The Miracle of the Palazzo Massimo, Then and Now

A Letter from Rome...

By Roberto de Mattei

Remnant Columnist | Rome

Editor’s Introduction: During The Remnant’s recent visit to Rome we had the opportunity to collaborate with the Rome-based Lepanto Foundation’s Professor Roberto de Mattei in a dramatic demonstration, just two days before the Vatican’s sham summit meeting on clerical sexual abuse (see reports in The Remnant 2/28/19 edition). During that visit, I also had the opportunity to interview Professor de Mattei for Remnant TV (https://www.

youtube.com/watch?v=3zj8Z3aUYeQ).

I have been acquainted with Professor de Mattei’s work for many years and, to be quite honest, was honored to stand with him in Rome. He is a firstrate Catholic historian and directs the magazine Radici Cristiane and the Corrispondenza Romana News Agency.

After our interview, it occurred to me that it makes no sense for The Remnant not to be collaborating with Roberto De Mattei on a more regular basis, and so I asked him if he’d consider becoming a contributor to these columns. It is indeed a pleasure to announce the good news that he has graciously accepted my invitation. Moving forward, Roberto

~ See Miracle of Massimo/ Page 6

The Miracle of the Palazzo Massimo, Then and Now

R. De Mattei/ Continued from Page 1

de Mattei’s "Letter from Rome" will be a regular feature here in The Remnant, and I’d like to warmly welcome him, formally introduce him to our readers, and ask God to bless our alliance with many years of fruitful collaboration in the service of His Church. Welcome aboard, Roberto de Mattei!

MJM

Among the ancient Roman palaces, the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne is one of the the most impressive and evocative.

The "Colonne" or columns are part of the portico which faces the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, at the point at which the "Papal Way" which runs from the Quirinale to the Vatican curves toward Piazza San Pantaleo before resuming its straight route. The six pairs of travertine columns delimit the Odeon, or music hall, of Emperor Domitian, on which the palace was built by Baldassarre Peruzzi between 1532 and 1536, after the destruction of the domus antiqua in the Sack of Rome in 1527.

In that terrible event, the Massimo family was struck particularly hard.

The palace was set on fire, the rich collection of antiquities was dispersed, the daughters of Prince Domenico were violated and his son Giuliano died fighting against the Landsknechte, the German mercenary soldiers who sacked the city. During those tragic days the religious symbols of the city of Rome and its most sacred memories were defiled. Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to paint the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel as if to immortalize the drama, which everyone considered as a chastisement from Heaven against the corruption of society and the men of the Church.

After its reconstruction, the Massimo family lived in this house, a Roman family whose documented origins go back to the Middle Ages, but which tradition traces back to the Roman consul Fabius Maximus, known as "The Time Buyer" for the strategy with which he opposed Hannibal in the Italian wars.

In 1797, when Napoloeon Bonaparte asked the Marquis Camillo Massimo, ambassador of Pope Pius VI at the Peace Treaty of Tolentino, if this ancestry was true, the Marquis replied, " I don’t know, but it is a story that has been handed down in the family for at least 1200 years." The motto of the dynasty is Cunctando restituiti, "Buying Time Restoring [Liberty to the Roman Republic]." In the atrium, the family crest is supported by a boy who is choking two snakes – an allusion to Hercules, the legendary father of Fabius Maximus. The palace was built during the Renaissance, but the atmosphere that one breathes when crossing the courtyards and climbing the staircases rich with basrelief sculptures and ancient statues is that of the Counter Reformation, due to a certain austerity which distinguishes it from other Roman palaces.

The entrance hall is one of the few in which 18thcentury taste has not entered to modify its severity and the "Chapel of the Miracle" on the second floor infuses a sacred spirit into the house. In the last two centuries the Casa Massimo was related to the royal houses of Savoy and the Bourbons.

Before Pope Paul VI abolished the papal court, the family held the position of "General Superintendent of the Papal Post Office." It was Pope Gregory XVI who nominated Prince Camillo Massimo as "Postmaster General" with the duty of preparing Papal journeys, arranging the itinerary, the change of horses, the lodgings during the trip and extraordinary couriers. Although it was not a hereditary office, the post remained in the family into the 20th century.

Each year on March 16, the miracle of Saint Philip Neri (1515-1595) is commemorated in this palace, who in 1583 restored to life the young Paolo Massimo, son of Prince Fabrizio (15561633). If the Massimo family is a Roman family par excellence, Saint Philip Neri is equally Roman, although he was born in Florence. He carried out his apostolate in the heart of Rome at the churches of San Girolamo della Carità, San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, and Santa Maria in Vallicella, the home of the Congregation of the Oratory which he founded.

The conversion of the Florentine noble Giovanni Battista Salviati, husband of Porzia Massimo, had contributed to Philip Neri receiving widespread support from the Roman aristocracy. After the death of her husband, Porzia founded the Dominican monastery of SS. Domenico e Sisto in Rome, while Prince Fabrizio and his wife Lavinia de’Rustici belonged to the close circle of disciples of the Roman saint whom they often welcomed at their palace and in their fief at Arsoli.

On January 1, 1583, their 14-year-old son Paolo came down with a fever, which lasted for 65 days and brought him close to death. Philip, who visited Paolo every day, told the family to call him when Paolo’s final moments drew near. He was about to celebrate Mass at San Girolamo della Carità, when the messenger from Casa Massimo arrived

In the Spanish Civil

War the anarchist-communist Revolution showed its bloody face, which it had already shown in Russia and

Mexico.

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St. Philip Neri