ROMAN CATHOLIC RELICS AT ROME.
We reached Rome at a good time for seeing relics, as the special
services of the Christmas season were just beginning. One of the most
splendid of these ceremonies is the procession in honor of the _Santa
Culla_; that is, the cradle in which the priestly tradition says the
infant Jesus was carried into Egypt. This is the great relic and chief
distinction of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, though it contains
a number of others, such as the bodies of St. Matthew and St. Jerome,
and two little bags of the brains of Thomas á Becket, and "one of the
pictures attributed to St. Luke (and announced to be such in a papal
bull attached to the walls!), much revered for the belief that it
stayed the plague which decimated the city during the reign of Pelagius
II., and that (after its intercession had been sought by a procession
by order of Innocent VIII.) it brought about the overthrow of the
Moorish dominion in Spain."
[Sidenote: The Miraculous Snow in Summertime.]
Moreover, this church of Santa Maria Maggiore is by no means lacking
in legendary and architectural interest. It was founded A. D. 352, by
Pope Liberius and John, a Roman patrician, to commemorate an alleged
miraculous fall of snow, which covered this spot of ground and no
other, on the 5th of August, and an alleged appearance of the Virgin
Mary, in a vision, at the same time, showing them that she had thus
appropriated the site of a new temple, all of which is duly represented
in a fine painting on the wall of the church, and in two of Murillo's
most beautiful pictures in the Academy at Madrid, and commemorated
every year on the 5th of August by a solemn high mass, and by showers
of white rose leaves thrown down constantly through two holes in the
ceiling, "like a leafy mist between the priests and the worshippers."
[Sidenote: A Splendid Church.]
The worshippers of the Virgin have not been lacking in their efforts to
erect a suitably sumptuous building on the site of this "miracle." The
magnificent nave, with its avenue of forty-two columns of Greek marble,
surmounted by a frieze of mosaic pictures; the glorious pavement of
_opus Alexandrinum_, whose "crimson and violet hues temper the white
and gold of the walls"; the grand _baldacchino_, with its four porphyry
columns wreathed with gilt leaves; and the splendid tomb chamber of
Pius IX. (predecessor of the late Pope Leo XIII.), with its riot of
rich marbles and alabaster, in front of the high altar--to say nothing
of the almost incredibly costly chapels opening into the nave--combine
to give S. Maria Maggiore a proud place among the very finest of the
fine basilicas of Rome.
[Sidenote: A Dazzling Scene.]
But not all the splendors of the building, nor all the fascination of
its "miracles" and legends, nor all the spell of its other relics, can
equal the interest attaching to the "SANTA CULLA," the holy cradle. On
the afternoon of Christmas Day, we walked through the wet streets to
the front of the church, pushed back the heavy, dirty screen of padded
canvas, such as hangs at the door of every great church in Italy,
however fine, and, stepping within, found ourselves in the midst of
a scene of the most dazzling splendor. The building was brilliantly
illuminated with hundreds of electric lights and huge candles, which
were sharply reflected by the glistening marbles on every hand; the
air was heavy with clouds of incense, through the blue smoke of which
the lofty ceiling looked higher than ever, and the organ and choir
were pouring forth the richest music, while a dense crowd of people,
many thousands, all standing, watched with eager interest a small,
crate-like object, made of slats of dark wood, which rested on the
high altar, enclosed in a glass case, with a gold baby on top and gold
ornaments round about.
[Sidenote: The Holy Cradle.]
We pushed our way through the crowd, so as to get a satisfactory view
of it while the service was in progress--the genuflections, the robing
and disrobing of the archbishop, the chanting, and the rest--after
which six men, dressed in pure white from head to foot (white gloves
included), except for a red circle and cross on the breast, knelt
before the cradle, then lifted it from the altar, with its gold and
glass setting, and placing it on a kind of litter on their shoulders,
under a gilt and white canopy borne by other attendants, marched with
it thus, in procession around the church, along with a large crucifix
under another canopy, and followed by a long line of cardinals,
bishops, priests and acolytes, carrying it back finally to its place in
the sacristy, where it will remain till next Christmas Day.
[Sidenote: The Christ of Rome a Babe or a Corpse.]
We squeezed our way through the great crowd at the door, and walked
back to our hotel, wondering to what extent the usual Roman Catholic
conception of Christ had deprived that organization of real spiritual
energy; for, almost invariably, Roman Catholic art represents him
either as a dead Christ on the cross, or a babe in his mother's arms,
and hardly ever as the risen and glorified Lord, the Conqueror of
death, the Leader of his people, to whom all power is given in heaven
and on earth--the more usual Protestant conception. And we asked
ourselves whether this difference did not help to explain the greater
hopefulness, vigor and growth of Protestant Christianity in these
strenuous latter days.
[Sidenote: The Little Doll that Owns a Large Carriage.]
But we were soon to learn that the Roman Catholics did not think of the
infant Christ as lacking in power of a certain sort; on the contrary
they ascribe miraculous agency even to an image of the divine babe. On
the afternoon of December 29th, as two of our party were returning to
our hotel, they passed at the foot of the Capitoline Hill a carriage,
out of the window of which hung a ribbon or sash of cloth of gold, and
they were not a little astonished to observe that, as this carriage
rolled along, people knelt reverently before it on the street. Inside
they saw two bareheaded men holding a child on a pillow with a wealth
of lace about it. They thought perhaps it was the royal carriage with
the baby princess, but they could not imagine why _men_ should be
nursing the baby, as that is usually the employment of women, nor why
the people should kneel so reverently before the young princess, a
thing which they never did even for the king himself. The fact is that,
as they learned on the following afternoon when visiting the Church of
Ara Coeli, on the Capitoline Hill, the carriage in question belonged to
a far more important personage in Rome than any princess, though that
personage was not even a living baby, but only a doll. It was the coach
of the famous Bambino--_Il Santissimo Bambino_--which with its dress
of gold and silver tissue and its magnificent diamonds, emeralds and
rubies, is the chief attraction of this church.
[Illustration: THE BAMBINO.]
[Sidenote: The Wealth and Power of the Miraculous Bambino.]
Dr. Alexander Robertson, in his book on _The Roman Catholic Church in
Italy_, says: "The Bambino is a doll about three feet high, and it
stands on a cushion in a glass case. It is clad in rich robes with
a crown on its head, a regal order across its breast, and embroidered
slippers on its feet. From head to foot it is one mass of dazzling
jewelry, gold chains, strings of pearls, and diamond bracelets and
rings, which not only cover the neck, arms and fingers, but are
suspended, intermixed with crosses, stars, hearts, monograms, and
every kind of precious stone, to all parts of its body. The only part
unweighted with gems is its round, priest-like, wax face. But all this
display of wealth, great in itself, is really only suggestive of that
untold quantity which it has brought, and is still daily bringing,
into the coffers of the church. People are continually kneeling before
this dumb idol, offering petitions and leaving gifts, whilst letters
containing requests, accompanied with post-office orders and checks to
pay for the granting of the same, arrive by post for it from various
parts of the globe."
Hare's _Walks in Rome_ gives the following account of the Bambino and
one of its most remarkable experiences:
"It has servants of its own, and a carriage in which it drives
out with its attendants, and goes to visit the sick; for, though
an infant, it is the oldest medical practitioner in Rome. Devout
peasants always kneel as the blessed infant passes. Formerly it was
taken to sick persons and left on their beds for some hours, in the
hope that it would work a miracle. Now it is never left alone. In
explanation of this, it is said that an audacious woman formed the
design of appropriating to herself the holy image and its benefits.
She had another doll prepared of the same size and appearance as the
Santissimo, and having feigned sickness and obtained permission to have
it left with her, she dressed the false image in its clothes, and sent
it back to Ara Coeli. The fraud was not discovered till night, when the
Franciscan monks were awakened by the most furious ringing of bells
and by thundering knocks at the west door of the church, and hastening
thither, could see nothing but a wee naked pink foot peeping in from
under the door; but when they opened the door, without stood the little
naked figure of the true Bambino of Ara Coeli, shivering in the wind
and rain--so the false baby was sent back in disgrace, and the real
baby restored to its home, never to be trusted away alone any more."
[Sidenote: The Communion Table Used by Christ.]
But if I dwell on all these interesting relics and images as I have
done on the Holy Cradle and the miraculous Bambino, I shall never
finish even the brief list of them which I had in mind when I began. I
must hasten on, contenting myself with a bare mention of a few of the
more notable relics at the other churches.
On the 8th of January we paid our first visit to the great Church of
St. John Lateran,[9] and here also the relics interested us more than
anything else. Under the canopy in the centre the skulls of St. Peter
and St. Paul are preserved. Beneath the altar we saw the wooden table
on which the Apostle Peter is said to have "celebrated mass" in the
house of Pudens. The interest of this relic, however, is completely
eclipsed by that of another relic over an altar at a little distance
in the same church, viz: the cedar table used by our Lord and his
disciples in the Last Supper. This table is concealed behind a bronze
relief representing that solemn scene in the Upper Room at Jerusalem.
[Sidenote: Other Relics at St. John Lateran.]
"The Basilica claims to possess many valuable relics. Amongst these are
some portions of the manger in which Christ was cradled, the shirt and
seamless coat made for him by the Virgin; some of the barley loaves
and small fishes miraculously multiplied to feed the five thousand;
the linen cloth with which he dried the feet of his apostles; also
Aaron's rod, the rod with which Moses smote the Red Sea," etc., etc.
(_Cook's Southern Italy_, p. 114.) We did not see these, but in the
cloister behind this church we were shown a marble slab on pillars
which was once an altar, "at which the officiating priest doubted of
the Real Presence, when the wafer fell from his hand through the stone,
leaving a round hole, which still remains." Here, too, we were shown
a larger slab resting on pillars, more than six feet from the ground,
which marks the height of our Saviour; also a porphyry slab, upon which
the soldiers cast lots for his seamless robe; and some columns from
Pilate's house in Jerusalem, which were rent by the earthquake of the
crucifixion.
[Illustration: THE SCALA SANTA, ROME.]
[Sidenote: The Holy Stairs from Pilate's Palace.]
But the great relic of Pilate's House, and one of the most interesting
of all the relics in Rome, is across the street from St. John Lateran,
viz., the world-renowned _Scala Santa_, or Holy Stairway, a flight of
twenty-eight marble steps, once ascended by our Saviour in the palace
of Pilate, and brought from Jerusalem to Rome in 326 by the Empress
Helena, mother of Constantine the Great. They are covered with a wooden
casing, but holes have been left through which the marble steps can be
seen. Two of them are stained with the Saviour's blood. These spots
are covered with glass. The light was rather dim, and as we entered a
gentleman struck a match and held it over one of these glass-covered
stains to show it to his little girl, so that, passing just at that
moment, we also had a good view.
[Sidenote: The Man who Crawled Up and Walked Down.]
No foot is allowed to touch the _Scala Santa_; it must be ascended
on the knees. A number of people were going up in this way when
we entered, pausing on each step to repeat a prayer, for which
indulgences are granted by the Pope. There are stairways on each
side, by which those who have thus crawled up may walk down. The
only man I know of that ever walked down the Holy Stairs themselves,
and the most illustrious man that ever crawled up them on his knees,
was Martin Luther. When he had mounted slowly half way up, step by
step on his knees, he seemed to hear a voice saying, "The just shall
live by faith." Martin Luther rose from his knees, walked down the
staircase, and left the place a free man so far as this superstition
was concerned, and shortly afterwards became the most formidable foe
that ever assailed the falsehood and corruption of the Romish Church.
[Sidenote: The Miraculous Portrait and the Shoes of Christ.]
At the top of the Scala Santa we saw through a grating the beautiful
silver tabernacle containing the great relic which has given to this
chapel the name of _Sancta Sanctorum_, viz.: the portrait of Christ,
held by the Romish Church to be authentic, having been drawn in outline
by St. Luke and finished by an angel, whence its name "Acheiropoëton,"
_i. e._, the picture made without hands. The relic chamber here
contains fragments of the true cross, the sandals of Christ, and "the
iron bar of Hades which he brought away with him from that doleful
region,"[10] but we did not see these.
[Sidenote: The Inscription on the Cross, and the Finger of Thomas.]
A short walk beyond the Scala Santa and the Lateran brings us to the
Church of S. Croce in Gerusalemme, which is specially rich in relics.
Here our party was shown a piece of the true cross of Christ and the
original plank bearing the inscription, "_Jesus, Nazarene King_," in
Hebrew, Greek and Latin, which was placed over his head; also one
of the nails used in his crucifixion, and two of the thorns of his
crown; besides a large piece of the cross of the penitent thief who was
executed with him; and, most interesting of all in some respects, the
finger used by Thomas to resolve his doubts as to the resurrection of
Christ (John xx. 24-28).
[Sidenote: A Bottle of The Blood of Christ.]
In Percy's _Romanism_ it is said that "the list of relics on the right
of the apsis of S. Croce includes the finger of S. Thomas, apostle,
with which he touched the most holy side of our Lord Jesus Christ; one
of the pieces of money with which the Jews paid the treachery of Judas;
great part of the veil and of the hair of the most blessed Virgin; a
mass of cinders and charcoal united in the form of a loaf, with the fat
of S. Lawrence, martyr; one bottle of the most precious blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ; another of the milk of the most blessed Virgin; a
little piece of the stone where Christ was born; a little piece of the
stone where our Lord sat when he pardoned Mary Magdalene; of the stone
where our Lord wrote the law given to Moses on Mount Sinai; of the
stone where reposed SS. Peter and Paul; of the cotton which collected
the blood of Christ; of the manna which fed the Israelites; of the rod
of Aaron which flourished in the desert; of the relics of the eleven
prophets!"[11]
But our party saw none of these except the finger of Thomas. It is
to be hoped that the others have been withdrawn from exhibition, for
surely superstition and vulgarity can no further go. I fear, however,
that those who are willing to pay enough can still see "one bottle of
the most precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ," and "another of the
milk of the most blessed Virgin"! There is also "_una ampulla lactis
Beatae Mariae Virginis_" among the many relics to be seen in the
Church of SS. Cosmo and Damiano, near the Forum.
[Sidenote: No Women Admitted.]
It is a curious illustration of Romish wrong-headedness that women
are never allowed to enter the Chapel of St. Helena, in the Church
of S. Croce, except on the festival of the Saint, August 18th,
notwithstanding the fact that St. Helena herself was a woman, and that
the church owes its existence to her and is also indebted to her for
the piece of the true cross which it boasts, and which has given it its
name. So while men are permitted to go inside the chapel of St. Helena,
women are stopped at the entrance and only allowed to peer through the
railing. The same degrading discrimination is made in the Church of S.
Prassede (who also was a woman) as to entering the splendid chapel,
Orto del Paradiso, which contains the column of blood jasper to which
Christ was bound, and which was "given by the Saracens to Giovanni
Colonna, cardinal of this church, and legate of the Crusade, because
when he had fallen into their hands and was about to be put to death,
he was rescued by a marvellous intervention of celestial light."
Females are never allowed to enter this chapel except upon Sundays in
Lent, but are permitted to look at the relic through a grating.[12]
[Sidenote: Four Other Stones of Great Interest.]
The mention of this column reminds me of the two columns in the Church
of S. Maria Transpontina, on the other side of the Tiber, near St.
Peter's, which bear inscriptions stating that they were the pillars to
which St. Peter and St. Paul were fastened, respectively, when they
suffered flagellation by order of Nero. A little farther on towards
St. Peter's is the Piazza Scossa Cavalli, with a pretty fountain.
"Its name bears witness to a curious legend, which tells how when S.
Helena returned from Palestine, bringing with her the stone on which
Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, and that on which the Virgin Mary
sat down at the time of the presentation of the Saviour in the temple,
the horses drawing these precious relics stood still at this spot,
and refused every effort to make them move. Then Christian people,
'recognizing the finger of God,' erected a church on this spot--_S.
Giacomo Scossa Cavalli_--where the stones are still to be seen."
[Sidenote: The Hardness of St. Peter's Knees.]
While speaking of interesting stones, I must not omit to mention those
in the Church of S. Francesca Romana, near the Forum, containing the
marks of the knees of St. Peter--(which show, by the way, that this
apostle was a giant in size)--when he knelt to pray that Simon Magus
might be dropped by the demons he had invoked to support him in the
air in fulfilment of his promise to fly. One of these stones used to
lie in the _Via Sacra_, and the water which collected in the two holes
or knee prints was looked upon as so potent a remedy of disease that
groups of infirm people used to gather around them on the approach of
a shower. According to the legend, the place where Peter knelt when
he thus effected the discomfiture of Simon Magus and brought him to
the ground with such force that his thigh was fractured, never to be
healed, was the ancient _Via Sacra_. But, after the priests had removed
the stone from the roadway into the church, the inconsiderate and
iconoclastic explorers of our day, who have made so many discoveries in
their excavations about the Forum, proved that the roadway from which
this relic was taken was not the ancient _Via Sacra_ at all, but a more
modern roadway which had been mistaken for it!
[Sidenote: The Hardness of St. Peter's Head.]
In the Mamertine Prisons, which are also quite close to the Forum, a
depression on the stone wall by which we descend to the lower dungeon
is shown as the spot against which St. Peter's head rested, though our
guide had just told us that these stairs were not in existence then and
prisoners were let down into the dungeon through the hole in the middle
of the stone floor. Such trifling discrepancies do not seem to trouble
the average Italian mind.
St. Peter and St. Paul are said to have been bound in this prison for
nine months to a pillar, which is shown here. "A fountain of excellent
water beneath the floor of the prison is attributed to the prayers
of St. Peter, that he might have wherewith to baptize his gaolers,
Processus and Martinianus; but, unfortunately for this ecclesiastical
tradition, the fountain is described by Plutarch as having existed at
the time of Jugurtha's imprisonment" here, long before the time of St.
Peter.
Another miraculous spring, still flowing, is shown in the Church of SS.
Cosmo and Damiano as that which burst forth in answer to the prayers of
Felix IV., that he might have water to baptize his disciples.
[Sidenote: What the Head of St. Paul Did.]
But the most interesting of all the miraculous springs in or around
Rome are the three fountains, about two miles from the city, where the
Apostle Paul was executed. When his head was severed from his body it
bounded from the earth three times, crying out thrice, "Jesus! Jesus!
Jesus!" A fountain burst from the ground at each of the three spots
where the severed head struck. It is asserted, in proof of this origin
of the fountains, that the water of the first is still warm, of the
second tepid, and of the third cold, but we drank of them one after
another without being able to detect any difference in temperature. The
apostle's head is shown in bas relief upon the three altars above the
fountains. In the church which has been built over them we were shown
the pillar to which he was bound, and the block of marble upon which
he was decapitated, and, in the vault of another church hard by, the
prison in which he was placed just before his execution.
We could not help asking the priest who was our escort whether this
extraordinary story was still believed. His answer was: "Certainly!
There is no reason whatever to doubt it. The facts have been handed
down in an unbroken succession from eye-witnesses," a position which
he proceeded to defend at length and with great warmth when one of our
party in particular manifested much slowness to believe.
[Sidenote: St. Paul's Use of Plautilla's Veil.]
Furthermore, the opening of these three fountains was not the only
miracle wrought by the apostle after his death. Mrs. Jameson says:
"The legend of his death relates that a certain Roman matron named
Plautilla, one of the converts of S. Peter, placed herself on the road
by which S. Paul passed to his martyrdom, to behold him for the last
time; and when she saw him she wept greatly and besought his blessing.
The apostle then, seeing her faith, turned to her, and begged that she
would give him her veil to blind his eyes when he should be beheaded,
promising to return it to her after his death. The attendants mocked
at such a promise; but Plautilla, with a woman's faith and charity,
taking off her veil, presented it to him. After his martyrdom, S. Paul
appeared to her and restored the veil, stained with his blood. In the
ancient representations of the martyrdom of S. Paul, the legend of
Plautilla is seldom omitted. In the picture by Giotto in the Sacristy
of S. Peter's, Plautilla is seen on an eminence in the background,
receiving the veil from the hands of S. Paul, who appears in the
clouds above; the same representation, but little varied, is executed
in bas-relief on the bronze doors of St. Peter's."
[Sidenote: The Footprints of Christ in Stone.]
About two miles northeast of the Three Fountains, and the same distance
from the city, on the Appian Way, stands the Church of St. Sebastian.
Over an altar on the right, as you enter, the attendant priest, drawing
aside a curtain, shows you a slab of dark red stone with two enormous
footprints on it. These, we are told, were made by the feet of Christ
during an interview with Peter which took place near here, on the site
of the small Church of Domine Quo Vadis. The story is as follows: After
the burning of Rome, Nero charged the Christians with having fired
the city. Straightway the first persecution broke forth, and many of
the Christians were put to death with dreadful torture. The survivors
besought Peter not to expose his life. As he fled along the Appian Way,
Christ appeared to him travelling towards the city. The fleeing apostle
exclaimed in amazement, "_Domine, quo vadis?_" (Lord, whither goest
thou?), to which, with a look of mild sadness, the Saviour replied,
"_Venio iterum crucifigi_" (I come to be crucified a second time), then
vanished, whereupon the apostle, ashamed of his weakness, returned to
Rome, and shortly afterwards was crucified there himself.
[Sidenote: The Chains of St. Peter.]
Another relic of great interest connected with the same apostle is
shown in the Church of S. Pietro in Vincoli, in Rome, and indeed gives
the church its name. The church is not without interest for other
reasons. For instance, it possesses portions of the crosses of St.
Peter and St. Andrew, and we are told that the high altar covers the
remains of the seven Maccabean brothers. But the basilica is specially
famous for the possession of the greatest masterpiece of sculpture
since the time of the Greeks--the majestic "Moses" of Michelangelo,
which draws thousands of sightseers who might otherwise never set foot
in the building. Nevertheless, its chief attraction, to the devout
Roman Catholic mind, is neither the bones of the Maccabees nor the
statue of Moses, but the chains referred to in the following familiar
passage of Scripture: "Peter therefore was kept in prison; but prayer
was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And when Herod
would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between
two soldiers bound with two chains; and the keepers before the door
kept the prison. And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a
light shined in the prison; and he smote Peter on the side, and raised
him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his
hands." (Acts xii. 5-7.) These two chains were presented by Juvenal,
Bishop of Jerusalem, to the Empress Eudoxia, wife of Theodosius the
younger, who placed one of them in the Basilica of the apostles in
Constantinople and sent the other to Rome, where this church was
erected as its special shrine. This was about the middle of the fifth
century. "But the Romans could not rest satisfied with the possession
of half the relic; and within the walls of this very basilica, Leo
I. beheld in a vision the miraculous and mystical uniting of the two
chains, since which they have both been exhibited here, and the day of
their being soldered together by invisible power, August 1st, has been
kept sacred in the Latin church!" "They are of unequal size, owing to
many fragments of one of them (first whole links, then only filings)
having been removed in the course of centuries by various popes and
sent to Christian princes who have been esteemed worthy of the favor!
The longest is about five feet in length. At the end of one of them is
a collar, which is said to have encircled the neck of St. Peter. They
are exposed on the day of the 'station' (the first Monday in Lent) in a
reliquary presented by Pius IX., adorned with statuettes of St. Peter
and the Angel--to whom he is represented as saying, '_Ecce nunc scio
vere_' (Acts xii. II). On the following day a priest gives the chains
to be kissed by the pilgrims, and touches their foreheads with them,
saying, 'By the intercession of the blessed Apostle Peter, may God
preserve you from evil. Amen.'"[13]
[Sidenote: The Benefits of Buying a Fac-simile of the Chains.]
In the sacristy we found a young priest doing a thriving business in
copies of the relic. We bought from him "an iron _fac-simile_ of the
chains (about the size of an ordinary watch-chain), authenticated by a
certificate testifying to its having touched the original chains. On
the back of this certificate was printed an extract from the Rules of
the Confraternity of the chains of St. Peter, from which we learned
that all associates in this brotherhood must wear such a _fac-simile_
as we had just bought, that the objects of the Confraternity are "The
propagation of the veneration of the chains of St. Peter, an increase
of devotion to the Holy See, prayers for the Pope's intention, for the
needs of Holy Church, the conversion of infidels and sinners, and the
extirpation of heresy and blasphemy," and that Pius IX. had granted to
the members of the Confraternity various indulgences, one of which is
"_A plenary indulgence and remission of all sins_[14] if one visits the
Church of San Pietro in Vincoli on January 18th[15] and June 29th,[16]
between the first vespers of the feast and sunset of the said days,
or on August 1st, or any one of the seven days following it. The usual
prayers for the Holy Father's intention," etc., are comprised in these
visits. We are told also that "the foregoing indulgences are applicable
to the souls in purgatory."
[Sidenote: The Relics in St. Peter's Cathedral.]
We may close this running account of the relics at Rome with a brief
mention of those that are to be seen in St. Peter's itself, the largest
and costliest church in the world. The construction of it extended
over one hundred and seventy-six years. The cost of the main building
alone was fifty million dollars. The annual outlay for repairs is
thirty-one thousand five hundred dollars. But it cost the Romish Church
far more than money--it cost her the loss of all the leading nations
of the world, which had been under her dominion till that time. For
the expense of the vast structure, with its "insolent opulence of
marbles," was so great that Julius II. and Leo X. were obliged to meet
the enormous outlay by the sale of indulgences, and that, as is well
known, precipitated the Reformation. So that Protestants may well feel
a peculiar interest in this mighty cathedral.
[Sidenote: The Column against which Christ Leaned in the Temple.]
It goes without saying that the popes would not allow the chief church
of Roman Catholicism to go begging in the matter of relics. And, sure
enough, we have no sooner pushed aside the heavy padded screen and
stepped within than we find on our right the Chapel of the Holy Column,
so called because it contains a pillar which is declared to have been
that against which our Lord leaned when he prayed and taught in the
temple at Jerusalem. The pillar contains this inscription: "Haec est
illa columna in qua DNS N{r} Jesus XPS appodiatus dum populo prædicabat
et Deo pno preces in templo effundebat adhaerendo, stabatque una
cum aliis undecim hic circumstantibus. De Salomonis templo in
triumphum hujus Basilicæ hic locata fuit: demones expellit et immundis
spiritibus vexatos liberos reddit et multa miracula cotidie facit.
P. reverendissimum prem et Dominum Dominum Card. de Ursinis. A. D.
MDCCCXXVIII."
[Sidenote: The Chair of St. Peter.]
At the other end of the church we are shown an ancient wooden chair,
encrusted with ivory, which we are told was the Cathedra Petri,
the episcopal throne of St. Peter and his immediate successors.
A magnificent festival in honor of this chair has been annually
celebrated here for hundreds of years.
My party seems to be made up of very determined Protestants. At any
rate, the sight of this relic leads an inquisitive person in the party
to ask whether the Bible does not say that "Peter's wife's mother lay
sick of a fever."
"Yes," replies the unfortunate gentleman to whose lot it falls to
answer all questions of all kinds.
"Then," continues the Inquisitive Person, "Peter was married?"
Unfortunate Gentleman: "Yes."
I. P.: "Do the Popes still marry?"
U. G.: "No."
I. P.: "If 'the first Pope' was married, why should not his successors
be married, and why should they insist upon a celibate clergy in every
age, in every country, and under all circumstances?"
[Sidenote: The Bones of St. Peter.]
U. G.: "These questions are becoming too hard for me. Come, let me
show you the tomb which contains the bones of St. Peter and St. Paul.
Only half of their bodies are preserved here, the other portion of St.
Peter's being in the Church of St. John Lateran and the other portion
of St. Paul's at the magnificent basilica of St. Paul's without the
walls."
"A circle of eighty-six gold lamps is always burning around the tomb of
the poor fisherman of Galilee.... Hence one can gaze up into the dome,
with its huge letters in purple-blue mosaic upon a gold ground (each
six feet long)--Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram ædificabo ecclesiam
meam, et tibi dabo claves regni coelorum.' Above this are four colossal
mosaics of the Evangelists.... The pen of St. Luke is seven feet in
length."
But we must not permit ourselves to be diverted from our proper subject
by the vastness and splendor of the building, natural as it is to do
so when standing under this matchless dome. The four huge piers which
support the dome are used as shrines for the four great relics of the
church, viz.: 1. The lance of St. Longinus, the soldier who pierced the
Saviour's side; 2. A portion of the true cross; 3. The napkin of St.
Veronica, containing the miraculous impression of our Lord's face; and
4. The head of the apostle Andrew.
I did not see these relics myself, as I was in the East when they were
exhibited, but on April 11th, the day before Easter, other members of
my party did, that is, they saw all of them but Andrew's head, and
from a letter written me by the youngest of my correspondents in my
own family, giving not only description, but drawings of the spear
head, the cross and the handkerchief in their several frames, I infer
that, notwithstanding the great height of the Veronica balcony from
which they are exhibited, my young correspondent and his companions
fared better in the matter of a good view than Fritz in _Chronicles
of the Schönberg Cotta Family_, who says: "To-day we gazed on the
Veronica--the holy impression left by our Saviour's face on the cloth
S. Veronica presented to him to wipe his brow, bowed under the weight
of the cross. We had looked forward to this sight for days, for seven
thousand years of indulgence from penance are attached to it. But when
the moment came we could see nothing but a black board hung with a
cloth, before which another white cloth was held. In a few minutes this
was withdrawn, and the great moment was over, the glimpse of the sacred
thing on which hung the fate of seven thousand years."
FOOTNOTES:
[9] _Later._--This is the church in which the late Pope Leo XIII. is to
be buried.
[10] _The Roman Catholic Church in Italy_, Alexander Robertson, p. 113.
[11] Hare, II., 93.
[12] Hare's _Walks in Rome_, II., pp. 166, 167.
[13] Hare, II., 45.
[14] Italics not mine, but so printed in the extract.
[15] Feast of St. Peter's Chair.
[16] Feast of St. Peter.