
when the cries of a fierce multitude, threatening to burn or batter
down the house, arrested the aim of the assassin. An arrow,
discharged from below, reached and slew him. The walls rocked
beneath the strokes of the maddened populace, and Cencius, falling
at his prisoner's feet, became himself a suppliant for pardon and
for life.... In profound silence, and with undisturbed serenity,
Hildebrand had thus far submitted to these atrocious indignities.
The occasional raising of his eyes towards heaven alone indicated
his consciousness of them. But to the supplication of his prostrate
enemy he returned an instant and a calm assurance of forgiveness.
He rescued Cencius from the exasperated besiegers, dismissed him in
safety and in peace, and returned, amidst the acclamations of the
whole Roman people, to complete the interrupted solemnities of Sta.
Maria Maggiore."--_Stephens' Lectures on Eccles. Hist._

Leaving the church by the door behind the tribune, we find ourselves at the top of the steep slope of the Esquiline and in front of an _Obelisk_ erected here by Fontana for Sixtus V.,--brought from Egypt by Claudius, and one of two which were used to guard the entrance to the mausoleum of Augustus. The inscriptions on three of its sides are worth notice:--"Christi Dei in æternum viventis cunabula lætissime colo, qui mortui sepulchro Augusti tristis serviebam."--"Quem Augustus de vergine nasciturum vivens adoravit, sed deinceps dominum dici noluit, adoro."--"Christus per invictam crucem populo pacem præbeat, qui Augusti pace in præsepe nasci voluit."