of his Lent sermons, after a striking appeal to his hearers to choose the right path, with the words, 'per me, la mia scelta è irrevocabilmente fatta. E voi- -stretching out

his arms.

Professor Quatrini preached the course last Lent at the Gesù (always a popular church as far as preaching is concerned), to very large congregations, especially on Sundays. His delivery is very striking, perhaps more energetic even than Gaudenzi's, and his language and distinctness of pronunciation perhaps somewhat better. We heard him preach (among many other subjects) on the pains which men will take to gratify their pleasures, while they neglect the highest good, on the Magdalene as a type of penitents, on the celibate life, Confession, the Eucharist, to the young on bad companions, and lastly (for his concluding address) on Paradise. In Lent 1878, among Paracchini's subjects were Confession, Eternal Punishment, Death, the Cultus of the Sacred Heart, and on their respective days, S. Margaret of Cortona, S. Joseph, the Blessed Virgin. Generally speaking, we should say that the preachers pay less attention in selecting the subjects of their sermons to the season than English preachers do; thus, even on Easter Day, Quatrini made no allusion to the great event of the day, but preached on the abuse of the liberty of the press, and the dangers of modern Liberalism. On the other hand, during the novena preceding the day of the Immaculate Conception (December 8), nothing but that subject will be preached about.

Pasquale's sermons during the octave of Epiphany at S. Andrea della Valle were almost entirely on the stock subjects of Indifferentism and Socialism, treated very much in the usual style; attacking the modern theories of how Protestantism, Judaism, Hindooism, Mahometanism, are all equally good in their way, and of course leading to the end that the only path of safety and truth is the Roman Church. During this course the Pope's allocution was issued, and evidently to the preacher's delight was on this subject. He began the sermon that followed this with the words:

'Leo XIII. has spoken; and what has he said? Pius IX. said; and what said he? The same that and what he? The same that Gregory I.; and he? S. Peter;'

The same that Gregory XVI. ; the same that

his argument tending to the same point, how that the Church had always said the same, how that it was the guardian of the truth, and the only guardian.

As to the congregations, they are certainly very remarkable, both from their numbers and from their attention. During the sermons, however long, we have never seen anything but the most reverent attention and evident appreciation of what was being said. Sometimes those present have joined in the previous services; sometimes the hearers come in only for the sermon (it is certainly a great thing to be able to hear a service or a sermon as one feels inclined, and not to be obliged to attend both, when one only is wished for, as is so generally the case with ourselves). One remarkable thing is the great preponderance of men in the churches, so different from what is seen in France and Belgium, and even amongst ourselves. This is the case at all the services, and especially at the sermons. What may partially account for this is the great number of Romans who have little or nothing to do, while the women have less leisure or power to leave their homes than is the case in England. Still the fact is remarkable. Very elaborate services were held this year on April 29 and 30 and May 1, at the reopening of the church of the SS. Apostoli, which has been recently restored at a great expense (at the cost, we believe, of Prince Torlonia); and we think the proportion of men to women present at them must have been ten to one. As to the class of persons that throng the churches, it is, of course, difficult to speak; they give one the idea of being generally of the middle-class. Perhaps of quite the poorest, as one sees at such churches as S. Niccolò in Carcere, the Crociferi, S. Maria della Pace, there are as many (perhaps more) women

as men.

The sermons at S. Peter's are preached in the Capella del Coro, where most of the ordinary services are held; they are practically preached to the canons, as the number of persons unconnected with the church who go to hear them is very small. They are preached in the mornings in Lent, after the High Mass, usually two or three times a week.

Very different from these formal sermons are the expla1 A great deal has been done in the way of church restoration in Rome in the last thirty years; thus besides the SS. Apostoli, S. Bartholomeo all' Isola, Trinità de' Pellegrini, S. Niccolò in Carcere, S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura, S. Agnese fuori le Mura, S. Maria sopra Minerva, have all been elaborately restored. At the present time, the Lateran, S. Lorenzo in Damaso, S. Maria della Vittoria, S. Giacomo degli Spagnuoli (in the Piazza Navona, so well known for its wheel window), are under restoration. The latter is now in the hands of the French Missionaires de Notre-Dame du Sacré Cœur;' one aisle was opened this year for service, and we heard a French sermon from Bishop Mermillod there. It will be a fine church when the restorations are completed.

6

nations of the Gospel, and the instructions given to children in the parish churches. These 'spiegazioni del evangelio' are given in every parish church, always in the morning; they are also given in the churches where from month to month the missione urbana is held. These are not, of course, by picked preachers, and are generally spoken to small congregations. Courses of a less formal character than the Lent or Advent sermons are given at several churches during certain seasons, such as during May (the month of Mary) or June (the month given up to the Cultus of the Sacred Heart). These last will generally be on the subjects of the season; in the former a great deal of plain practical instruction is given; they are perhaps somewhat inferior to the similar kind of thing among ourselves. The 'dottrina Cristiana' is given on Sunday afternoons in all the parish churches, and is very like our Sunday-school instruction. It is a curious thing to go into a church on a Sunday afternoon, and find several benches of boys being taught by two or three priests to make the responses in the Litany, they shouting out their responses, and behaving just as the same kind of boys would behave with us. We have heard this in S. Paolo alla Regola and S. Maria in Aquiro. The instruction given to the children, as far as our observation has extended, is good, and very kindly and gently given. We were greatly struck by the manner in which this was done by Padre Nannerini, the Lenten preacher at S. Vitale. He closed his teaching something in the following manner; each point being marked on his fingers, and repeated so as to impress it on the memory:

'All things come to an end, and so do our instructions. I wish to impress three points on you; your duty to God, to your neighbour, to yourselves. To God, gratitude; to your neighbour, edification; to yourselves, sacrifice. And all these rest on one thing, humility.'

This kind of instruction, putting what is told under distinct heads, is a very favourite one. As another instance, we may mention an elaborate parallel we heard in a sermon between our Lord's history and that of the Church, how that the Church had always been His imitator in fedeltà, amore, vita; each point being elaborately worked out. This was in the Philippine Church, S. Maria in Vallicella. At the little church or oratory of the Caravita (near S. Ignazio), instruction is given at special seasons to men and women separately. This year, before Easter, the instruction was given by Mgr. Lenti, Archbishop of Sida, Vicegerent of Rome. The congregation

chiefly consisted of ladies of rank and position; the teaching was described to us by a lady who attended it as admirable. His immediate object was to prepare his hearers for their Easter confession and communion, and besides entering deeply into the thoughts of the time, he entered fully and in detail into practical matters, speaking of dress, society, amusements, &c., and cautioning them against choosing a confessor only because he would let them do what they liked, in preference to one who would probe their spiritual state to its core. These services were very well attended.

The third way in which oral instruction is given is by the Dialoghi istruttivi, in which the plainest truths and the most ordinary lessons of morality are brought before the poorest and most ignorant, perhaps in the easiest way for them to understand, and especially with the dramatic effect that is sure to influence Italians. These are conducted by two priests, called the Dotto and Indotto, or Dotto and Ignorante, the latter of whom asks for instruction, which the former gives. They are held in the fortnight preceding Epiphany (beginning on S. Stephen's day) at S. Maria della Pace (the church so well known as possessing the Sibyls of Raffaelle and the frescoes of Baldassare Peruzzi, in which there are always constant services of all kinds—a very popular church among the poor), and at other times of the year in the churches where from month to month the missione urbana is held. It is obvious that though the indotto plays the part of the ignorant clown, his rôle really requires a great deal of sharpness, as he must put his questions in such a way as to elicit the proper answers, and also recapitulate what he is told so that the congregation may grasp it. He always endeavours to interest the congregation, even to make them amused, and his remarks are often spoken in so comical a manner as to produce a general laugh. The great risk is of irreverence, the border line between which and reverence is very often passed. The dialogues are very popular, especially with the poorest. The indotto usually speaks in Trastevere or Monti dialect, and is often very difficult for a foreigner to follow; the dotto always speaks the purest Italian. We have been told that in the dialogues given at the missione urbana the same priest has done the indotto for thirty years. At the Pace it was another; there in three sets of dialogues we heard the same dotto, a very able man, knowing his subjects thoroughly, and speaking very clearly and powerfully on all the points that were discussed, his gestures greatly assisting his arguments, his hands and fingers almost speaking in their

perpetual movement to illustrate them. The subjects vary very much from points of abstract theology, as the mercy of God, His providence, His love, &c., to points of practice, as confession and communion, and common honesty in dealing, reverence in church, and the like. The seven deadly sins formed the subjects of those delivered in S. Niccolò in Carcere, in February and March last; in May, in S. Maria in Aquiro (where the mission was held instead of the church of Trinità de' Pellegrini as stated in the Diario) the subjects were, our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, and guardian angels. The instruction was somewhat inferior in power to what was given in the Pace, but was plain and practical, and distinguished for good sense; to the rough kind of people who filled S. Niccolò in Carcere (one of the poorest districts of Rome) the dangers of anger, and envy, and gluttony, and the like, were especially appropriate. This church was quite full while they were held; at S. Maria in Aquiro, in a much more civilised quarter in Rome, though the dialogues were conducted by the same two Jesuits, they were far less popular, and the church was comparatively empty. Topics of the day naturally form the subjects of the dialogues from time to time; thus in one delivered at S. Rocco (the church nearly opposite the Ripetta bridge) at the time when the question of Peter Pence was being brought before all the congregations in Rome, this was also made the subject of a dialogue which was described to us (we were not present at it) as especially amusing.

The same thing may be remarked in this form of teaching as in the case of the sermons, that the knowledge of Scripture is never assumed; the indotto generally pretending complete ignorance of it, and the dotto always elaborately explaining every allusion. We heard a dialogue at the Pace on the Misericordia di Dio, in which the parable of the Prodigal Son was elaborately gone through, with imaginary speeches of great length from all the parties in the parable, which occupied quite an hour in the delivery with the indotto's interruptions and comments.

The dialogue, as given at S. Maria della Pace, is preceded by a few prayers or a short litany, said by another priest. Then the two who are to conduct it come in and mount the platform, on which are two chairs and if it be in the evening (as at the Pace) a table with a candle; they kneel before the crucifix and say Ave Maria, to which the congregation makes the usual response. One of them then says, 'Sia lodato Gesù