works, and the new calls that will be made time.

upon his

A further advantage that would follow from the adoption of this system is that the real and great difference between a Deacon and a Priest would be emphatically marked, and brought out in strong relief before the Church and the world at large. The mass of Churchmen are terribly ignorant of the wide interval that really exists between the Diaconate and the Priesthood.

We have tried to set forth the nature of the change that would practically result, and the beneficial consequences that would flow from it, whether to the Church at large or to the Clergy of the future. It only remains to point out the ease with which the change might be accomplished. No legislation is required: not even an order in Council, or a legal opinion. The machinery is already existing, and were the plan to prove a failure, nothing would be easier than to revert to the state of things that now exists. All that is requisite is that the Bishops should agree to refuse in future to grant to Deacons the hitherto customary licence to preach, and that they should give notice of their intention beforehand. There would be an outcry at first. Many Incumbents would declare that in future they would not offer titles to candidates for holy orders, but seek for curates in full orders. Some would rightly enough hold to this, feeling that the work of the parish necessitated the presence of a second Priest, and we doubt not that they would still find Priests for the work. Others would yield in sheer despair, as so many do now, who offer a title after having vainly tried for months to find a Priest who is neither a rolling stone, nor broken down in health. Only the difference would be this: that whereas now the Incumbent who takes a Deacon faute de mieux treats him almost as if he were in full orders, and gives him just as much work as he would to a Priest, in the case contemplated this would be an impossibility, and having accepted him as a Deacon, as a Deacon he would have to treat him.

ART. VII.-A ROMAN ECCLESIASTIC

VINCENZO ANIVITTI.

1. Gli Evangeli delle Domeniche brevemente esposti da Vincenzo Anivitti. Seconda edizione, aumentata e corretta. (Roma, 1879.)

2. Gli ultimi giorni della vita edificantissima di Monsig. Vincenzo Anivitti, vescovo di Caristo i.p.i., per Luigi Evangelisti, sacerdote Romano. (Roma, 1881.)

In this Review for October 1879 we gave some account of the preaching and other modes of religious teaching as now practised in Rome, with a specimen of one of the most remarkable of these, the Dialogo between the Dotto and Ignorante, by which instruction on all points both of doctrine and practice is brought home to the most ignorant in the simplest way. The priest, whose manner of conducting this at the church of S. Maria della Pace and elsewhere is there described, was Mgr. Vincenzo Anivitti, whose eloquence and earnestness, as well as his real learning and knowledge of his subjects, no one who has ever listened to him at the Pace, or indeed anywhere else, will ever forget. Since our article appeared he was made (in December 1880) Bishop of Caristo in partibus and Suffragan of Sabina, but he still remained and carried on his work in Rome. It was with great concern that we heard of his death, after a short illness, in Rome, in May last. As the career of one of the ablest and best of modern Roman ecclesiastics may have some interest for our readers, partly from the real goodness and self-denying character of the individual, partly from its contrast to what we have among ourselves, and from its exemplifying the practical teaching of the Roman Church-especially as showing how completely the modern Roman developments of doctrine took possession of and obscured an intellect so powerful, and a heart so devoted to the service of God, as his-we propose to give a short sketch of Anivitti's life and its close, before speaking of the work the title of which we have placed at the head of this article.

We owe our knowledge of the facts of his life to a sketch given in the periodical called Il Divin Salvatore for June 1, 1881, by D. Antonino Marini, one of his chief friends and admirers. He begins as follows:

'The truly (per eccellenza) apostolic man, the model of priests, the father of the poor, Mons. Vincenzo Anivitti, whose memory will be always blessed, has just been snatched away by a violent and obstinate disease on Sunday, May 29, that beautiful month sacred to Mary, to whom he was tenderly devoted. It is impossible to describe in a few words the singular, not to say unique, gifts of the lamented deceased; but we desire as well as we can to shadow forth a tribute of love and esteem to his dear and venerated name.'

The principal facts of his life were as follows. He was born on September 23, 1823, in Rome, of pious parents, and received his education in the Pontifical Seminario Romano, where his genius and piety were conspicuous. One great influence on his early life was the example of his uncle, Francesco Anivitti, a priest of high character, who did great service in Rome in the unhappy year 1849. While still very young, he was nominated Professor di belle lettere in the Propaganda, an office which he held for many years. He also taught la sacra eloquenza in the Seminario Romano, an occupation of which he was especially fond, and which he continued to the close of his life. With this he held an office described as modesto ma laboriosissimo in the Segreteria del Vicariato. He also had the duty of writing the inviti sacri, which are placed on the doors of the Roman churches, to excite the people's piety. We had always believed these to be formal official compositions with little or no variety; but Anivitti's are described as proving the excellence of his heart and intellect (il suo bel cuore e la sua bella mente).

The real field, however, of his labours was the Church of S. Maria della Pace, perhaps the most popular in Rome 1 for the poor, and which (though very much smaller) rivals even the Gesù in the crowds which attend it. Of this, his biographer tells us, he was almost from a boy the energetic vicerector. Every morning, as soon as his mass had been said, after sleeping four hours or even less, he was ready to hear confessions, which seemed never to burden or fatigue him. Every evening he was in the sacristy, again ready to hear confessions or, with his eloquent advice and knowledge, to help his friends among the Roman clergy. He was always ready in case of another's failure from any accident to supply his place as a preacher. For it was as a preacher that Anivitti made his mark in Rome. No other priest is said to have laboured in this way to the same extent. Frequently

1 We mean of course in this part of Rome; S. Maria de' Monti and S. Niccolò in Carcere, perhaps, are as popular in their own districts. The comparison with the Gesù is from the article from which the above details are taken.

he would give three or four addresses in the same day. Young men and children were especially the objects of his care; he was for many years master in the night schools, and one of the missionari imperiali appointed to prepare young men di civil condizione for their first communion. In fact, it is said he was continually preaching, and in his last years, while he held office about the Papal court, he would leave the Holy Father himself to preach to twenty or thirty children. Another of his favourite places of preaching was the Pia Casa, near the Ponte Rotto.

We can fully corroborate this from our own knowledge. For years past he conducted the Dialoghi held at the Pace in the season from S. John's Day to Epiphany, and occasionally immediately before Lent; often at the other churches where the mission from Sunday to Sunday is held (S. Carlo in the Corso, S. Rocco, &c.), and the Dialogo under Anivitti's direction, as far as our experience goes, was a wonderfully different thing from what it was when conducted by anyone else. His humour, vigour, clearness of intellect and expression, combined with his powers of sarcasm, all told with great force, and were always fully appreciated by his hearers. His ordinary sermons came as part of his regular duty; but he took the May course (which involves a sermon every day during the month), the course of spiritual exercises,' and occasional sermons2 in other churches at different times. We do not know if he was ever appointed one of the Lent preachers; they are for the most part selected from other than the Roman clergy.

But in spite of all this amount of work for others, his own literary studies and tastes were not neglected. His biographer tells us he might be seen every morning, during the short time of the day that remained free to him, at the Bibliotheca Angelica (the library attached to the church of S. Agostino) engaged in study. His learning is described as vast and profound, his genius versatile and subtle, his memory prodigious. Certainly the list of his published works affords some proof of this: the cover of the Discourses on the Gospels gives a list of twenty-three works, in prose and poetry, theological, historical, antiquarian; and these are described as only some of his publications. His knowledge

1 We heard this from him in SS. Cosma e Damiano in 1880. This lasted eleven days and involved two lengthy addresses, one delivered sitting and the other standing, every day.

2 We heard him give one on the occasion of the translation of S. Paul of the Cross, at the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo in April, 1880.

of the history and literature of his country is especially mentioned as being very extensive. Were he asked a question on the antiquities of Rome, he seemed a Cancellieri redivivo, an author whom he especially esteemed. To those who discussed sacred matters with him he seemed a second Zaccaria. A Roman by birth and feeling, he had an intense love for his country, and he deeply felt all the evils the Revolution has produced. There can be no doubt of the very high reputation he had among his contemporaries. In some poems published at Florence in 1877 by Costantino Castellano of Vieste, dedicated to Anivitti, there is one especially addressed to him, beginning

'Tra i più famosi il Nestore Te appella

L'età novella ;

and in the course of the poem the author speaks of the 'Alma subblime d'Anivitti.'

His merits naturally brought him under the notice of the Pope, and Pius IX. made him first his chierico segreto, before he was thirty-five, then his chaplain, and at last secured him a good pension. But in the words of Marini, 'he was never rich, because he gave the best part of his possessions to the poor of Jesus Christ.' In 1878 the present Pope made him Cameriere segreto partecipante, and at last, in the consistory of December 13, 1880, nominated him Bishop of Caristo in partibus and Suffragan of Sabina, and at the same time Canon of the Lateran. His promotion to the episcopal dignity was acceptable to all; he was consecrated on S. John's Day, in the church of the Oblates in the Tor de' Specchi. Many splendid gifts were made him, many poems dedicated to him, on the occasion. These greatly tried his characteristic virtue of humility; but he could console himself, his biographer adds, with the thought of his having no enemies.

It was for but a very short time that he was permitted to enjoy his new dignity or to carry on his varied occupations. And the account of his last days, as given in the pamphlet placed at the head of this article, written by his friend Luigi Evangelisti, a Roman priest like himself, is so characteristic,

1 This is the church of the Order founded by S. Francesca Romana, which may be seen every year on March 9.