THE ETERNAL CITY.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10312, 22 January 1927, Page 10

THE ETERNAL CITY.

MEANDERINGS IN ITALY. (Specially Written for the “Gisborne Times’’ by Frederick Stubbs. F.RIG.S.) An American matron, at the close of her European trip, was asked “Did you see Home ?” “No, we missed that.” “Why,, Mamma, of course we did Home, Don’t you remember it was there 1 got the purple stockings?” But Rome is memorable to many of us for infinitely more interesting and important things than even a lady’s stockings, attractive as these sometimes are in these days of artificial silk and short skirts. Kings reigned there more than 2000 years ago. It governed and gave laws .to more than half the known world, including the islanders from whom most of us have sprung. Of what heroisms, debaucheries, fierce onslaughts, splendours, cruelties, has Rome been the scene! Here, too, is enthroned the Authority that controls the religious ideas and ceremonies of millions of our fellow-subjects. And to-day, under, Mussolini, Rome aspires to become the seat of another empire, and. stretches out hands on either side of the Mediterranean, and even to the shores of the Red Sea, seeking lands to which she may give the law. After upwards of 2000 years of changed vicissitude, she is still great, still vigorous, still the homo of a great and ambitious people, still one of the most fascinating cities in the world—the Eternal City. Can I be mistaken, then, in thinking that the intelligent readers of this journal will Welcome some account of my wanderings in that historic city? Not once, nor twice, but- many times have I climbed its hills, and stumbled over its ruins, and gazed upon its monuments, and worshipped in its glorious churches. Of all the cities 1 have visited in East and West, North and South, none has impressed me more, and one only has given me more pleasure—my own London, itself once a Roman city, and to-day the centre of a gioatcjr empire than that of ancient Rome.

THE TIBER. As everyone knows, Rome is situated oil the Tiber, a very poor sort u.' river on wliieli to found a capital, not comparable to the Thames, the Seine, the Rhine, the Danube, or even the Elbe. The furious Tiber exists only in poetry; its stream is slow, .muddy, turbid; 'the sort of stream that one would care neither to drink nor to bathe in. As someone has said, it is too large to be harmless (for it sometimes overflows it.o banks) and too small to be useful.

A GOOD STORY A good story is told in connection with it, however, which is worth repeating. Pope Leo X*., the munificent patron of art, was a friend of the rich banker Agostino Chigi (file banking business was a lucrative oiie even in those days). Cliigi on one occasion invited the Pope to a banquet on the banks of the Tiber. Each course was served on gold and silver plates, ami as each course was finished, the gold and silver plates and dishes were thrown into the river. The Pope’s eyes grew bigger and bigger as lie witnessed this splendid prodigality, this reckless waste of treasure. What inexhaustible wt-iina must lie possess who could afford to fling geld and silver into the waters in this fashion! But after supper, when the Pope bad departed, the servants lifted, the costly vessels from the net in which they had been cunningly caught. Y\ hat a trick to play tile poor old Pontiff! Evidently even in these far off days appearances were not always to he trusted, and things were not always 'ha. they seemed.

SANT' ANGELO. ■On the Vinks of this river is situated the picturesque Castle of St. Angelo (too Castle of the Holy Angel) which in earlier days was the tomb or the Emperor Hadrian and once held the bones of Marcus Aurelius. it- is said to have received its present name thus: During the pontificate of Gregory the Great a terrible pestilence ranged in Home, so the Dope headed a procession through the city amid the chanting of solemn litany/ On passing over the Tiber opposite the Tomb of Hadrian, celestial voices were suddenly heard. Gregory looking up with astonishment exclaimed ‘Ora pro nobis Deum’ (pray to God for us) upon which an angel refulgent with glory, was seen to sheath his sword, and the plague Was stayed, from that hour. The bronze statue of St. Michael on the summit of the tomb is supposed*to record this event, and it is to this circumstance that the edifice is now known as the “Castel Sant’ Angelo.” it was made into a residence and fortress of the Popes, who when the people grew turbulent sought security there. In the 10th and lltli centuries the Popes were sometimes chased out of the city, and in the 14th century were driven to Avignon in France. The Pope has not always had the serene security ho now enjoys under the protection of the Italian Government. The wicked Alexander VI. had a subterranean passage dug from the Vatican to the Castle, and when 1 first visited the castle some of the apartments held unusual paintings, now destroyed or withheld from public gaze. In this great building, the student of history will bo interested to learn, Beatrice Clenci, Benvenuto Cellini, and the as-trologer-humbug Cagliostro were imprisoned. Before finally passing from this splendid monument of antiquity, [ must narrate an amusing experience that befell myself last year. As' l passed the castle in a trani an English lady sitting oil the opposite seat called my attention to it and said, “That is the Castle of St. Angelo: what a wonderful man lie was,” evidently confusing the Holy Angel Michael with the great artist Michaelangelo. I hope the eyes of the poor lady will not fall upon these words. Where ignorance is bliss, etc.

THE VATICAN. From the Castle of St. Angelo to ► the huge palace (I suppose a devout 11,0. would say “prison”) of the Vatican, the usual, and now' only, residence of the Popes is a short and ) p. a sy journey. It is an immense structure containing 1100 rooms and millions of pounds worth of artistic and ecclesiastical treasures. Here the I Pope and some of the Cardinals live. It possesses one of the finest libraries in the world and the most splenic did sculptures. Indeed it is said to contain a larger number of fine an--1 cient statuary than all other galleries put together. Who that has seen them can ever forget the Apollo Belvedere, the Laocoon, the Discobolus, I the Venus of'Cindus, the room-full of sculptured animals, the Etruscan Museum, the Sistino Chapel—built by and called . after Pope Sixtus IV.— with its wonderful ceiling and the great painting on the wmll _ depicting Heaven and Hell. In this latter painting Michaelangelo has placed his enemy (whose name I forget) in hell. This he did -because this man had to the Pope of Michaelangelo’s nude figures upon the chapel ceiling. Our gentleman promptly informed the Pope of this new outrage, to which his Holiness .diplomatically and wittily replied that if it had been a case of Purgatory he might have helped liim, but as the painter had put him in Hell, he feared he vbuld

be'unable to get him out. And there he remains, to the amusement of multitudes of visitors, to this day. Talking of the Popes and the Vatican, when I was in Rome last year a young, priest told me of an American R.C. Bishop who had a_n_ audience with Pius IX. The Pope inquired about his visitor’s diocese, and among other things asked if he had any negroes in his diocese. “No, your Holiness : I thank God 1 have neither negroes nor Italians.” “What do you mean” ? exclaimed the Pope, who was, of course, an Italian himself. Then the Bishop saw what a mess he had got himself into, and stammered an apology. But wliat an idiotic thing to say 1 The American bishops are certainly not infallible. On my first visit to Rome many years ago, a story went the rounds of a rich but ignorant American citizen who, when granted an audience, instead of kneeling and kissing the Pope’s hand, grasped and shook it vigorously, while he exclaimed, “I am delighted to meet you, Pope.” One can imagine the feelings of the ire or Pontiff! It is comforting to us ordinary mortals to know that eve.n Popes li.fl.ve something to nut uj) with.

ST. PETER’S. This glorious Cathedral has so frequently been described that I do not propose to say much about it here. As is well-known it is the largest church in the world, though not in my opinion the most beautiful—that supremacy I would give to St. Mark’s of Venice, a veritable gem, where everything is costly and beautiful, beautiful not only in form but in color also. Even the Abbey of Westminster is more beautiful, though not as magnificent. Yet it is a very good church, and the approach from the famous piazza with its colonnades and fountains is the-finest in the world. I myself have been present more than -once when it was computed that 50,000 people were present in the building, and last year I saw the Pope carried round it amid the kneeling multitudes. The thousands of feet incessantly treading the marble pavement at a great function is like the sound of waves breaking on the seashore. -The church is 612 feet in length, 446 ft in width; the dome—the largest in the world—iis 4481't in height, the bell weight 10 tons; and the building cost .£14,000,000. if took so long to build that 43 Popes reigned in the course of its construction. Men were not in such a hurry in those days. It is said to contain the body of St. Peter, and it is certain that the toe of the brazen statue has been almost kissed away by worshippers.

ROMAN CHURCHES. Other splendid churches are St. John Lateral!, founded hv Constantine and papal residence until the popes went to Avignon ; tlio Church of the Jesuits ; St. Paul’s outside the Wall; Santa Maria Maggiore; St. Lorenzo ; and a score of others, but as this is not a guide hook I must not detain the reader even to name them. But there is one I will venture to refer to at greater length. I wonder how many British visitors to Rome know that one of the most beautiful altars is the little Church of Santa Maria di Luchcsi, near the Quirinale? How many happy hours have ! spent within its'walls ! The church is one mass of gold and color, with four gilded boxes as in a theatre, but much more magnificent and evidently intended, for the occupation of exalted personages. The altar which formerly was lighted with candles is now lighted with tiny electric lamps. Here every day at sundown the nuns sing Vespers, and the singing is truly beautiful. Whatever may be the effect of the service on the Maker of a million worlds, it has frequently soothed the nerves and given sweet rest of body and mind to one of His human creatures, and not to one only, for though the church is little known to tourists, it is greatly prized by those who know it. Reader, if as I trust, you ever have the good fortune, to spend a few weeks in Rome (and jou will need them all) take my advice and do not fail to visit the Church of the Luchcsi.