Notes of a residence at Rome, in 1846

Chapter I. Page

The Mediterranean. — Genoa. — Leghorn. — Elba. — Approach to Rome. — Design of the Work. — Appearance of the City. — Churches. — Jealous Policy of the Government. — Description of the Churches. — Their Ornaments. — Relics. .... 1

Chapter II

Churches. — The Dome. — Its Paintings. — Monuments. — Plenaria Indulgentia. — Its Tendencyand Consequences. — Description of St. Peter's. — Bronze Statue of St. Peter. — Dimensions of the Church. — Basilica of St. John Lateran. — Its Relics. — The Pantheon.— Is preserved entire. . . . . . . .18

Chapter III

The Clergy, secular and regular. — Are very numerous, and destined to the Church from Childhood. — The Cardinals. — Gallery of Cardinal Fesch. — Mode of electing the Pope. — State of our Relations with Rome. — Inquiry concerning the Habit of the Cardinal. — Bishops. — Monsignores. . . . . .43

Chapter IV

Cardinal Lambruschini. — Cardinal Mikara. — The regular Clergy. — Dominicans and Jesuits. — Their Activity and Zeal. — Capuchins and Franciscans. — Convents. — Other Orders. — Nuns and Nunneries. ......... G2

IV CONTENTS.

Chapter V

Ceremonies at St. Peter's. — Their Effects. — Christmas. — Procession.— Gregory XVL — Guardia Nobile. — Temporal and spiritual Character of the Pope. — Papal Benediction. . . .82

Chapter VI

Ceremonies at Easter. — The Pope receives the Eucharist sitting. — Elevation of the Host. — The Pope blesses the People from the Balcony of St. Peter's. — Church of the Augustines. — Statue of the Virgin. — Is much celebrated. — Its Offerings. . 101

Chapter VII

Procession of the Circumcision. — Espositione della Santa Virgine. — Clerical Converts. — Probable Origin of the Procession. — Procession of the Host. . . . . . . . .117

Chapter VIII

Paintings : Subjects chiefly Sacred. — St. Anthony preaching to the Fishes. — Picture of St. Denis. — The Sistine Chapel. — The " Last Judgment." — The Miserere. 133

Chapter IX

Adorazione della Vera Croce. — The Spear. — The Nails. — The Crucifixion.— The Sudario. — State of Religion at Rome. — Her Prospects. — Adoration of Relics. — Relics, Indian and Egyptian. — Absurdity of the Practice. ...... 149

Chapter X

Relics continued. — Observations on. — St. Apollonia. — St. Stanislaus. — Portable Relic. — Scalar Sanctae : Remarks concerning.— St. Ranieri, Pisa. — Santa Clara 163

CONTENTS,

CHAPTER XT.

Respect to the Virgin. — Her Altars and Pictures. — Inscriptions.— Worship of the Virgin. — Miraculous Conversion of a Jew at the Church of St. Andrea del Trate. — Bronze Statue of the Virgin near the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore. — II Volto Santo. 183

Chapter XVIII

Modern Rome. — Population of Ancient Rome. — Malaria. — Pincian Hill. — The Corso. — Palaces. — Egyptian Obelisks. — Ostentation of the Popes. — Markets. — Fountains. — The Tiber. — The Capitol. — Forum. — Arch of Constantine. — Arch of Titus. — Temples. — Convents. — Concluding Observations. . . .295

NOTES

OF

A RESIDENCE AT ROME.

Chapter I

THE MEDITERRANEAN. — GENOA. — LEGHORN. — ELBA. APPROACH

TO ROME. — DESIGN OF THE WORK. — APPEARANCE OF THE CITY. — CHU*RCHES. — JEALOUS POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT. DE- SCRIPTION OF THE CHURCHES. THEIR ORNAMENTS. — RELICS.

After the long and harassing journey through France, the monotonous scenery of which supplies but little to relieve the tediousness of the way, — where the reminiscences are not of romantic beauty, but of diligences, hotels, and dishonest bills, — how delightful it is to find oneself upon the blue Mediterranean, with a sky above us that tells we are fast approaching the sweet south ! The moment we leave Marseilles we enter into a new world ; and the prospect from the quarter-deck of the steamer, of rocky islets and the receding mainland,

2 THE MEDITERRANEAN.

with its villas, castles, and convents, almost repays the toil we have already undergone.

As "II Ercolano " advances with a rapid pace, and cleaves the waters, leaving far behind her track of foam, we discern some of the peaks of the hills of France, or enter upon that uninteresting part of the Continent where the Rhone pays its tribute to the ocean. But even now the barks plying along, some lazily with the oar, and others with crowded canvas, contribute to keep attention alive.

Night soon calls us to the cabin, where our associates are some of the elite of old England; all wending their way to exchange the murky days and biting winds of their northern clime, for the brilliant sunshine and flowery land of Italy. Our steamer was a credit to the enterprising Neapolitan company ; nothing could exceed the accommodation and attention to be met with on board. If any of my countrymen evince a regard for comfort and cleanliness I should recommend before all others the " Ercolano :" they will have cause to be thankful for the suggestion. " Credite experto."

" Will you pass the Alps without a look ?" says a fellow-passenger, as the awaking morn rolled back the mists from the water, and the clouds that

GENOA. 3

lay heavily upon the headlands. What a glorious sight ! the spirit becomes elevated, and rises far above itself, as it contemplates these " palaces of nature." Rugged and bare as they are, caught by the eye, as far as it can reach, until they descend into the ocean, piled one upon the other until they end in clouds, they discover to those accustomed to the lowlands of Britain unequalled views of magnificence and grandeur. The Alp and Apennine vary much in their characteristic scenery. The former mount into the clouds, and seem, like another Atlas, to bear the weight of the heavens ; but the Apennines, whose feet are also washed by the wave, shoot up like the pinnacles of an eastern temple, tapering to points of wondrous symmetry and elegance. To the "hoar Alp" Nature gave boldness and sublimity, while she seems to have reared " the lofty Apennine" with a greater regard to finish and effect.

The glimpse of Genoa is unrivalled. It is a circle of beauty. Palaces and gardens, churches, towers, and terraces, meet the eye in every quarter. The town is built upon a descent, and the houses and streets are consequently seen to the utmost advantage. As the genial sun of November shed its cheering light upon the panorama before me,

b2

4 LEGHORN. — ELBA.

I shall never forget how the lovely scene was heightened by a musician coming silently under the stern, and joining with his melodious voice the soft tones of his guitar. The united influence upon me was that of calmness and repose, much needed after a fortnights fatigue. All told me that I had come to a land of beauty and pleasure — to another Calypso's isle. Though some time has elapsed, I almost hear that music still. The impression it made was indelible. It was our welcome to the south.

Leghorn, or, as the natives call it, Livorno, has little to attract notice, save that it is a well-built town and a flourishing port. What we could see of Tuscany from the neighbourhood shewed a highly cultivated country and a contented people. The place is, however, uninteresting, lying low, and having no objects to cause a moment's delay to the tourist.

Elba is passed. It was night, and we could only discern the high land standing in relief against the moonless sky. With what interest Napoleon has invested every place connected with his extraordinary career! As long as we could catch a glimpse of the dark form of the island, every eye was bent towards it. Once a small unnoticed spot,

CIVITA VECCHIA. 5

the prestige of his name has connected it for the future and for ever with fame.

We are at length in the dominions of the Pope, safely moored at Civita Vecchia. It is a small but good harbour, however nothing in the way of trade seems to be going on. I should have expected otherwise, but I do believe that her commerce is paralysed by the unenterprising, sluggish spirit which marks everything in the States of the Church. The method of keeping time, by which the inhabitants make themselves ridiculous, is one of the peculiarities of the place.* The town is small, and contains no objects worthy of note. "The waveless sea" stretches on both sides as far as the eye can wander, and, except a few fishers' barques, bears nothing on its bosom to add interest to the scene.

The distance to Rome is not long, and a few hours on a road paved by the old Romans brings you to the walls of the Eternal City. What associations are evoked when one is about to enter the capital of the great commonwealth, which for so

* In the States of the Church the day is not divided, as with us, into two intervals of twelve hours. Their time runs on to twenty-four hours; so that the stranger is at first a little perplexed, when asking, " II tempo di giorno," to have some such answer as the following : " Tredice," or, as it might happen, " Vente tre et mezza."

6 APPROACH TO ROME.

long a period was mistress of the world. The halo that surrounds her history receives new brightness, by which every page vividly returns to the mind. The deathless names with which every era of her existence abounded, winning their fame in the field or the forum, rise before us. We cannot forget that we tread the scene of the peaceful triumphs of a Horace or a Virgil, as well as that once cumbered with the ruthless spoils of a Titus or a Caesar. The very soil seems sacred ; and we tread the stones that resound to our footsteps, with something of the same feeling, but vastly more absorbing and intense, with which we walk the eloquent churchyard. It is the land which Scipio covered with laurels, and which contains his ashes ; which gave birth to Cato, and still

"breathes — burns with Cicero."

We come, as it were, to do homage to these great names, and to bend over those tombs, whose lone occupants have made the place the first in gallantry and glory — " the city of the soul." Such are the reflections that rise as we cross the Ponte di S. Angelo, with the Tiber flowing beneath, and enter the modern city.

It is not my purpose, as it would be useless, to describe the majestic ruins which are scattered in

DESIGN OF THIS WORK. 7

profusion around. They have had many pens in poetry and prose, which describe them faithfully, and leave no detail untouched. Winckelmann will tell you of their antiquity, while Byron invests with all the graces of sentiment and feeling these noble monuments of a noble race : —

" Out upon time, for 't will leave no more Of the things that come than the things before ; Out upon time, for for ever 't will leave But enough of the past for the future to grieve."

I hasten to another subject, to which my attention was directed during a considerable sojourn at Rome, namely, the church, government, and ceremonies. Modern Rome, as the city of the Popes and the capital of the Catholic Church, receives almost as much interest as the old city did from her deeds of arms. It is the busy hive which has for centuries sent forth her missionaries to accomplish her religious or political purposes ; and her triumphs have been often as signal and as sanguinary. It is the capacious nest where those " Orders" have been hatched, which have enacted a conspicuous part in the history of Europe, — the Dominicans and Jesuits, — names as much given to fame as the philosophic sects of old. At the present time, also, when the Church of England

8 APPEARANCE OF THE CITY.

has been assailed, and deserted by some of those who should have built her up, a glance at the interior of the Roman Catholic institution may not be unacceptable or without its use.

Upon entering the Eternal City nothing is so striking as the number of churches, which are successively exposed to the eye of the traveller. Enter at what gate you may, (and Rome in this particular is almost a second Thebes,) and almost the first object that is sure to attract your notice is a church, placed probably in such a locality to remind the traveller that he is arrived within the city of the Church — the renowned capital of the Supreme Pontiff. As you enter the Porta del Popolo from the north, immediately within, to the left, you pass the handsome edifice dedicated to Santa Maria ; and within two hundred yards, opposite, you gaze at two exactly similar and uniform churches, each terminating the angle of two streets running in the direction of the gate ; the Via Ripetta and Via del Corso. If you pass from Mar« seilles by the Mediterranean, and stand first on the sunny south at Civita Vecchia, as you enter Rome by the Vecchia gate, the stately temple of St. Peter's, with its magnificent colonnades and aerial dome, bursts upon the view. The gate of

CHURCHES. 9

St. John Lateran leads you at once to the superb cathedral of that name. The first edifices you encounter from the Porto Lorenzo, upon traversing the now unfrequented part of the road until you enter the modern city, are churches — so perfect a holy land is this, were you to judge from appearances. But this is not all; as you diverge from the gates, and go further into the city, a church meets you at about every two hundred yards. The number consequently is very great, greater than that of any other city in the world.

I have been assured that there are three hundred churches ; and a priest, whose acquaintance I made, informed me, that, were it necessary " to perform mass" at a new church every day in the year, it could be done without any difficulty. He added, no doubt, to the parochial and public churches and basilicas, the chapels of the convents and palaces, hardly any of which can be called private. Although the Roman calendar is large, it may seem a matter of some difficulty to find fresh saints, who should have the honour of each church's dedication. But the matter is easily managed ; the same saint presides over several, the name only has some variation or adjunct. Thus we find churches " di Santa

Maria," to " Santa Maria en Trastevere ;" others

B 5

10 CATHEDRAL OF ST. PAUL.

dedicated to St. Peter, again to " San Pietro in Vincoli."

It is indeed the land of churches, as well as of the Church. All the resources of the Papal government are directed to the building and keeping in repair their houses of worship. Instead of providing for the maintenance and well-being of the poor, or promoting objects which may have in view the improvement of the country and the development of its great resources, any money that may abound in the exchequer is invariably expended in this ecclesiastical mania. As an instance of this, for the last few years, a cathedral, only inferior in dimensions and design to the great monument of Michael Angelo's skill, has been building with great activity, — that of San Paolo, on the Via Ostia. The expenditure upon this is enormous, the building being coated with the richest marble ; and the mosaics, paintings, and statues, which profusely decorate the interior, are of a high order, so that it has been found necessary to let funds for the purpose accumulate, and to carry on the work only by degrees. The funds which are thus uselessly bestowed might with much greater wisdom be applied to objects of undoubted utility. To improve the navigation of the Tiber from Rome to Ostia,

JEALOUSY OF THE GOVERNMENT. 11

would be productive of the greatest prosperity to both these cities. That classic river is only navigable for boats of about twenty tons burden, and has evidently disimproved from the times the Caesars bore upon its waters the ponderous spoils of Egypt. A railroad, also, from Civita Vecchia, a distance of forty miles, could easily and expeditiously convey merchandise and passengers from that excellent port. This would be a national benefit, and would, without contradiction, steadily and to a large extent increase the revenue. These subjects have been brought under the notice of government, but, from the peculiar shortsightedness and narrow views which have ever characterised the measures of the Papal executive, they have been either postponed or abandoned. The reason of which is evident : the march of improvement,* and the general change in the minds of men and things which have strongly marked the last quarter of a century, have been viewed with jealousy and alarm by the occupants of the Vatican. They fear, and perhaps not without foundation, that the elements of change and innovation, which have been working amidst society, — in commerce, science, and literature, would, if they were suffered to approach

* These remarks apply chiefly to the late government.

12 JEALOUSY OF THE GOVERNMENT.

the Roman capital, be at once transferred to the religious system, which, enthroned here, as a great heart, sends forth its streams to so large a portion of the world. Their strength consists in " resisting change ; " and they are but too well aware, that, if its influences were but once permitted to operate, the religion of Rome, with its mitred prince, and all the proud superstructure which has held in vassalage for ages both the minds and bodies of men, would run the hazard of crumbling to the dust.

The method of expending the revenues of the state, to which I have alluded, might be defended, nevertheless, if the wants of the people required those churches, and it was clear those at present existing in the city were incapable of accommodating their numbers. But the state of things there, is, as we have seen, quite adverse to such a proposition. Fifty of the churches of Rome would be more than sufficient to afford every convenience, and supply all spiritual necessity.

With the exception of the older basilicas, and including chiefly the beautiful structures of St. Peter's and St. John Lateran, the religious edifices of Rome, viewed from the exterior, quite disappoint the beholder. They are, in general, exceedingly plain, and almost devoid of ornament.

DESCRIPTION OF THE CHURCHES. 13

The rich Gothic ornament, which we meet in the older abbeys and cathedrals of the British isles, is totally wanting. The lofty tower, or the tapering spire, has never found favour with the Italian architect. Those exquisitely carved windows, serving so well to admit " the dim religious light " upon the sacred aisles, are not to be found. The delicate tracery — the elaborate care which has been bestowed upon the French cathedrals, picturesque as it is in the extreme, and captivating to the eye, has never found its way to the city of the Popes. Upon a plain front there are inscriptions declaring the saint to whom the edifice is dedicated, and perhaps, also, the name of the pious builder. An unpretending cross upon the summit only proclaims its sanctity. But when we open the hanging door, and step within, the scene is altogether changed. We pass as it were from a wilderness to a garden— from our cold world into fairy-land. A large hall, supported upon marble pillars, — the purest and most valuable from the hills of Greece, — terminating in a raised altar, formed with exquisite taste, of the richest materials, opens upon the view. Statues, the works of the most eminent artists, repose in profusion around; any one of which would be the wonder of the collection of

14 DESCRIPTION OF THE CHURCHES;

any of our nobility. The walls are covered with paintings, representing Scripture pieces, or the legends of saints, beautiful in execution and imposing in effect. They are the efforts of immortal names. Raphael, Guido, Annibale Carracci, Carlo Dolce, Guercino, are soon and easily recognised. Some of the noblest productions of the great masters are to be found in these sacred repositories, generally as altar-pieces. And if the artist or amateur departs from Rome without inspecting them, one and all, he will find that the purpose of his journey to this "mistress of arts, as once of arms," has been but half accomplished. Indeed, we owe to the monks and secular clergy that encouragement of the sister arts of statuary and painting, which has left so much for posterity both to imitate and admire — arts which had languished, or perhaps been lost during the darker ages, amid the din of arms and the reign of ignorance, but for the timely aid they received from the discerning inmates of the cloister and the aisle. Their Order itself has produced no mean painters. The frescoes in several churches are by them, and the works of Fra Bartolomeo at Lucca and in other places have procured for the author no inconsiderable name.

THEIR ORNAMENTS. 15

Although in these edifices statues, perhaps from the chisel of a Michael Angelo, and paintings, probably the creation of a Corregio, arrest the attention of the beholder, much still remains to surprise and delight. The pavement is generally to be found of mosaic, in which beautiful patterns are worked with extraordinary care. Pictures, also of the same material, will be found, having all the force and freshness of the finest oil painting ; with this difference, too, on its side, that it is almost imperishable. Many of the mosaics from the times of the Emperors are to be found in the museums or in private collections, retaining undiminished their colours and beauty. So cleverly are the mosaic pictures of the churches executed, that it requires close inspection and a practised eye to tell the difference. This especially applies to the superb specimens that grace the walls of St. Peter's. A copy of Raphael's chef d'oeuvre, the Transfiguration, in this minute material, has been considered almost a fac-simile of that great triumph of genius.

But, after all, it is perhaps upon the altar and chancel that the greatest care has been bestowed. These are in general placed in the centre of the cross of the ground-plan. Marble is mostly the material of which they are composed — but such marble ! Of red, purple, or green, crossed by the most brilliant veins, and finished with the highest polish. In not a few the rich blue and gold of the lapis lazuli is blended with the fine hues of the verd antique. These are all formed of the pillage of the Roman temples ; and when we consider that the conquerors of the world ransacked their empire for the purpose of furnishing materials to beautify the abodes of their gods, we may conclude how rare and rich they are. Gilding, and sometimes even solid gold, lend their aid to this holy of holies. An ark of precious stone, of onyx, or alabaster, contains the revered hostia, and candelabra of various but correct designs surmount the altar ; on the centre of which, but a little space behind, is to be found either a colossal crucifix or an image of the Virgin.

These altars are, without exception, hollow, and are the receptacles for what the monks and people deem of the highest value — the relics and the bodies of saints. Gilt letters upon a medallion (iS Hie jacet corpus" Sj-c.,) tell who the fortunate possessor may be : they are the safeguards of the churches, and the treasury of the priests. In these places, and not in the silent tomb or narrow grave, repose the bodies of the apostles, martyrs, and canonised Popes. Some of them, upon certain days of the year, the festa of the peculiar saint, are exposed to the reverence of the multitude or the gaze of the vulgar. Where a saint of notoriety sleeps, a small light is kept constantly burning, but barely visible through a small orifice in the front. The sacristan will tell you that it has never been extinguished from the period that the earthly labours of the saint terminated. The effect upon the mind is curious : we are impressed, as it were, that the spirit of the departed keeps watch and ward over the precious relics, and gives a portion of animation and life to the frail and perishing records of the dead. To the unreflecting, also, it may in some degree convey the notion of the soul's immortality, and that, though centuries have wrapped the silent ashes, the living principle has for the same long period resisted their sway.

18 CHURCHES.

Chapter II. Churches. — The Dome. — Its Paintings. — Monuments. — Plena

RIA INDULGENTIA. ITS TENDENCY AND CONSEQUENCES.

DESCRIPTION OP ST. PETER'S. BRONZE STATUE OP ST. PETER.

— DIMENSIONS OF THE CHURCH. — BASILICA OF ST. JOHN LA- TERAN. ITS RELICS. — THE PANTHEON. — PRESERVED ENTIRE.

The shape of the churches is, with few exceptions, cruciform. This seems to have been the ancient figure, at least we recognise it in churches of an early date. Any churches that are erected in modern times are uniformly of this figure. Besides the great altar, placed opposite the door, there are in general six others, — at either side three, — only a little inferior to the principal one in size and embellishment, having each their crucifixes, paintings, and arks : upon these the priest offers up the mass upon ordinary days. Upon Sundays, and the great festivals of the year, the bishop, or priest, attended by his clergy, celebrate their imposing rites with all the graces of motion, decorum, and order, calculated so well to

PAINTINGS OF THE DOME. 19

impress the multitude, and which are to be found only in their perfection at this capital of the Roman Church.

Over most of the churches there is a dome, in proportion to the size of the edifice. The interior of this is adorned with mosaic, or elegantly painted ; and the effect is excellent, from the light that is admitted at the top being diffused equally around. The subjects, too, that are chosen to decorate this part, if we except the blasphemy of representing God the Father, are of the most suitable kind, such as the Saviour surrounded by angels, the Resurrection, and the Apotheosis of the Virgin. It is upon this part, and upon the roof, that we generally find the paintings of God, — a practice calculated to give such scandal, and so much opposed to the principles of Christianity. To represent the adorable Being who presides over all things, is an egregious fallacy in human reasoning ; but to degrade Him, who is all perfection, and of whose nature we can form no adequate conception, into the human form, into the likeness of sinful flesh, is so palpable an error, and the tendency of which is so evident, that it seems almost impossible to think how men acquainted with revelation could

20 PAINTINGS OF THE DOME.

be guilty of it. " No man hath seen God at any time." Moses saw but a symbol or emblem of the Divinity : Elijah beheld no form, and heard but the still small voice. To degrade, then, the Supreme Spirit into "dust and ashes," instead of being calculated to give exalted notions of Him, has a direct tendency to corrupt the root of all religion, and to weaken its force upon the mind. There is, in fact, a littleness, almost amounting to idiocy, in attempting to paint the Creator. But when men give way to their irregular fancies, they do not know where to stop. Resolving to give the Deity a form, they adopt the human, concluding that it is perfect ; whereas reflection might have told them that it is not necessarily perfect, since we find it but too often a clog and burden to the mind, incapable frequently of seconding its wishes, and, by the diseases and accidents to which it is subject, depressing, almost destroying, its immortal fellow. God is generally represented as an old man with grey hair. The pictures that the great masters have given us of the Saviour are generally redolent of beauty and dignity; but the attempts to represent God are, as may be imagined, a total failure. In the Scriptures the features of our

PAINTED CEILINGS. 21

Saviour's character are so strongly marked, — his meekness, resignation, and love, — that these traits have been embodied by the painter's skill ; and his incarnation renders the attempt easy and successful. But, from the general absence of particular description in Holy Writ concerning God, and from the inspired writers dwelling upon what was of more importance to man, — his attributes, his majesty, glory, omnipotence, and eternity, — the painter has had recourse to the miserable expedient I have mentioned to represent the Holy One, about whose throne are clouds and darkness, and who dwells in light inaccessible.

Another part of the church upon which the architect, or the monk, has contrived to display his powers of invention and embellishment, is the ceiling. This, with scarcely an exception, is painted with interesting pieces, in the most brilliant colours, and generally with the greatest taste ; or, divided into compartments alternately painted and carved, and being covered with the richest gilding, attracts most gratefully the eye. We find the significant coat of arms of the Popedom, the keys, recurring frequently, perhaps with that of some noble house, and the interjacent lines filled up with a pattern which probably has been copied

22 PAINTED CEILINGS.

from some masterly antique, brought to light by modern research, or the creation of their own fertile genius. The eye rests with singular and undiminished pleasure upon the noble roof of the church of " Ara Cceli," occupying the summit of the immortal Capitol. The roof of St. Mary Maggiore is all gold, having been formed from the first-fruits of the Spanish-American invasion ; the effect is splendid, viewed now in the great hall, and now in the side aisles. In churches where there has not been this display of art and outlay of the precious metal, we hardly miss their absence, from the finely-coloured and attractive paintings which occupy their place. We shall find upon this part, both of sacred edifices and private buildings, that the great master has not disdained to exercise his art, and confer a share of his genius. The roofs of the Vatican galleries and chambers have been painted, to a great extent, by Raphael; some of Guido's frescoes remain upon those of the library in the same extensive and celebrated palace. The beautiful " Aurora" of the latter also occupies the roof of the Ruspigliori Palace, on the Quirinal Hill.