THE

CHURCH QUARTERLY REVIEW.

No XVII. OCTOBER 1879.

ART. I.-PREACHING AND OTHER MATTERS IN ROME IN 1879.

1. Diario Romano per l'Anno del Signore MDCCCLXXIX. (Roma, 1879.)

2. Uffizio della Settimana Santa con la versione Italiana di Monsignore Martini, Arcivescovo di Firenze, .

con

osservazioni e riflessioni divote dell' Abate A. Mazzinelli. (Napoli, 1878.)

3. Via Crucis composta da S. Leonardo da Porto Maurizio. (Roma, 1869.)

4. Eorterologio ovvero Le Sacre Stazioni Romane e Feste mobili dell' Abate Carlo Bartolomeo Piazza. (Roma, 1858.)

5. Della Vita del beato Benedetto Giuseppe Labré, pellegrino Francese. (Roma, 1860.)

ANY ONE Who knew Rome during the pontificate of Gregory XVI. or in the palmy days of Pius IX., and who spends a winter or spring there now, will find a considerable change, at least in all external matters, from what he remembers of old. Railways introduced, passports abolished, broad thoroughfares produced by the clearing away of old streets, new quarters springing up with houses of the type of those in the outskirts of London or Frankfort, a large increase in the number of hotels with the usual comforts and consequent cost,-all these things show that time and change have brought about their effects at Rome as well as at other places. Even the old names' of many streets have been altered, and we have among

1 An account of the derivation of the names of many of the streets of Rome would be a very interesting addition to the local history of Rome; VOL. IX.-NO. XVII.

B

the new ones a Via Nazionale, a Via Garibaldi, even a Via Venti Settembre, in slavish imitation of the French fashion, and as has been done in so many of the cities of Italy, as if the modern Italians wished to ignore all their past history.' If there is much that the foreigner will welcome that is new, there is also much that he will miss :

'Our Lady borne smiling and smart, With a pink gauze gown all spangles and seven swords stuck in her heart,'

is no more to be seen in Rome than in any other Italian town, all processions excepting funeral processions being forbidden by law by the new Italian Government. Instead of the

'Penitents dressed in white shirts, a holding the yellow candles,' all one sees are the figures of the confraternities in their ghastly dresses following the coffins. All other spectacles of this description are now confined to the insides of the churches. The Pope has never left the Vatican since 1870; the Cardinals, when they do drive, are always in closed sombre-looking carriages with scrupulously shabby coachmen and attendants, and are rarely to be seen walking in the streets. Meanwhile the King and Queen may continually be met driving in public, and the display of military pomp and military music is perhaps more often to be seen and heard in Rome than in most Italian cities.

as many of them preserve the recollection of facts or legends that have no other record. Thus the Via del Pozzo (near S. Maria in Via Lata) derives its name from a legend of a tile on which a picture of the Madonna was painted, belonging to Cardinal Pietro Cappochi, in 1256, and which fell into a well and was miraculously recovered. Every one will remember the huge marble foot which gave its name to the Via Piè di Marmo. This was removed to allow of the passing of Victor Emmanuel's funeral car in January 1878, and is now at the corner of the street of S. Stefano in Cacco; in a few years' time the origin of the street's name will be forgotten. So, too, the Via di Babuino, from which the figure of the Baboon has long since disappeared.

1 We were especially struck with this on visiting Anagni, the residence of so many Popes, from which so many of the letters of Innocent III. and Innocent IV. are dated, the scene of the attack upon Boniface VIII. by the Colonnas; instead of the memories of these or similar events we have Strada Vittorio Emmanuele, Piazza Cavour, Porta Garibaldi! However, there are still some recollections of the past preserved in most of the Italian cities; for instance, at Vercelli, the street in which the great church of S. Andrea, so interesting to an Englishman, stands, is still called Strada Guala Bicchieri. He was the legate in England in 1216, the real preserver of the Plantagenet line on the throne, and built S. Andrea with the money he obtained in England. And at Rome far the greater number of streets still preserve their old names.

And yet, with all these changes, Rome is still the Rome of one's youth; the fountains, the look of the shops, the appearance of the people, the church services, the general kindliness and courtesy a foreigner receives from all, high and low, are still what one remembers of old. Rome is still the city of the 'holy hills,' in which it has been said that no one ever spent any time without being the better or the worse for it; still the cradle of our common faith, still hallowed by the thoughts of the Apostles and martyrs who there won their crowns. The ablest historians of Rome of our days, Ampère, the author of L'Histoire Romaine à Rome, and Gregorovius, the German writer of its mediæval history, alike speak of the influence it has exercised over the world, the glamour it has shed upon the minds of men; producing little itself, and yet attracting the best of all other nations to its bosom—a home in the hearts of all, however alien by birth or education. Thus of old, none of the greater Latin poets (excepting Lucretius) were Romans, though so much of their lives was spent there. In modern times there was no school of painting at Rome, though so many of the greatest painters, from Fra Angelico to the Caracci, have left their best works in it.' Whatever a man's taste may be, for classical antiquities, for mediæval history, for painting, for sculpture, in short for any of the arts and sciences, he may find the most ample means of gratifying it at Rome; and there is certainly no place where everything, whether public or private, is laid so open to the foreigner, where he has so many opportunities for pursuing his studies of whatever kind they be.2

Our object in the present paper is to give some account of certain aspects of religious matters in Rome, especially of the oral instruction given in the churches, as far as may be observed by any one who makes use of his opportunities without enjoying any especial means of obtaining information,

1 Fra Angelico, Raffaelle, Baldassare Peruzzi, Perino del Vaga, Giovanni da Udine, Annibale Caracci, Salvator Rosa, Carlo Maratta, Claude Lorraine, Nicholas Poussin, all are buried in Rome. Michael Angelo died there, but was afterwards removed to Florence.

2 We may especially instance the libraries of Rome, as far as our personal experience has gone. At those we were in the habit of using, the Vatican, the Vittorio Emmanuele (in the Collegio Romano), and the Casanatense (adjoining the church of S. Maria sopra Minerva), we found the greatest kindness and readiness to supply our wants. The last, though in the hands of the Government, is still served by the Dominicans belonging to the church; and one may see the same Dominicans serving in the library in the morning and in the church in the afternoon. The same is doubtless to be said of the other libraries of Rome, of which there are several.

and who endeavours to make the best rather than the worst of what he sees and hears; who, without blinding himself to the defects of a system in many respects different from his own, and without doubting where on fundamental points truth lies, yet can see good in all that is done in the name of our common Lord, yet can see that there is still a real and a close bond which binds together all the followers of the Crucified.

We have prefixed the title of the Diario Romano to the present article as being the best, indeed, in some respects, the only guide, to the services at the countless churches of Rome. In most cases entire dependence may be placed on its information; it mentions for every day in the year the saints to be venerated, the churches where there are special services, the relics to be exhibited, the indulgences to be gained. It gives also the names of the churches where the missione urbana from month to month is held, the phases of the moon, the times of the Ave Maria, as they vary throughout the year. Its defect is that it occasionally speaks of services as existing which have long since been given up: mentioning the Pope's officiating in S. Peter's and elsewhere as if he were still in the habit of leaving the Vatican; processions of the clergy from one church to another, which have now been stopped; sometimes even services at churches which have long since been disused. We give, as a specimen of the kind of information its pages contain, the notices of a day, taking one at random, the fourth Sunday in Lent, this year March 23:

'Marzo 23. Dom. Quarta di Quaresima detta Lætare. Stazione a S. Croce in Gerusalemme, e nelle ore pom. si mostrano le Ss. reliquie.-Capella papale nel Palazzo Apostolico, canta messa un Cardinale dell' ordine dei preti, sermoneggia il proc. gen. de' Carmel. calzati. Si benedice la Rosa d'oro dal sommo Pontefice, il quale la manda in dono ai principi cattolici.

S. Torribio vesc.-S. Domizio mart.

B. Giuseppe Oriol prete beneficiato.

All' oratorio del Caravita incom. gli esercizi spirituali dopo l' Ave Maria per i soli uomini.

Indulg. plen. in forma di giubileo nella chiesa di S. Onofrio concessa dal Pont. S. Pio V.

Incominciano i Catechismi in apparecchio alla S. Pasqua come per instituzione di Benedetto XIV. nelle chiese assegnate, e la sera negli oratorii notturni.'

Of course, the special services-such as the Advent or Lenten services, though they are held for the most part in the same churches from year to year-are not mentioned in the