The cries of these dying men were heard by the senate who were assembled at the time in the Temple of Bellona (restored by Appius Claudius Cæcus in the Samnite War), which stood hard by, and in front of which at the extremity of the Circus Flaminius, where the Piazza Paganica now is, stood the Columna Bellica, where the Ferialis, when war was declared, flung a lance into a piece of ground, supposed to represent the enemy's country, when it was not possible to do it at the hostile frontier itself. Julius Cæsar flung the spear here when war was declared against Cleopatra.[290]
Almost adjoining the Villa Publica was the Septa, where the Comitia Centuriata of the plebs assembled for the election of their tribunes. The other name of this place of assembly, Ovilia, or the sheepfolds, bears witness to its primitive construction, when it was surrounded by a wooden barrier. In later times the Ovilia was more richly adorned; Pliny describes it as containing two groups of sculpture—Pan and the young Olympus, and Chiron and the young Achilles—for which the keepers were responsible with their lives;[291] and under the empire it was enclosed in magnificent buildings.
In B.C. 189 the Temple of Hercules Musagetes was built by the censor Fulvius Nobilior. It occupied a site on the north-west of the portico of Octavia.[292] Sylla restored it:—
This temple was rebuilt by L. Marcius Philippus, stepfather of Augustus, and surrounded by a portico called after him Porticus Philippi.[293]
The Portico of Octavia itself was originally built by the prætor, Cn. Octavius, in B.C. 167, and rebuilt by Augustus, who re-dedicated it in memory of his sister. Close adjoining was the Porticus Metelli, built B.C. 146, by Cæcilius Metellus.[295] It contained two Temples of Juno and Jupiter.[296] Another Temple of Juno stood between this and the theatre of Pompey, having been erected by M. Æmilius Lepidus in B.C. 170, together with a Temple of Diana.[297] Near the same spot was a Temple of Fortuna Equestris, erected in consequence of a vow of Q. Fulvius Flaccus when fighting against the Celtiberians in B.C. 176; a Temple of Isis and Serapis; and a Temple of Mars, erected by D. Junius Brutus, for his victories over the Gallicians in B.C. 136;[298] at this last-named temple the people, assembled in their centuries, voted the war against Philip of Macedon. In the same neighbourhood was the Theatre of Balbus, a general under Julius Cæsar, occupying the site of the Piazza della Scuola.
The munificence of Pompey extended the public buildings much further into the Campus. He built, after his triumph, a Temple of Minerva on the site now occupied by the Church of Sta. Maria sopra Minerva, on which the beautiful statue called "the Giustiniani Minerva" was found, and the Theatre of Pompey, surrounded by pillared porticoes and walks shaded with plane-trees.
Under the empire important buildings began to rise up further from the city. The Amphitheatre of Statilius Taurus, whose ruins are supposed to be the foundation of the Monte-Citorio, was built by a general under Augustus; the magnificent Pantheon, the Baths of Agrippa, and the Diribitorium—where the soldiers received their pay—whose huge and unsupported roof was one of the wonders of the city,[299] were due to his son-in-law. Agrippa also brought the Aqua Virgo into the city to supply his baths, conveying it on pillars across the Flaminian Way, the future Corso.
Near this aqueduct was a temple of Juturna;
and another of Isis.
These were followed by the erection of the Temple of Neptune—by some ascribed to Agrippa, who is said to have built it in honour of his naval victories, by others to the time of the Antonines; by the great Imperial Mausoleum, then far out in the country; and by the Baths of Nero, on the site now occupied by S. Luigi and the neighbouring buildings.
Besides these were an Arch of Tiberius, erected by Claudius; a Temple of Hadrian and Basilica of Matidia, built by Antoninus Pius, in honour of his predecessors; the Temple and Arch of Marcus Aurelius, near the site of the present Palazzo Chigi; and an Arch of Gratian, Valentinian II., and Theodosius.
Of all these various buildings nothing remains except the Pantheon, a single arch of the Baths of Agrippa, some disfigured fragments of the Mausoleum, a range of columns belonging to the temple of Neptune, and a portion of the Portico of Octavia. The interest of the Campus Martius is almost entirely mediæval or modern, and the objects worth visiting are scattered amid such a maze of dirty and intricate streets, that they are seldom sought out except by those who make a long stay in Rome, and care for everything connected with its history and architecture.
Following the line of streets which leads from the Piazza di Spagna to St. Peter's (Via Condotti, Via Fontanella Borghese), beyond the Borghese Palace, let us turn to the left by the Via della Scrofa,[300] at the entrance of which is the Palazzo Galitzin on the right, and the Palazzo Cardelli on the left.
Passing, on the right, St. Ivo of Brittany, the national church of the Bretons, the second turn on the right, Via S. Antonio dei Portoguesi, shows a church dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua, and the fine mediæval tower called Torre della Scimia.
In this tower once lived a man who had a favourite ape. One day this creature seized upon a baby, and rushing to the summit, was seen from below, by the agonized parents, perched upon the battlements, and balancing their child to and fro over the abyss. They made a vow in their terror that if the baby were restored in safety, they would make provision that a lamp should burn nightly for ever before an image of the Virgin on the summit. The monkey, without relaxing its hold of the infant, slid down the wall, and bounding and grimacing, laid the child at its mother's feet. Thus a lamp always burns upon the battlements before an image of the Madonna.
This building is better known, however, as "Hilda's Tower," a fictitious name which it has received from Hawthorne's mysterious novel.
"Taking her way through some of the intricacies of the city, Miriam entered what might be called either a widening of a street or a small piazza. The neighbourhood comprised a baker's oven, emitting the usual fragrance of sour bread; a shoe shop; a linendraper's shop; a pipe and cigar shop; a lottery office; a station for French soldiers, with a sentinel pacing in front; and a fruit stand, at which a Roman matron was selling the dried kernels of chesnuts, wretched little figs, and some bouquets of yesterday. A church, of course, was near at hand, the façade of which ascended into lofty pinnacles, whereon were perched two or three winged figures of stone, either angelic or allegorical, blowing stone trumpets in close vicinity to the upper windows of an old and shabby palace. This palace was distinguished by a feature not very common in the architecture of Roman edifices; that is to say, a mediæval tower, square, massive, lofty, and battlemented and machicolated at the summit.
"At one of the angles of the battlements stood a shrine of the Virgin, such as we see everywhere at the street-corners of Rome, but seldom or never, except in this solitary instance, at a height above the ordinary level of men's views and aspirations. Connected with this old tower and its lofty shrine, there is a legend; and for centuries a lamp has been burning before the Virgin's image at noon, at midnight, at all hours of the twenty-four, and must be kept burning for ever, as long as the tower shall stand; or else the tower itself, the palace, and whatever estate belongs to it, shall pass from its hereditary possessor, in accordance with an ancient vow, and become the property of the Church.
"As Miriam approached, she looked upward, and saw—not, indeed, the flame of the never-dying lamp, which was swallowed up in the broad sunlight that brightened the shrine—but a flock of white doves, shining, fluttering, and wheeling above the topmost height of the tower, their silver wings flashing in the pure transparency of the air. Several of them sat on the ledge of the upper window, pushing one another off by their eager struggle for this favourite station, and all tapping their beaks and flapping their wings tumultuously against the panes; some had alighted in the street, far below, but flew hastily upward, at the sound of the window being thrust ajar, and opening in the middle, on rusty hinges, as Roman windows do."—Transformation.
The next street, on the right, leads to the Church of S. Agostino, built originally by Bacio Pintelli, in 1483, for Cardinal d'Estouteville, archbishop of Rouen and Legate in France (the vindicator of Joan of Arc), but altered in 1740 by Vanvitelli. The delicate work of the front, built of travertine robbed from the Coliseum, is much admired by those who do not seek for strength of light and shadow. This church—dedicated to her son—contains the remains of Sta. Monica, brought hither from Ostia, where she died. The chapel of St. Augustin, in the right transept, contains a gloomy picture by Guercino of St. Augustin between St. John Baptist and St. Paul the Hermit. The high altar, by Bernini, has an image of the Madonna brought from Sta. Sophia at Constantinople, and attributed to St. Luke. The second chapel in the left aisle has a group of the Virgin and Child with St. Anna, by Andrea Sansovino, 1512.
On the third pilaster, to the left of the nave, is a fresco of Isaiah by Raphael, painted in 1512, but retouched by Daniele de Volterra in the reign of Paul IV. The prophet holds a scroll with words from Isaiah xxvi. 2. Few will agree with the stricture of Kugler:—
"In a fresco, representing the prophet Isaiah and two angels, who hold a tablet, the comparison is unfavourable to Raphael. An effort to rival the powerful style of Michael-Angelo is very visible in this picture; an effort which, notwithstanding the excellence of the execution in parts, has produced only an exaggerated and affected figure."—Kugler, ii. 371.
The church overflows with silver hearts and other votive offerings, which are all addressed to the Madonna and Child of Andrea Sansovino, close to the west entrance, which is really a fine piece of sculpture—for an object of Roman Catholic idolatry.
"On the pedestal of the image is inscribed—'N. S. Pio VII. concede in perpetuo 100 giorni d'indulgenza da lucrarsi una volta al giorno da tutte quelle che divotamente toccheranno il piede di questa S. Immagine recitando un Ave Maria per il bisogno di S. Chiesa. 7 Giug. MD.CCCXXII."
Around this statue are, or were a short time ago, a whole array of assassins' daggers hung up, strange instances of trespass-offering.
"The Church of S. Agostino is the Methodist meeting-house, so to speak, of Rome, where the extravagance of the enthusiasm of the lower orders is allowed the freest scope. Its Virgin and Child are covered, smothered, with jewels, votive offerings of those whose prayers the image had heard and answered. All round the image the walls are covered with votive offerings likewise; some of a similar kind—jewels, watches, valuables of different descriptions. Some offerings again consist of pictures, representing, generally in the rudest way, some sickness or accident, cured or averted by the appearance in the clouds of the Madonna, as seen in the image. Almost the whole side of the church is covered, from pavement to roof, with these curious productions."—Alford's Letters from Abroad.
"It is not long since the report was spread, that one day when a poor woman called upon this image of the Madonna for help, it began to speak, and replied, 'If I had only something, then I could help thee, but I myself am so poor!'
"This story was circulated, and very soon throngs of credulous people hastened hither to kiss the foot of the Madonna, and to present her with all kinds of gifts. The image of the Virgin, a beautiful figure in brown marble, now sits shining with ornaments of gold and precious stones. Candles and lamps burn around, and people pour in, rich and poor, great and small, to kiss, some of them two or three times—the Madonna's foot, a gilt foot, to which the forehead also is devotionally pressed. The marble foot is already worn away with kissing, the Madonna is now rich.... Below the altar it is inscribed in golden letters that Pius VII. promised two hundred days' absolution to all such as should kiss the Madonna's foot, and pray with the whole heart Ave Maria."—Frederika Bremer.
Passing the arch, just beyond this, is the Church of S. Apollinare, built originally by Adrian I. (772—795), but modernized under Benedict XIV. by Fuga. It contains a number of relics of saints brought from the East by Basilian monks. Over the altar, on the left, in the inner vestibule, is a Madonna by Perugino. The church now belongs to the German college.
S. Apollinare is said to have accompanied St. Peter from Antioch to Rome, and to have remained here as his companion and assistant (whence the church dedicated to him here). He was afterwards sent to preach the faith in Ravenna, where he became the first Christian bishop, and suffered martyrdom outside the Rimini gate, July 23, A.D. 79.
Adjoining this church is the Seminario Romano, founded by Pius IV., on a system drawn up by his nephew, S. Carlo Borromeo. Eight hundred young boys are annually educated here. In order to gain admittance, it is necessary to be of Roman birth, to be acquainted with grammar, and to wish to take orders. Pupils are held to their first intention of entering the priesthood, by being compelled to refund all the expenses of their education, if they renounce it.
Nearly opposite the church is the Palazzo Altemps, built 1580, by Martino Lunghi. Its courtyard, due, like all the best palace work in Rome, to Baldassare Peruzzi, is exceedingly graceful and picturesque. Ancient statues and flowering shrubs occupy the spaces between the arches of the ground-floor, and on the first-floor is a loggia, richly decorated with delicate arabesques in the style of Giovanni da Udine. Near this loggia is a chapel of exceedingly beautiful proportions, and delicately worked detail. It has several good frescoes, especially the Flight into Egypt, and Sta. Cecilia singing to the Virgin and the Child. At the west end is a small gracefully proportioned music-gallery, in various coloured marbles; in an inner chapel is a fine bronze crucifix. The palace, of which the most interesting parts are shown on request, is now the property of the Duke of Gallese, to whom it came by the marriage of Jules Hardouin, Duke of Gallese, with Donna Lucrezia d'Altemps.
Following the Via S. Agostino by the mediæval Torre Sanguinea, whose name bears witness to the mediæval frays of popes and anti-popes, we reach the German national church of Sta. Maria dell' Anima, which derives its name from a marble group of the Madonna invoked by two souls in purgatory, found among the foundations, and now inserted in the tympanum of the portal. It was originally built c. 1440, with funds bequeathed by "un certo Giovanni Pietro," but enlarged in 1514; the façade is by Giuliano da Sangallo. The door-frames, of delicate workmanship, are by Antonio Giamberti.
The front entrance is generally closed, but one can always gain admittance from behind, through the courtyard of the German hospital.
The interior is peculiar, from its great height and width in comparison with its length. It is divided into three almost equal aisles. Over the high altar is a damaged picture of the Holy Family with saints, by Giulio Romano. On the right is the fine tomb of Pope Adrian VI., Adrian Florent (1522—23), designed by Baldassare Peruzzi, and carried out by Michelangelo Sanese and Niccolo Tribolo. This pope, the son of a ship-builder at Utrecht, was professor at the university of Louvain, and tutor of Charles V. After the witty, brilliant age of Julius II. and Leo X., he ushered in a period of penitence and devotion. He drove from the papal court the throng of artists and philosophers who had hitherto surrounded it, and he put a stop to the various great buildings which were in progress, saying, "I do not wish to adorn priests with churches, but churches with priests." Still he found the times so much too frivolous for him, that he only survived a year. In his epitaph we read:—
"Hadrianus hic situs est, qui nihil sibi infelicius in vita quam quod imperaret, duxit."[301]
and—
The tomb was erected at the expense of Cardinal William of Enkenfort, the only prelate to whom he had time to give a hat.
"It is an irony, that Adrian, who despised all the arts on principle, and looked upon Greek statues as idolatrous, had a more artistic monument than Leo X. of the house of Medici. Baldassare Peruzzi made the design, its sculptures were carried out by Michelangelo Sanese and Tribolo, and they merit the highest acknowledgment. Here, as is so often the case, the architecture is, as it were, a frontispiece; but the way in which the pope is represented, resembles, in conformity with his character, the type of the middle ages. He is stretched upon a simple marble sarcophagus, and slumbers with his head supported by his hand. His countenance (Adrian was very handsome) is deeply marked and sorrowful. In the lunette above, following the ancient type, appears Mary with the Child between St. Peter and St. Paul. Below, in the niches, stand the figures of the four cardinal virtues: Temperance holds a chain; Courage a branch of a tree, while a lion stands by her side; Justice has an ostrich by her side; Wisdom carries a mirror and a serpent. These figures are executed with great care. Lastly, under the sarcophagus is a large bas-relief representing the entry of the pope to Rome. He sits on horseback in the dress of a cardinal; behind him follow cardinals and monks; the senator of Rome renders homage on his knees, while from the gate the eternal Rome comes forth to meet him. This Cypria, so well adorned by his predecessors, seems ill-pleased to do homage to this cross old man. With secret pleasure one sees a pagan idea carried out in the corner: the Tiber is represented as a river god with his horn of abundance; and thus the devout pope could not defend himself against the heathen spirit of the time, which has at least attached itself to his tomb."—Gregorovius, Grabmäler der Päpste.
Opposite the pope, on the left of the choir, is the fine tomb of a Duke of Cleves, who died 1575, by Egidius of Riviere and Nicolaus of Arras.
The body of the church has several good pictures. In the 1st chapel of the right aisle is St. Bruno receiving the keys of the cathedral of Miessen in Saxony from a fisherman, who had found them in the inside of a fish, by Carlo Saraceni; in the 2nd chapel, the monument of Cardinal Slusius; in the 3rd chapel, an indifferent copy of the Pietà of Michael Angelo, by Nanni di Bacio Bigio. In the 1st chapel of the left aisle is the martyrdom of St. Lambert, C. Saraceni.
The two pictures in this church are cited by Lanzi as the best works of this comparatively rare artist, sometimes called Carlo Veneziano, 1585—1625. He sought to follow in the steps of Caravaggio; many will think that he surpassed him, when they look upon the richness of colour and grand effect of light and shadow which is displayed here.
In the 3rd chapel (del Christo Morto), frescoes from the life of Sta. Barbara, Mich. Coxcie, altar-piece (the entombment) and frescoes by Salviati.
On the left of the west door is the tomb of Cardinal Andrea of Austria, nephew of Ferdinand II., who died 1650; on the right that of Cardinal Enckenovirt, died 1500. In the passage towards the sacristy is a fine bas-relief, representing Gregory XIII. giving a sword to the Duke of Cleves.
Close to this church is that of Sta. Maria della Pace, built in 1487, by Baccio Pintelli, to fulfil a curious ex-voto made by Sixtus IV. Formerly there stood here a little chapel dedicated to St. Andrew, in whose portico was an image of the Virgin. One day a drunken soldier pierced the bosom of this Madonna with his sword, when blood miraculously spirted forth. Sixtus IV. (Francesco della Rovere, 1471—84) visited the spot with his cardinals, and vowed to compensate the Virgin by building her a church, if she would grant peace to Europe and the Church, then afflicted by a cruel war with the Turks. Peace was restored, and the Church of "St. Mary of Peace" was erected by the grateful pope. Pietro da Cortona added the peculiar semicircular portico under Alexander VII. The interior has only a short nave ending under an octagonal cupola.
Above the 1st chapel on the right (that of the Chigi family) are the Four Sibyls of Raphael.
"This is one of Raphael's most perfect works: great mastery is shown in the mode of filling and taking advantage of the apparently unfavourable space. The angels who hold the tablets to be written on, or read by the Sibyls, create a spirited variety in the severe symmetrical arrangement of the whole. Grace in the attitudes and movements, with a peculiar harmony of form and colour, pervade the whole picture; but important restorations have unfortunately become necessary in several parts. An interesting comparison may be instituted between this work and the Sibyls of Michael Angelo. In each we find the peculiar excellence of the great masters; for while Michael Angelo's figures are grand, sublime, profound, the fresco of the Pace bears the impress of Raphael's severe and ingenious grace. The four Prophets, on the wall over the Sibyls, were executed by Timoteo della Vite, after drawings by Raphael."—Kugler.
"The Sibyls have suffered much from time, and more, it is said, from restoration; yet the forms of Raphael, in all their loveliness, all their sweetness, are still before us; they breathe all the soul, the sentiment, the chaste expression, and purity of design that characterize his works. The dictating angels hover over the heads of the gifted maids, one of whom writes with rapid pen the irreversible decrees of Fate. The countenances and musing attitudes of her sister Sibyls express those feelings of habitual thoughtfulness and pensive sadness natural to those who are cursed with the knowledge of futurity, and all its coming evils."—Eaton's Rome.
"The Sibyls are simply beautiful women of antique form, to whom, with the aid of books, scrolls, and inscriptions, the Sibyllic idea has been given, but who would equally pass for the abstract personifications of virtues or cities. They are four in number,—the Cumana, Phrygia, Persica, and Tiburtina; all, with the exception of the last, in the fulness of youth and beauty, and occupied, apparently, with no higher aim than that of displaying both. Indeed, the Tiburtina matches ill with the rest, either in character or action. She is aged, has an open book on her lap, but turns with a strange and rigid action as if suddenly called. The very comparison with her tends to divest the others of the Sibylline character. In this, the angels who float above, and obviously inspire them, also help, for while adding to the charm of the composition, which is one of the most exquisite as to mere art, they interfere with that inwardly inspired expression which all other art has given to these women.
"The inscription on the scroll of the Cumæan Sibyl gives in Greek the words, 'The Resurrection of the Dead.' The Persica is writing on the scroll held by the angel, 'He will have the lot of Death.' The beautiful Phrygia is presented with a scroll, 'The heavens surround the sphere of the earth;' and the Tiburtina has under her the inscription, 'I will open and arise.' The fourth angel floats above, holding the seventh line of Virgil's Eclogue, 'Jam nova progenies.'"—Lady Eastlake's 'History of Our Lord.'
The 1st chapel on the left has monuments of the Ponzetti family. The 2nd chapel on the left has an altar-piece of the Virgin between St. Bridget and St. Catherine, by Baldassare Peruzzi; in the front of the picture kneels the donor, Cardinal Ponzetti. The 1st altar on the right has the Adoration of the Shepherds by Sermoneta. The 2nd chapel, the burial-place of the Santa Croce family, has rich carved work of the sixteenth century. The high altar, designed by Carlo Maderno, has an ancient (miracle-working) Madonna. Of the four paintings of the cupola, the Nativity of the Virgin is by Francesco Vanni; the Visitation, Carlo Maratta; the Presentation in the Temple, Baldassare Peruzzi; the Death of the Virgin, Morandi.
Newly-married couples have the touching custom of attending their first mass here, and invoking "St. Mary of Peace" to rule the course of their new life.
The Cloister of the Convent, entered on the left under the dome, was designed by Bramante for Cardinal Caraffa in 1504.
From the portico of the church the Via in Parione leads to the Via del Governo Vecchio. Here, on the right, is the Palazzo del Governo Vecchio, with a richly-sculptured door-way, and ancient cloistered court.
Proceeding as far as the Piazza del Orologio, we see on the right an eminence known as Monte Giordano, supposed to be artificial, and to have arisen from the ruins of ancient buildings.
Its name is derived from Giordano Orsini, a noble of one of the oldest Roman families, who built the palace there, which is now known as the Palazzo Gabrielli, and which has rather a handsome fountain. It was probably in consequence of the name Jordan, that this hillock was chosen in mediæval times as the place where the Jews in Rome received the newly-elected pope on his way to the Lateran, and where their elders, covered with veils, presented him, on their knees, with a copy of the Pentateuch bound in gold. Then the Jews spoke in Hebrew, saying, "Most holy Father, we Hebrew men beseech your Holiness, in the name of our synagogue, to vouchsafe to us that the Mosaic Law, given on Mount Sinai by the Almighty God to Moses our priest, may be confirmed and approved, as also other eminent popes, the predecessors of your Holiness, have approved and confirmed it". And the pope replied, "We confirm the Law, but we condemn your faith and interpretation thereof, because He who you say is to come, the Lord Jesus Christ, is come already, as our Church teaches and preaches."
Turning to the left, we enter a piazza, one side of which is occupied by the convent of the Oratorians, and the vast Church of Santa Maria in Valicella, or the Chiesa Nuova, built by Martino Lunghi for Gregory XIII. and S. Filippo Neri. The façade is by Rughesi. The decorations of the magnificently-ugly interior are partly due to Pietro da Cortona, who painted the roof and cupola.
On the left of the tribune is the gorgeous Chapel of S. Filippo Neri, containing the shrine of the saint, rich in lapis-lazuli and gold, surmounted by a mosaic copy of the picture by Guido in the adjoining convent.
On the right, in the 1st chapel, is the Crucifixion, by Scipione Gaetani; in the 3rd chapel, the Ascension, Maziano. On the left, in the 2nd chapel, is the Adoration of the Magi, Cesare Nebbia; in the 3rd chapel, the Nativity, Durante Alberti; in the 4th chapel, the Visitation, Baroccio. In the left transept are statues of SS. Peter and Paul, by Valsoldo, and the Presentation in the Temple, by Baroccio. When S. Filippo Neri saw this picture, he said to the painter "Ma come avete ben fatto!—Che vera somiglianza!—E così che mi ha apparato tante volte la Santa Vergine."
The high altar has four columns of porta-santa. Its pictures are by Rubens in his youth;—that in the centre represents the Virgin in a glory of angels; on the right are St. Gregory, S. Mauro, and St. Papias; on the left St. Domitilla, St. Nereus, and St. Achilleus.
The Sacristy, entered from the left transept, is by Marucelli. It has a grand statue of S. Filippo Neri, by Algardi. The ceiling is painted by Pietro da Cortona—the subject is an angel bearing the instruments of the passion to heaven.
The Monastery, built by Borromini, contains the magnificent library founded by S. Filippo. The cell of the saint is accessible, even to ladies. It retains his confessional, chair, shoes, rope-girdle,—and also a cast taken from his face after death, and some pictures which belonged to him, including one of Sta. Francesca Romana, and the portrait of an archbishop of Florence. In the private chapel adjoining, is the altar at which he daily said mass, over which is a picture of his time. Here also are the crucifix which was in his hands when he died, his candlesticks, and some sacred pictures on tablets which he carried to the sick. The door of the cell is the same, and the little bell by which he summoned his attendant. In a room below is the carved coffin in which he lay in state, a picture of him lying dead, and the portrait by Guercino from which the mosaic in the church is taken. A curious picture in this chamber represents an earthquake at Beneventum, in which Pope Gregory XIV. believed that his life was saved by an image of S. Filippo. When S. Filippo Nero died,—as in the case of S. Antonio,—the Catholic world exclaimed intuitively, "Il Santo è morto!"
The church of the Chiesa Nuova belongs exclusively to the Oratorian Fathers. Pope Leo XII. wished to turn it into a parish church.
"It was said that the superior of the house took, and showed, to the Holy Father, an autograph memorial of the founder St. Philip Neri to the pope of his day, petitioning that his church should never be a parish. And below it was written that pope's promise, also in his own hand, that it never should. This pope was St. Pius V. Leo bowed to such authorities, said that he could not contend against two saints, and altered his plans."—Wiseman's Life of Leo XII.
"S. Filippo Neri was good-humoured, witty, strict in essentials, indulgent in trifles. He never commanded; he advised, or perhaps requested: he did not discourse, he conversed: and he possessed, in a remarkable degree, the acuteness necessary to distinguish the peculiar merit of every character."—Ranke.
"S. Filippo Neri laid the foundation of the Congregation of Oratorians in 1551. Several priests and young ecclesiastics associating themselves with him, began to assist him in his conferences, and in reading prayers and meditations to the people in the Church of the Holy Trinity. They were called Oratorians, because at certain hours every morning and afternoon, by ringing a bell, they called the people to the church to prayers and meditations. In 1564, when the saint had formed his congregation into a regular community, he preferred several of his young ecclesiastics to holy orders; one of whom was the eminent Cæsar Baronius, whom, for his sanctity, Benedict XIV., by a decree dated on the 12th of January, 1745, honoured with the title of 'Venerable Servant of God.' At the same time he formed his disciples into a community, using one common purse and table, and he gave them rules and statutes. He forbade any of them to bind themselves to this state by vow or oath, that all might live together joined only by the bands of fervour and holy charity; labouring with all their strength to establish the kingdom of Christ in themselves by the most perfect sanctification of their own souls, and to propagate the same in the souls of others, by preaching, instructing the ignorant, and teaching the Christian doctrine."—Alban Butler.
"S. Filippo Neri exacted from his scholars and associates various undignified outward acts. He required from a young Roman prince, who wished to enjoy the distinction of being a member of his Order, that he should walk through Rome with a fox's tail fastened on behind: and when the prince declined to submit to this, he was declined admission to the Order. Another was made to go through the city without a coat; and another, with torn and tattered sleeves. A nobleman took compassion on the last, and offered him a new pair of sleeves: the youth declined, but afterwards, by command of the master, was obliged gratefully to fetch and wear them. During the building of the new church, he compelled his disciples to bring up the materials like day labourers, and to lay their hands to the work."—Goethe, Romische Briefe.
It was in the piazza in front of this church that (during the reign of Clement XIV.) a beautiful boy was wont to improvise wonderful verses to the admiration of the crowds who surrounded him. This boy was named Trapassi, and was the son of a grocer in the neighbourhood. The Arcadian Academy changed his name into Greek, and called him "Metastasio."
From the corner of the piazza in front of the Chiesa Nuova, the Via Calabraga leads into the Via Monserrato, which it enters between Sta. Lucia del Gonfalone on the right, and S. Stefano in Piscinula on the left;—then, passing on the right S. Giacomo in Aino—behind which, and the Palazzo Ricci, is Santo Spirito dei Napolitani, a much frequented and popular little church—we reach Sta. Maria di Monserrato, built by Sangallo, in 1495, where St. Ignatius Loyola was wont to preach and catechise.
Here, behind the altar, under a stone unmarked by any epitaph, repose at last the remains of Pope Alexander VI., Rodrigo Borgia (1492—1503),—the infamous father of the beautiful and wicked Cæsar and Lucretia Borgia, who is believed to have died from accidentally drinking in a vineyard-banquet the poison which he had prepared for one of his own cardinals. When exhumed and turned out of the pontifical vaults of St Peter's by Julius II., he found a refuge here in his national church. The bones of his uncle Calixtus III., Alfonso Borgia (1455—58), rest in the same grave.
A little further, on the left, is the Church of S. Tommaso degli Inglesi, rebuilt 1870, on the site of a church founded by Offa, king of the East Saxons in 775, but destroyed by fire in 817. It was rebuilt, and was dedicated by Alexander III. (1159) to St. Thomas à Becket, who had lodged in the adjoining hospital when he was in Rome. Gregory XIII., in 1575, united the hospital which existed here with one for English sailors on the Ripa Grande, dedicated to St. Edmund the Martyr, and converted them into a college for English missionaries.
"Nothing like a hospice for English pilgrims existed till the first great Jubilee, when John Shepherd and his wife Alice, seeing this want, settled in Rome, and devoted their substance to the support of poor palmers from their own country. This small beginning grew into sufficient importance for it to become a royal charity; the King of England became its patron, and named its rector, often a person of high consideration. Among the fragments of old monuments scattered about the house by the revolution, and now collected and arranged in a corridor of the college, is a shield surmounted by a crown, and carved with the ancient arms of England, lions or lionceaux, and fleur-de-lis, quarterly. This used formerly to be outside the house, and under it was inscribed:
In the hall of the college are preserved portraits of Roman Catholics who suffered for their faith in England under Henry VIII. and Elizabeth.
The small cloister has a beautiful tomb of Christopher Bainbrigg, archbishop of York, British envoy to Julius II., who died at Rome 1514, and a monument of Sir Thomas Dereham, ob. 1739. Against the wall is the monument of Martha Swinburne, a prodigy of nine years old, inscribed:
"Memoriæ Marthæ, Henrici et Marthæ Swinburne. Nat. Angliæ. ex. Antiqua. et. Nobili. Familia. Caphæton. Northumbriæ. Parentes. Mœstiss. Filiæ. Carissimæ. Pr. Quæ. Ingenio. Excellenti. Forma. Eximia. Incredibili. Doctrina. Moribus. Suavissimis. Vix. Ann. viii. Men. xi. Tantum. Prærepta. Romæ. v. ID. SEPT. AN. MDCCLXVIII.
"Martha Swinburne, born Oct. X. MDCCLVIII. Died Sept. VIII. MDCCLXVII. Her years were few, but her life was long and full. She spoke English, French, and Italian, and had made some progress in the Latin tongue; knew the English and Roman histories, arithmetic, and geography; sang the most difficult music at sight with one of the finest voices in the world, was a great proficient on the harpsichord, wrote well, and danced many sorts of dances with strength and elegance. Her face was beautiful and majestic, her body a perfect model, and all her motions graceful. Her docility in doing everything to make her parents happy, could only be equalled by her sense and aptitude. With so many perfections, amidst the praises of all persons, from the sovereign down to the beggar in the street, her heart was incapable of vanity; affectation and arrogance were unknown to her. Her beauty and accomplishments made her the admiration of all beholders, the love of all that enjoyed her company. Think, then, what the pangs of her wretched parents must be on so cruel a separation. Their only comfort is in the certitude of her being completely happy beyond the reach of pain, and for ever freed from the miseries of this life. She can never feel the torments they endure for the loss of a beloved child. Blame them not for indulging an innocent pride in transmitting her memory to posterity as an honour to her family and to her native country England. Let this plain character, penned by her disconsolate father, draw a tear of pity from every eye that peruses it."
The arm of St. Thomas à Becket is the chief "relic" preserved here.
At the end of the street are two exceedingly ugly little churches—very interesting from their associations. On the right is St. Girolamo della Carità, founded on the site of the house of Sta. Paula, where she received St Jerome upon his being called to Rome from the Thebaid by Pope Damasus in 392. Here he remained for three years, till, embittered by the scandal excited by his residence in the house of the widow, he returned to his solitude.
In 1519 S. Filippo Neri founded here a Confraternity for the distribution of dowries to poor girls, for the assistance of debtors, and for the maintenance of fourteen priests for the visitation and confession of the sick.