THE CŒLIAN.
S. Gregorio--S. Giovanni e Paolo--Arch of Dolabella--S. Tommaso in
Formis--Villa Mattei--Sta. Maria della Navicella--S. Stefano
Rotondo--I Santi Quattro Incoronati--S. Clemente.
The Cœlian Hill extends from St. John Lateran to the Vigna of the
Porta Capena, and from the Fountain of Egeria to the Convent of S.
Gregorio. It is now entirely uninhabited, except by monks of the
Camaldolese, Passionist, and Redemptorist Orders, and by the Augustinian
Nuns of the Incoronati.
In the earliest times the name of this hill was Mons Querquetulanus,
"The Hill of Oaks," and it was clothed with forest, part of which long
remained as the sacred wood of the Camenæ. It first received its name of
Cœlius from Cœlius Vibenna, an Etruscan Lucumo of Ardea, who is
said to have come to the assistance of Romulus in his war against the
Sabine king Tatius, and to have afterwards established himself here. In
the reign of Tullus Hostilius the Cœlian assumed some importance, as
that king fixed his residence here, and transported hither the Latin
population of Alba.
As the Cœlian had a less prominent share in the history of Rome than
any of the other hills, it preserves scarcely any historical monuments
of pagan times. All those which existed under the republic were
destroyed by a great fire which ravaged this hill in the reign of
Tiberius,[155] except the Temple of the Nymphs, which once stood in the
grove of the Camenæ, and which had been already burnt by Clodius, in
order to destroy the records of his falsehoods and debts which it
contained.[156] Some small remains in the garden of the Passionist
convent are attributed to the temple which Agrippina raised to her
husband the Emperor Claudius, and in S. Stefano Rotondo some antiquaries
recognize the Macellum of Nero. There are no remains of the palace of
the Emperor Tetricus, who lived here, "between the two sacred
groves,"[157] in a magnificent captivity under Aurelian, whom he
received here at a banquet, at which he exhibited an allegorical picture
representing his reception of the empire of Gaul, and his subsequent
resignation of it for the simple insignia of a Roman senator.[158]
To the Christian visitor, however, the Cœlian will always prove of
the deepest interest--and the slight thread of connection which runs
between all its principal objects, as well as their nearness to one
another, brings them pleasantly within the limits of a single day's
excursion. Many of those who are not mere passing visitors at Rome, will
probably find that their chief pleasure lies not amid the well-known
sights of the great basilicas and palaces, but in quiet walks through
the silent lanes and amid the decaying buildings of these more distant
hills.
"The recollection of Rome will come back, after many years, in
images of long delicious strolls, in musing loneliness, through the
deserted ways of the ancient city; of climbing among its hills,
over ruins, to reach some vantage-ground for mapping out the
subjacent territory, and looking beyond on the glorious chains of
greater and lesser mountains, clad in their imperial hues of gold
and purple; and then, perhaps, of solemn entrance into the cool
solitude of an open basilica, where your thought now rests, as your
body then did, after the silent evening prayer, and brings forward
from many well-remembered nooks, every local inscription, every
lovely monument of art, the characteristic feature of each, or the
great names with which it is associated. The Liberian speaks to you
of Bethlehem and its treasured mysteries; the Sessorian of Calvary
and its touching relics. Baronius gives you his injunctions on
Christian architecture inscribed, as a legacy, in his title of
Fasciola; St. Dominic lives in the fresh paintings of a faithful
disciple, on the walls of the opposite church of St. Xystus; there
stands the chair and there hangs the hat of St. Charles, as if he
had just left his own church, from which he calls himself in his
signature to letters 'the Cardinal of St. Praxedes;' near it, in a
sister church, is fresh the memory of St. Justin Martyr, addressing
his apologies for Christianity to heathen emperor and senate, and
of Pudens and his British spouse; and, far beyond the city gates,
the cheerful Philip[159] is seen kneeling at S. Sebastiano, waiting
for the door to the Platonia to be opened for him, that he may
watch the night through in the martyr's dormitory."--_Wiseman's
Life of Leo XII._
"For myself, I must say that I know nothing to compare with a
pilgrimage among the antique churches scattered over the Esquiline,
the Cœlian, and the Aventine Hills. They stand apart, each in
its solitude, amid gardens, and vineyards, and heaps of nameless
ruins;--here a group of cypresses, there a lofty pine or solitary
palm; the tutelary saint, perhaps some Sant' Achilleo, or Santa
Bibiana, whom we never heard of before,--an altar rich in precious
marbles,--columns of porphyry,--the old frescoes dropping from the
walls,--the everlasting colossal mosaics looking down so solemn, so
dim, so spectral;--these grow upon us, until at each succeeding
visit they themselves, and the associations by which they are
surrounded, become a part of our daily life, and may be said to
hallow that daily life when considered in a right spirit. True,
what is most sacred, what is most poetical, is often desecrated to
the fancy by the intrusion of those prosaic realities which easily
strike prosaic minds; by disgust at the foolish fabrications which
those who recite them do not believe, by lying inscriptions, by
tawdry pictures, by tasteless and even profane restorations;--by
much that saddens, much that offends, much that disappoints;--but
then so much remains! So much to awaken, to elevate, to touch the
heart; so much that will not pass away from the memory, so much
that makes a part of our after-life."--_Mrs. Jameson._
* * * * *
We may pass under the Arch of Constantine, or through the pleasant sunny
walks known as the _Parco di San Gregorio_,--planted by the French
during their first occupation of Rome, but which may almost be regarded
as a remnant of the sacred grove of the Camenæ which once occupied this
site.
The further gate of the Parco opens on a small triangular piazza, whence
a broad flight of steps lead up to the _Church of S. Gregorio_, to the
English pilgrim one of the most interesting spots in Rome, for it was at
the head of these steps that St. Augustine took his last farewell of
Gregory the Great, and, kneeling on this green-sward below, the first
missionaries of England received the parting blessing of the great
pontiff, as he stood on the height in the gateway. As we enter the
portico (built 1633, by Card. Scipio Borghese,) we see on either side
two world-famous inscriptions.
On the right:
Adsta hospes
et lege.
Hic olim fuit M. Gregori domus
Ipse in monasterium convertit,
Ubi monasticen professus est
Et diu abbas præfuit.
Monachi primum Benedictini
Mox Græci tenuere
Dein Benedictini iterum
Post varios casos
Quum jamdiu
Esset commendatum
Et poene desertum.
Anno MDLXXIII
Camaldulenses inducti
Qui et industria sua
Et ope plurium
R. E. Cardinalium
Quorum hic monumenta exstant,
Favente etiam Clemente XI. P. M.
Templum et adjacentes ædes
In hanc quam cernis formam
Restituerunt.
On the left:
Ex hoc monasterio
Prodierunt.
S. Gregorius, M. Fundator et Parens
S. Eleutherius, A.B. Hilarion, A.B.
S. Augustinus. Anglor. Apostol.
S. Laurentius. Cantuar. Archiep.
S. Mellitus. Londinen. Ep. mox.
Archiep. Cantuar.
S. Justus. Ep. Roffensis.
S. Paulinus. Ep. Eborac.
S. Maximianus. Syracusan. Ep.
SS. Antonius, Merulus, et Joannes, Monachi.
St. Petrus. A.B. Cantuar.
Marinianus. Archiep. Raven.
Probus. Xenodochi. Jerosolymit.
Curator. A. S. Gregori. Elect.
Sabinus Callipodit. Ep.
Gregorius. Diac. Card. S. Eustach.
Hic. Etiam. Diu. Vixit. M. Gregori
Mater. S. Silvia. Hoc. Maxime
Colenda. Quod. Tantum. Pietatis
Sapientiæ. Et. Doctrinæ. Lumen
Pepererit.
"Cette ville incomparable renferme peu de sites plus attrayants et
plus dignes d'éternelle mémoire. Le sanctuaire occupe l'angle
occidental du mont Cœlius.... Il est à égale distance du grand
Cirque, des Thermes de Caracalla et du Colisée, tout proche de
l'église des saints martyrs Jean et Paul. Le berceau du
christianisme de l'Angleterre touche ainsi au sol trempé par le
sang de tant de milliers de martyrs. En face s'élève le mont
Palatin, berceau de Rome païenne, encore couvert des vastes débris
du palais des Césars.... Où est donc l'Anglais digne de ce nom qui,
en portant son regard du Palatin au Colisée, pourrait contempler
sans émotion ce coin de terre d'où lui sont venus la foi, le nom
chrétien et la Bible dont il est si fier. Voilà où les enfants
esclaves de ses aïeux étaient recueillis et sauvés! Sur ces pierres
s'agenouillaient ceux qui ont fait sa patrie chrétienne! Sous ces
voûtes a été conçu par une âme sainte, confié à Dieu, béni par
Dieu, accepté et accompli par d'humbles et généreux chrétiens, le
grand dessein! Par ces degrés sont descendus les quarante moines
qui ont porté à l'Angleterre la parole de Dieu, la lumière de
l'Évangile, la succession apostolique et la règle de
Saint-Benoît!"--_Montalembert, Moines d'Occident._
Hard by was the house of Sta. Silvia, mother of St. Gregory, of which
the ruins still remain, opposite to the church of S. Giovanni e Paolo,
and in the little garden which still exists, we may believe that he
played as a child under his mother's care. Close to his mother's home he
founded the monastery of St. Andrew, where he dwelt for many years as a
monk, employed in writing homilies, and in the enjoyment of visionary
conversation with the Virgin, whom he believed to answer him in person
from her picture before which he knelt. "To this monastery he presented
his own portrait, with those of his father and mother, which were
probably in existence 300 years after his death; and this portrait of
himself probably furnished that peculiar type of physiognomy which we
trace in all the best representations of him."[160] During the life of
penance and poverty which was led here by St. Gregory, he sold all his
goods for the benefit of the poor, retaining nothing but a silver bason
given him by his mother. One day a poor shipwrecked sailor came several
times to beg in the cell where he was writing, and as he had no money,
he gave him instead this one remaining treasure. A long time after, St.
Gregory saw the same shipwrecked sailor reappear in the form of his
guardian angel, who told him that God had henceforth destined him to
rule his church, and become the successor of St. Peter, whose charity he
had imitated.[161]
"Un moine (A.D. 590) va monter pour la première fois sur la chaire
apostolique. Ce moine, le plus illustre de tous ceux qui ont compté
parmi les souverains pontifes, y rayonnera d'un éclat qu'aucun de
ses prédécesseurs n'a égalé et qui rejaillera comme une sanction
suprême, sur l'institut dont il est issu. Grégoire, le seul parmi
les hommes avec le Pape Léon Ier qui ait reçu à la fois, du
consentement universel, le double surnom de Saint et de Grand, sera
l'eternel honneur de l'Ordre bénédictin comme de la papauté. Par
son génie, mais surtout par le charme et l'ascendant de sa vertu,
il organisera le domaine temporel des papes, il développera et
régularisera leur souveraineté spirituelle, il fondera leur
paternelle suprématie sur les royautés naissantes et les nations
nouvelles qui vont devenir les grands peuples de l'avenir, et
s'appeler la France, l'Espagne, l'Angleterre. A vrai dire, c'est
lui qui inaugure le moyen âge, la société moderne et la
civilisation chrétienne."--_Montalembert._
The church of St. Gregory is approached by a cloistered court filled
with monuments. On the left is that of Sir Edward Carne, one of the
commissioners to obtain the opinion of foreign universities respecting
the divorce of Henry VIII. from Catherine of Arragon, ambassador to
Charles V., and afterwards to the court of Rome. He was recalled when
the embassy was suppressed by Elizabeth, but was kept at Rome by Paul
IV., who had conceived a great affection for him, and he died here in
1561. Another monument, of an exile for the catholic faith, is that of
Robert Pecham, who died 1567, inscribed:
"Roberto Pecham Anglo, equite aurato, Philippi et Mariæ Angliæ et
Hispan regibus olim a consiliis genere religione virtute præclaro
qui cum patriam suam a fede catholica deficientem adspicere sine
summo dolore non posset, relictis omnibus quæ in hac vita carissima
esse solent, in voluntarium profectus exilium, post sex annis
pauperibus Christi heredibus testamento institutis, sanctissime e
vita migravit."
The _Church_, rebuilt in 1734, under Francesco Ferrari, has sixteen
ancient granite columns and a fine Opus-Alexandrinum pavement. Among its
monuments we may observe that of Cardinal Zurla, a learned writer on
geographical subjects, who was abbot of the adjoining convent. It was a
curious characteristic of the laxity of morals in the time of Julius II.
(1503-13), that her friends did not hesitate to bury the famous Aspasia
of that age in this church, and to inscribe upon her tomb: "Imperia,
cortisana Romana, quæ digna tanto nomine, raræ inter homines formæ
specimen dedit. Vixit annos xxvi. dies xii. obiit 1511, die 15
Augusti,"--but this monument has now been removed.
At the end of the right aisle is a picture by _Badalocchi_,
commemorating a miracle on this spot, when, at the moment of elevation,
the Host is said to have bled in the hands of St. Gregory, to convince
an unbeliever of the truth of transubstantiation. It will be observed
that in this and in most other representations of St. Gregory, a dove is
perched upon his shoulder, and whispering into his ear. This is
commemorative of the impression that every word and act of the saint was
directly inspired by the Holy Ghost; a belief first engendered by the
happy promptitude of Peter, his arch-deacon, who invented the story to
save the beloved library of his master which was about to be destroyed
after his death by the people, in a pitiful spirit of revenge, because
they fancied that a famine which was decimating them, had been brought
about by the extravagance of Gregory.[162] An altar beneath this picture
is decorated with marble reliefs, representing the same miracle, and
also the story of the soul of the Emperor Trajan being freed from
purgatory by the intercession of Gregory. (Chap. IV.)
A low door near this leads into the monastic cell of St. Gregory,
containing his marble chair, and the spot where his bed lay, inscribed:
"Nocte dieque vigil longo hic defessu labore
Gregorius modica membra quiete levat."
Here also an immense collection of minute relics of saints are exposed
to the veneration of the credulous.
On the opposite side of the church is the _Salviati Chapel_, the
burial-place of that noble family, modernized in 1690 by Carlo Maderno.
Over the altar is a copy of Annibale Caracci's picture of St. Gregory,
which once existed here, but is now in England. On the right is the
picture of the Madonna, "which spoke to St. Gregory," and which is said
to have become suddenly impressed upon the wall after a vision in which
she appeared to him;--on the left is a beautiful marble ciborium.
Hence a sacristan will admit the visitor into the _Garden of Sta.
Silvia_, whence there is a grand view over the opposite Palatine.
"To stand here on the summit of the flight of steps which leads to
the portal, and look across to the ruined Palace of the Cæsars,
makes the mind giddy with the rush of thoughts. _There_, before us,
the Palatine Hill--pagan Rome in the dust; _here_, the little cell,
a few feet square, where slept in sackcloth the man who gave the
last blow to the power of the Cæsars, and first set his foot as
sovereign on the cradle and capital of their greatness."--_Mrs.
Jameson._
Here are three Chapels, restored by the historian Cardinal Baronius, in
the sixteenth century. The first, of _Sta. Silvia_, contains a fresco of
the Almighty with a choir of angels, by _Guido_, and beneath it a
beautiful statue of the venerable saint (especially invoked against
convulsions), by _Niccolo Cordieri_--one of the best statues of saints
in Rome. The second chapel, of _St. Andrew_, contains the two famous
rival frescoes of _Guido_ and _Domenichino_. Guido has represented St.
Andrew kneeling in reverent thankfulness at first sight of the cross on
which he was to suffer; Domenichino--a more painful subject--the
flagellation of the saint. Of these paintings Annibale Caracci observed
that "Guido's was the painting of the Master; but Domenichino's the
painting of the scholar who knew more than the master." The beautiful
group of figures in the corner, where a terrified child is hiding its
face in its mother's dress, is introduced in several other pictures of
Domenichino.
"It is a well-known anecdote that a poor old woman stood for a long
time before the story of Domenichino, pointing it out bit by bit
and explaining it to a child who was with her,--and that she then
turned to the story told by Guido, admired the landscape, and went
away. It is added that when Annibale Caracci heard of this, it
seemed to him in itself a sufficient reason for giving the
preference to the former work. It is also said that when
Domenichino was painting one of the executioners, he worked himself
up into a fury with threatening words and gestures, and that
Annibale, surprising him in this condition, embraced him, saying:
'Domenico, to-day you have taught me a lesson, which is that a
painter, like an orator, must first feel himself that which he
would represent to others.'"--_Lanzi_, v. 82.
"In historical pictures Domenichino is often cold and studied,
especially in the principal subject, while on the other hand, the
subordinate persons have much grace, and a noble character of
beauty. Thus, in the scourging of St. Andrew, a group of women
thrust back by the executioners is of the highest beauty. Guido's
fresco is of high merit--St. Andrew, on his way to execution, sees
the cross before him in the distance, and falls upon his knees in
adoration,--the executioners and spectators regard him with
astonishment."--_Kugler._
The third chapel, of _Sta. Barbara_, contains a grand statue of St.
Gregory by _Niccolo Cordieri_[163] (where the whispering dove is again
represented), and the table at which he daily fed twelve poor pilgrims
after washing their feet. The Roman breviary tells how on one occasion
an angel appeared at the feast as the thirteenth guest. This story,--the
sending forth of St. Augustine,--and other events of St. Gregory's life,
are represented in rude frescoes upon the walls by _Viviani_.
The adjoining _Convent_ (modern) is of vast size, and is now occupied by
Camaldolese monks, though in the time of St. Gregory it belonged to the
Benedictines. In its situation it is beautiful and quiet, and must have
been so even in the time of St. Gregory, who often regretted the
seclusion which he was compelled to quit.
"Un jour, plus accablé que jamais par le poids des affaires
séculières, il s'était retiré dans un lieu secret pour s'y livrer
dans un long silence à sa tristesse, et y fut rejoint par le
diàcre Pierre, son élève, son ami d'enfance et le compagnon de ses
chères études. 'Vous est-il donc arrivé quelque chagrin nouveau,'
lui dit le jeune homme, 'pour que vous soyez ainsi plus triste qu'à
l'ordinaire.' 'Mon chagrin,' lui répondit le pontife, 'est celui de
tous mes jours, toujours vieux par l'usage, et toujours nouveau par
sa croissance quotidienne. Ma pauvre âme se rappelle ce qu'elle
était autrefois, dans notre monastère, quand elle planait sur tout
ce qui passe, sur tout ce qui change; quand elle ne songeait qu'au
ciel; quand elle franchissait par la contemplation le cloître de ce
corps qui l'enserre; quand elle aimait d'avance la mort comme
l'entrée de la vie. Et maintenant il lui faut, à cause de ma charge
pastorale, supporter les mille affaires des hommes du siècle et se
souiller dans cette poussière. Et quand, après s'être ainsi
répandue au dehors, elle veut retrouver sa retraite intérieure,
elle n'y revient qu'amoindrie. Je médite sur tout ce que je souffre
et sur tout ce que j'ai perdu. Me voici, battu par l'océan et tout
brisé par la tempête; quand je pense à ma vie d'autrefois, il me
semble regarder en arrière vers le rivage. Et ce qu'il y a de plus
triste, c'est qu'ainsi ballotté par l'orage, je puis à peine
entrevoir le port que j'ai quitté.'"--_Montalembert, Moines
d'Occident._
Pope Gregory XVI. was for some years abbot of this convent, to which he
was afterwards a generous benefactor;--regretting always, like his great
predecessor, the peace of his monastic life. His last words to his
cardinals, who were imploring him, for political purposes, to conceal
his danger, were singularly expressive of this--"Per Dio
lasciatemi!--voglio morire da frate, non da sovrano." The last great
ceremony enacted at S. Gregorio was when Cardinal Wiseman consecrated
the mitred abbot of English Cistercians,--Dr. Manning preaching at the
same time on the prospects of English Catholicism.
Ascending the steep paved lane between S. Gregorio and the Parco, the
picturesque church on the left with the arcaded apse and tall campanile
(_c._ A.D. 1206), inlaid with coloured tiles and marbles, is that of
_SS. Giovanni e Paolo_, two officers in the household of the Christian
princess Constantia, daughter of the Emperor Constantine, in whose time
they occupied a position of great influence and trust. When Julian the
Apostate came to the throne, he attempted to persuade them to sacrifice
to idols, but they refused, saying, "Our lives are at the disposal of
the emperor, but our souls and our faith belong to our God." Then
Julian, fearing to bring them to public martyrdom, lest their popularity
should cause a rebellion and the example of their well-known fortitude
be an encouragement to others, sent off soldiers to behead them
privately in their own house. Hence the inscription on the spot, "Locus
martyrii SS. Joannis et Paoli in ædibus propriis." The church was built
by Pammachus, the friend of St. Jerome, on the site of the house of the
saints. It is entered by a portico adorned with eight ancient granite
columns, interesting as having been erected by the English pope,
Nicholas Breakspear, A.D. 1158. The interior, in the basilica form, has
sixteen ancient columns and a beautiful Opus-Alexandrinum pavement. In
the centre of the floor is a stone, railed off, upon which it is said
that the saints were beheaded. Their bodies are contained in a porphyry
urn under the high altar. In early times these were the only bodies of
saints preserved within the walls of Rome (the rest being in the
catacombs). In the Sacramentary of St. Leo, in the Preface of SS. John
and Paul, it is said, "Of Thy merciful providence Thou hast vouchsafed
to crown not only the circuit of the city with the glorious passions of
the martyrs, but also to hide in the very heart of the city itself the
victorious limbs of St. John and St. Paul."[164]
Above the tribune are frescoes by _Pomerancio_. A splendid chapel on the
right was built 1868;--two of its alabaster pillars were the gift of
Pius IX. Beneath the altar on the left of the tribune is preserved the
embalmed body of St. Paul of the Cross (who died 1776), founder of the
Order of Passionists, who inhabit the adjoining convent. The aged face
bears a beautiful expression of repose;--the body is dressed in the robe
which clothed it when living.[165]
Male visitors are admitted through the convent to its large and
beautiful _Garden_, which overhangs the steep side of the Cœlian
towards the Coliseum, of which there is a fine view between its ancient
cypresses. Here, on a site near the monastery, are some remains believed
to be those of the temple built by Agrippina (_c._ A.D. 57), daughter of
Germanicus, to the honour of her deified husband (and uncle) Claudius,
after she had sent him to Olympus by feeding him with poisonous
mushrooms. This temple was pulled down by Nero, who wished to efface the
memory of his predecessor, on the pretext that it interfered with his
Golden House; but was rebuilt under Vespasian. In this garden also is
the entrance to the vast substructions known as the _Vivarium_, whence
the wild beasts who devoured the early Christian martyrs were frightened
by burning tow down a subterranean passage into the arena.
The famous Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo at Venice was founded by
emigrants from this convent. The memory of these saints was so much
honoured up to the time of Pope Gregory the Great, that the eve of their
festival was an obligatory fast. Their fête (June 26) is still kept with
great solemnities on the Cœlian, when the railing round their place
of execution is wreathed and laden with flowers. When the "station" is
held at their church, the apse is illuminated.
Continuing to follow the lane up the Cœlian, we reach the richly
tinted brick _Arch of Dolabella_, erected, A.D. 10, by the consuls P.
Cornelius Dolabella and Caius Julius Silanus. Nero, building his
aqueduct to the palace of the Cæsars, made use of this, which already
existed, and included it in his line of arches.
Above the arch is a _Hermitage_, revered as that where S. Giovanni di
Matha lived, and where he died in 1213. Before he came to reside here he
had been miraculously brought from Tunis (whither he had gone on a
mission) to Ostia, in a boat without helm or sail, in which he knelt
without ceasing before the crucifix throughout the whole of his voyage!
Passing beneath the gateway, we emerge upon the picturesque irregular
Piazza of the Navicella, the central point of the Cœlian, which is
surrounded by a most interesting group of buildings, and which contains
an isolated fragment of the aqueduct of Nero, dear to artists from its
colour. Behind this, under the trees, is the little marble _Navicella_,
which is supposed to have been originally a votive offering of a sailor
to Jupiter Redux, whose temple stood near this; but which was adapted by
Leo X. as a Christian emblem of the Church,--the boat of St. Peter.
"The allegory of a ship is peculiarly dwelt upon by the ancient
Fathers. A ship entering the port was a favourite heathen emblem of
the close of life. But the Christian idea, and its elevation from
individual to universal or catholic humanity, is derived directly
from the Bible,--see, for instance, I Peter iii. 20, 21. 'Without
doubt,' says St. Augustine, 'the ark is the figure of the city of
God pilgrimising in this world, in other words, of the Church,
which is saved by the wood on which hung the mediator between God
and man, the man Christ Jesus.' The same interpretation was
recognised in the Latin Church in the days of Tertullian and St.
Cyprian, &c. The bark of St. Peter is similarly represented on a
Greek gem, found in the Catacombs, as sailing on a fish, probably
Leviathan or Satan, while doves, emblematical of the faithful,
perch on the mast and stern,--two Apostles row, a third lifts up
his hands in prayer, and our Saviour, approaching the vessel,
supports Peter by the hand when about to sink.... But the allegory
of the ship is carried out to its fullest extent in the
fifty-seventh chapter of the second book of the 'Apostolical
Constitutions,' supposed to have been compiled in the name of the
Apostles, in the fourth century."--_Lord Lindsay's Christian Art_,
i. 18.
On the right is (first) the gateway of the deserted convent of
Redemptorists, called _S. Tommaso in Formis_, which was founded by S.
Giovanni de Matha, who, when celebrating his first mass at Paris, beheld
in a vision, an angel robed in white, with a red and blue cross upon his
breast, and his hands resting in benediction upon the heads of two
captives,--a white and a black man. The bishop of Paris sent him to Rome
to seek explanation from Innocent III., who was celebrated as an
interpreter of dreams,--his foundation of the Franciscan order having
resulted from one which befell him. S. Giovanni was accompanied to the
pope by another hermit, Felix de Valois. They found that Innocent had
himself seen the same vision of the angel between the two captives while
celebrating mass at the Lateran, and he interpreted it as inculcating
the duty of charity towards Christian slaves, for which purpose he
founded the Trinitarians, since called Redemptorists. The story of the
double vision is commemorated in a _Mosaic_, erected above the door,
A.D. 1260, and bearing the name of the artist, Jacobus Cosmati.
The next gate beyond the church is that of the _Villa Mattei_, the
garden of the Redemptorists. (The villa is now the property of Baron
Richard Hoffmann: visitors are generally admitted upon writing down
their names at the gate.)
These grounds are well worth visiting--quite the ideal of a deserted
Roman garden, a wealth of large Roman daisies, roses, and periwinkle
spreading at will amid remains of ancient statues and columns. A grand
little avenue of ilexes leads to a terrace whence there is a most
beautiful view towards the aqueducts and the Alban Hills, with a noble
sarcophagus and a quantity of fine aloes and prickly-pears in the
foreground. There is an obelisk, of which only the top is Egyptian. It
is said that there is a man's hand underneath;--when the obelisk was
lowered it fell suddenly, and one of the workmen had not time to take
his hand away. In the grounds annexed to the lower part of the villa is
the Fountain of Egeria (p. 375).
Almost standing in the garden of the villa, and occupying the site of
the house of Sta. Cyriaca, is the _Church of Sta. Maria in Domenica_ or
_della Navicella_. (If no one is here, the hermit at S. Stefano Rotondo
will unlock it.) The portico is due to Raphael (his design is at
Windsor). The damp interior (rebuilt by Leo X. from designs of Raphael)
is solemn and striking. It is in the basilica form, the nave separated
from the aisles by eighteen columns of granite and one (smaller, near
the tribune) of porphyry. The frieze, in chiaroscuro, was painted by
_Giulio Romano_ and _Pierino del Vaga_. Beneath the confessional are
the bones of Sta. Balbina, whose fortress-like church stands on the
Pseudo-Aventine. In the tribune are curious mosaics, in which the figure
of Pope Paschal I. is introduced, the square nimbus round his head being
an evidence of its portrait character, _i. e._, that it was done during
his lifetime.[166]
"Within the tribune are mosaics of the Virgin and Child seated on a
throne, with angels ranged in regular rows on each side; and, at
her feet, with unspeakable stiffness of limb, the kneeling figure
of Pope Paschal I. Upon the walls of the tribune is the Saviour
with a nimbus, surrounded with two angels and the twelve apostles,
and further below, on a much larger scale, two prophets, who appear
to point towards him. The most remarkable thing here is the rich
foliage decoration. Besides the wreaths of flowers (otherwise not a
rare feature) which are growing out of two vessels on the edge of
the dome, the floor beneath the figures is also decorated with
flowers--a graceful species of ornament seldom aimed at in the
moroseness of Byzantine art. From this point, the decline into
utter barbarism is rapid."--_Kugler._
"The Olivetan monks inhabited the church and cloisters of Sta.
Maria in Domenica, commonly called in Navicella, from the rudely
sculptured marble monument that stands on the grass before its
portal, a remnant of bygone days, to which neither history nor
tradition has given a name, but which has itself given one to the
picturesque old church which stands on the brow of the Cœlian
Hill."--_Lady Georgiana Fullerton._
A tradition of the Church narrates that St. Lorenzo, deacon and martyr,
daily distributed alms to the poor in front of this church--then the
house of Sta. Cyriaca--with whom he had taken refuge.
Opposite, is the round _Church of S. Stefano Rotondo_, dedicated by St.
Simplicius in 467. It appears to have been built on the site of an
ancient circular building, and to have belonged to the great victual
market--Macellum Magnum--erected by Nero in this quarter.[167] It is
seldom used for service, except on St. Stephen's Day (December 26), but
visitors are admitted through a little cloister, in which stands a well
of beautiful proportions, of temp. Leo X.--attributed to Michael Angelo.
The interior is exceedingly curious architecturally. It is one hundred
and thirty-three feet in diameter, with a double circle of granite
columns, thirty-six in the outer and twenty in the inner series,
enclosing two tall Corinthian columns, with two pilasters supporting a
cross wall. In the centre is a kind of temple in which are relics of St.
Stephen (his body is said to be at S. Lorenzo). In the entrance of the
church is an ancient marble seat from which St. Gregory is said to have
read his fourth homily.
The walls are lined with frescoes by _Pomerancio_ and _Tempesta_. They
begin with the Crucifixion, but as the Holy Innocents really suffered
before our Saviour, one of them is represented lying on each side of the
cross. Next comes the stoning of St. Stephen, and the frescoes continue
to pourtray every phase of human agony in the most revolting detail, but
are interesting as showing a historical series of what the Roman
Catholic Church considers as the best authenticated martyrdoms, viz.:
{St. Peter, crucified.
{St. Paul, beheaded.
{St. Vitale, buried alive.
{St. Thecla, tossed by a bull.
Under Nero {St. Gervase, beaten to death.
{SS. Protasius, Processus, and Martinianus, beheaded.
{St. Faustus and others, clothed in skins of beasts
{and torn to pieces by dogs.
{St. John, boiled in oil (which he survived) at the
{Porta Latina.
{St. Cletus, Pope, beheaded.
Under Domitian {St. Denis, beheaded (and carrying his head).
{St. Domitilla, roasted alive.
{SS. Nereus and Achilles, beheaded.
{St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, eaten by lions in
{the Coliseum.
Under Trajan {St. Clement, Pope, tied to an anchor and thrown
{into the sea.
{St. Simon, Bishop of Jerusalem, crucified.
{St. Eustachio, his wife Theophista, and his children
{Agapita and Theophista, burnt in a
{brazen bull before the Coliseum.
Under Hadrian {St. Alexander, Pope, beheaded.
{St. Sinforosa, drowned, and her seven sons martyred
{in various ways.
{St. Pius, Pope, beheaded.
{St. Felicitas and her seven sons martyred in
Under Antoninus-Pius {various ways.
and Marcus {St. Justus, beheaded.
Aurelius {St. Margaret, stretched on a rack, and torn to
{pieces with iron forks.
{St. Blandina, tossed by a bull, in a net.
Under Antoninus {St. Attalus, roasted on red-hot chair.
and Verus {St. Pothicus and others, burnt alive.
{SS. Perpetua and Felicitas, torn to pieces by lions
Under Septimius {in the Coliseum.
Severus and {SS. Victor and Zephyrinus, Leonida and Basil,
Caracalla {beheaded.
{St. Alexandrina, covered with boiling pitch.
{St. Calixtus, Pope, thrown into a well with a stone
{round his neck.
{St. Calepodius, dragged through Rome by wild
{horses, and thrown into the Tiber.
Under Alexander {St. Martina, torn with iron forks.
Severus {St. Cecilia, who, failing to be suffocated with hot
{water, was stabbed in the throat.
{St. Urban the Pope, Tibertius, Valerianus, and
{Maximus, beheaded.
{St. Pontianus, Pope, beheaded in Sardinia.
{St. Agatha, her breasts cut off.
{SS. Fabian and Cornelius, Popes, and St. Cyprian
{of Carthage, beheaded.
{St. Tryphon, burnt.
{SS. Abdon and Sennen, torn by lions.
{St. Apollonia, burnt, after all her teeth were pulled
Under Valerianus {out.
and Gallienus {St. Stephen, Pope, burnt in his episcopal chair.
{St. Cointha, torn to pieces.
{St. Sixtus, Pope, killed with the sword.
{St. Venantius, thrown from a wall.
{St. Laurence the deacon, roasted on a gridiron.
{St. Hippolytus, torn by wild horses.
{SS. Rufina and Semula, drowned in the Tiber.
{SS. Protus and Hiacinthus, beheaded.
{Three hundred Christians, burnt in a furnace.
{St. Tertullian, burnt with hot irons.
{St. Nemesius, beheaded.
{St. Sempronius, Olympius, and Theodulus, burnt.
Under Claudius {St. Marius, hung, with a huge weight tied to his
II. {feet.
{St. Martha, and her children, martyred in different
{ways.
{SS. Cyprian and Justinian, boiled.
{St. Valentine, killed with the sword.
{St. Agapitus (aged 15), hung head downwards over
{a pan of burning charcoal. Inscribed above
{are these words from Wisdom, 'Properavit ut
Under Aurelian {educeret illum a seductionibus et iniquitatibus
and Numerianus {gentis suæ.'
{St. Christina, transfixed through the heart.
{St. Columba, burnt.
{SS. Chrysanthus and Daria, buried alive.
{St. Agnes, bound to a stake, afterwards beheaded.
{St. Caius, Pope, beheaded.
{St. Emerantia, stoned to death.
{Nearly the whole population of Nicomedia martyred
{in different ways.
{St. Erasmus, laid in a coffin, into which boiling
{lead was poured.
{St. Blaise, bound to a column, and torn to pieces.
{St. Barbara, burnt with hot irons.
{St. Eustrathius and his companions, martyred in
Under Diocletian {different ways.
and Maximianus {St. Vincent, burnt on a gridiron.
{SS. Primus and Felicianus, torn by lions.
{St. Anastasia, thrown from a rock?
{SS. Quattro Incoronati, martyred in various ways.
{SS. Peter and Marcellinus, beheaded.
{St. Boniface, placed in a dungeon full of boiling
{pitch.
{St. Lucia, shut up in a well full of serpents.
{St. Euphemia, run through with a sword.
{SS. Vitus, Modestus, and Crescentius, boiled alive.
{St. Sebastian, shot with arrows (which he survived).
{SS. Cosmo and Damian, Pantaleon, Saturninus,
{Susanna, Gornius, Adrian, and others, in
{different ways.
{St. Catherine of Alexandria, and others, broken
{on the wheel.
Under Maxentius {SS. Faustina and Porfirius, burnt with a company
{of soldiers.
{St. Marcellus, Pope, died worn out by persecution.
{St. Simon and 1600 citizens cut into fragments.
Under Maximinus {St. Peter, Bishop of Alexandra, and forty soldiers,
and Licinius {left to die, up to their waists in a frozen lake.
{SS. John and Paul, beheaded.
{St. Artemius, crushed between two stones.
Under Julian the {St. Pigmenius, drowned in the Tiber.
Apostate {St. Bibiana, flogged to death, and thrown for food
{to dogs in the Forum.
The last picture represents the reunion of eminent martyrs (in which the
Roman Church includes English sufferers under Elizabeth), and above is
inscribed this verse from Isaiah xxv., "Laudabit populus fortis, civitas
gentium robustarum."
"Au-dessus du tableau de la Crucifixion se trouve cette
inscription: 'Roi glorieux des martyrs, s'il donne sa vie pour
racheter la péché, il verra une postérité sans fin.' Et quelle
postérité! Hommes, femmes, vieillards, jeunes hommes, jeunes
filles, enfants! Comme tous accourent, comme tous savent
mourir."--_Une Chrétienne à Rome._
"Les païens avaient divinisé la vie, les chrétiens divinisèrent la
mort."--_Madame de Stael._
"S. Stefano Rotondo exhibits, in a series of pictures all round the
church, the martyrdoms of the Christians in the so-called
persecutions, with a general picture of the most eminent martyrs
since the triumph of Christianity. No doubt many of the particular
stories thus painted will bear no critical examination; it is
likely enough, too, that Gibbon has truly accused the general
statements of exaggeration. But this is a thankless labour, such as
Lingard and others have undertaken with regard to the St.
Bartholomew massacre, and the Irish massacre of 1642. Divide the
sum total of reported martyrs by twenty,--by fifty, if you
will,--but after all you have a number of persons of all ages and
sexes suffering cruel torments and death for conscience' sake and
for Christ's, and by their sufferings manifestly, with God's
blessing, ensuring the triumph of Christ's gospel. Neither do I
think that we consider the excellence of this martyr-spirit half
enough. I do not think pleasure is a sin: the stoics of old, and
the ascetic Christians since, who have said so (see the answers of
that excellent man, Pope Gregory the Great, to Augustine's
questions, as given at length by Bede), have, in saying so,
outstepped the simplicity and wisdom of Christian truth. But,
though pleasure is not a sin, yet surely the contemplation of
suffering for Christ's sake is a thing most needful to us in our
days, from whom, in our daily life, suffering seems so far removed.
And, as God's grace enabled rich and delicate persons, women, and
even children, to endure all extremities of pain and reproach in
times past, so there is the same grace no less mighty now, and if
we do not close ourselves against it, it might in us be no less
glorified in a time of trial. And that such times of trial will
come, my children, in your times, if not in mine, I do believe
fully, both from the teaching of man's wisdom and of God's. And
therefore pictures of martyrdom are, I think, very wholesome--not
to be sneered at, nor yet to be looked on as a mere
excitement,--but as a sober reminder to us of what Satan can do to
hurt, and what God's grace can enable the weakest of His people to
bear. Neither should we forget those who, by their sufferings, were
more than conquerors, not for themselves only, but for us, in
securing to us the safe and triumphant existence of Christ's
blessed faith--in securing to us the possibility, nay, the actual
enjoyment, had it not been for the Antichrist of the priesthood--of
Christ's holy and glorious ἑκκλησια, the
congregation and commonwealth of Christ's people."--_Arnold's
Letters._
"On croit que l'église de Saint-Etienne-le-Rond est bâtie sur
l'emplacement du _Macellum Augusti_. S'il en est ainsi, les
supplices des martyrs, hideusement représentés sur les murs de
cette église, rappellent ce qu'elle a remplacé."--_Ampère, Emp._ i.
270.
The first chapel on the left, dedicated to SS. Primus and Felicianus,
contains some delicate small mosaics.
"The mosaics of the small altar of S. Stefano Rotondo, are of A.D.
642--649. A brilliantly-decorated cross is represented between two
standing figures of St. Primus and St. Felicianus. On the upper end
of the cross (very tastefully introduced) appears a small head of
Christ with a nimbus, over which the hand of the Father is extended
in benediction."--_Kugler._
In the next chapel is a very beautiful tomb of Bernardino Capella, Canon
of St. Peter's, who died 1524.
In a small house, which formerly stood among the gardens in this
neighbourhood, Palestrina lived and wrote.
"Sous le règne de Paul IV., Palestrina faisait partie de la
chapelle papale; mais il fut obligé de la quitter, parce-qu'il
était marié. Il se retira alors dans une chaumière perdue au milieu
des vignes du Mont Cœlius, et là, seul, inconnu au monde, il se
livra, durant de longs jours, à cette extase de la pensée qui
agrandit, au-delà de toute mesure, la puissance créatrice de
l'homme. Le désir des Pères du concile lui ayant été manifesté, il
prit aussitôt une plume, écrivit en tête de son cahier, 'Mon Dieu,
éclairez-moi,' et se mit à l'œuvre avec un saint enthousiasme.
Ses premiers efforts ne répondirent pas à l'idéal que son génie
s'était formé; mais peu à peu ses pensées s'éclaircirent, et les
flots de poésie qui inondaient son âme, se répandirent en mélodies
touchantes. Chaque parole du texte retentissait clairement, allait
chercher toutes les consciences, et les exaltait dans une émotion
commune. La _messe du pape Marcel_ trancha la question; et Pie IV.
s'écria, après l'avoir entendue, qu'il avait cru assister aux
concerts des anges."--_Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne_, ii. 195.
Following the lane of S. Stefano Rotondo--skirted by broken fragments of
Nero's aqueduct--almost to its debouchment near St. J. Lateran, and then
turning to the left, we reach the quaint fortress like church and
convent of the _Santi Quattro Incoronati_ crowned by a stumpy campanile
of 1112. The full title of this church is "I Santi quattro Pittori
Incoronati e i cinque Scultori Martiri," the names which the Church
attributes to the painters being Severus, Severianus, Carpoforus, and
Vittorinus; and those of the sculptors Claudius, Nicostratus,
Sinforianus, Castorius, and Simplicius,--who all suffered for refusing
to carve and paint idols for Diocletian. Their festa is kept on Nov. 8.
This church was founded on the site of a temple of Diana by Honorius I.,
A.D. 622; rebuilt by Leo IV. A.D. 850; and again rebuilt in its present
form by Paschal II., who consecrated it afresh in A.D. 1111. It is
approached through a double court, in which are many ancient
columns,--perhaps remains of the temple. Some antiquaries suppose that
the church itself was once of larger size, and that the pillars which
now form its atrium were once included in the nave. The interior is
arranged on the English plan with a triforium and a clerestory, the
triforium being occupied by the nuns of the adjoining convent. The
aisles are groined, but the nave has a wooden ceiling. Behind the
tribune is a vaulted passage, partly subterranean. The tribune contains
a marble throne, and is adorned with frescoes by _Giovanni di San
Giovanni_.[168] In the right aisle are preserved some of the verses of
Pope Damasus. Another inscription tells of the restoration of the church
in the fifteenth century, and describes the state of desolation into
which it had fallen.
"Hæc quæcumque vides veteri prostrata ruina
Obruta verberis, ederis, dumisque jacebant."
Opening out of the court in front of the church is the little _Chapel of
S. Sylvestro_, built by Innocent II. in 1140. It contains a series of
very curious frescoes.
"Showing the influence of Byzantine upon Roman art is the little
chapel of S. Silvestro, detailing the history of the conversion of
Constantine with a naïveté which, with the exception of a certain
dignity in some of the figures, constitutes their sole attraction.
They are indeed little better than Chinese paintings; the last of
the series, representing Constantine leading Pope Sylvester's horse
by the bridle, walking beside him in his long flowing robe, with a
chattah held over his head by an attendant, has quite an Asiatic
character."--_Lord Lindsay's Christian Art._
"Here, as in so many instances, legend is the genuine reflex, not
of the external, but the moral part of history. In this series of
curious wall-paintings, we see Constantine dismissing, consoled and
laden with gifts, the mothers whose children were to be slaughtered
to provide a bath of blood, the remedy prescribed--but which he
humanely rejected--for his leprosy, his punishment for persecuting
the Church while he yet lingered in the darkness of paganism; we
see the vision of St. Peter and St. Paul, who appear to him in his
dreams, and prescribe the infallible cure for both physical and
moral disease through the waters of baptism; we see the mounted
emissaries, sent by the emperor to seek St. Sylvester, finding that
pontiff concealed in a cavern on Mount Soracte; we see that saint
before the emperor, exhibiting to him the authentic portraits of
the two apostles (said to be still preserved at St. Peter's),
pictures in which Constantine at once recognises the forms seen in
his vision, assuming them to be gods entitled to his worship; we
see the imperial baptism, with a background of fantastic
architecture, the rite administered both by immersion (the neophyte
standing in an ample font) and affusion; we see the pope on a
throne, before which the emperor is kneeling, to offer him a
tiara--no doubt the artist intended thus to imply the immediate
bestowal of temporal sovereignty (very generally believed the act
of Constantine in the first flush of his gratitude and neophyte
zeal) upon the papacy; lastly, we see the pontiff riding into Rome
in triumph, Constantine himself leading his horse, and other mitred
bishops following on horseback. Another picture--evidently by the
same hand--quaintly represents the finding of the true cross by St.
Helena, and the miracle by which it was distinguished from the
crosses of the two thieves,--a subject here introduced because a
portion of that revered relic was among treasures deposited in this
chapel, as an old inscription, on one side, records. The largest
composition on these walls, which completes the series, represents
the Saviour enthroned amidst angels and apostles. This chapel is
now only used for the devotions of a guild of marble-cutters, and
open for mass on but one Sunday--the last--in every
month."--_Hemans Mediæval Christian Art._
In the fresco of the Crucifixion in this chapel an angel is represented
taking off the crown of thorns and putting on a real crown, an incident
nowhere else introduced in art.
The castellated Convent of the Santi Quattro was built by Paschal II. at
the same time as the church, and was used as a papal palace while the
Lateran was in ruins, hence its defensive aspect, suited to the
troublous times of the anti-popes. It is now inhabited by Augustinian
Nuns.
At the foot of the Cœlian beneath the Incoronati, and in the street
leading from the Coliseum to the Lateran, is the _Church of S.
Clemente_, to which recent discoveries, have given an extraordinary
interest.
The upper church, in spite of modernizations under Clement XI. in the
last century, retains more of the details belonging to primitive
ecclesiastical architecture than any other building in Rome. It was
consecrated in memory of Clement, the fellow-labourer of St Paul, and
the third bishop of Rome, upon the site of his family house. It was
already important in the time of Gregory the Great, who here read his
thirty-third and thirty-eighth homilies. It was altered by Adrian I. in
A.D. 772, and by John VIII. in A.D. 800, and again restored in A.D. 1099
by Paschal II., who had been cardinal of the church, and who was elected
to the papacy within its walls. The greater part of the existing
building is thus either of the ninth or the twelfth century.
At the west end a porch supported by two columns, and attributed to the
eighth century, leads into the _quadriporticus_, from which is the
entrance to the nave, separated from its aisles by sixteen columns
evidently plundered from pagan buildings. Raised above the nave and
protected by a low marble wall is the _cancellum_, preserving its
ancient pavement, ambones, altar, and episcopal throne.
"In S. Clemente, built on the site of his paternal mansion, and
restored at the beginning of the twelfth century, an example is
still to be seen, in perfect preservation, of the primitive church;
everything remains in statu quo--the court, the portico, the
cancellum, the ambones, paschal candlestick, crypt, and
ciborium--virgin and intact; the wooden roof has unfortunately
disappeared, and a small chapel, dedicated to St. Catherine, has
been added, yet even this is atoned for by the lovely frescoes of
Masaccio. I most especially recommend this relic of early
Christianity to your affectionate and tender admiration. Yet the
beauty of S. Clemente is internal only, outwardly it is little more
than a barn."--_Lord Lindsay._
On the left of the side entrance is the Chapel of the Passion, clothed
with frescoes of _Masaccio_, which, though restored, are very
beautiful--over the altar is the Crucifixion, on the side walls the
stories of St. Clement and St Catherine.
"The celebrated series relating to St. Catherine is still most
striking in the grace and refinement of its principal figures:
"1. St. Catherine (cousin of the Emperor Constantine) refuses to
worship idols.
"2. She converts the empress of Maximin. She is seen through a
window seated inside a prison, and the empress is seated outside
the prison, opposite to her, in a graceful listening attitude.
"3. The empress is beheaded, and her soul is carried to heaven by
an angel.
"4. Catherine disputes with the pagan philosophers. She is standing
in the midst of a hall, the forefinger of one hand laid on the
other, as in the act of demonstrating. She is represented fair and
girlish, dressed with great simplicity in a tunic and girdle,--no
crown, nor any other attribute. The sages are ranged on each side,
some lost in thought, others in astonishment, the tyrant (Maximin)
is seen behind, as if watching the conference, while through an
open window we behold the fire kindled for the converted
philosophers, and the scene of their execution.
"5. Catherine is delivered from the wheels, which are broken by an
angel.
"6. She is beheaded. In the background three angels lay her in a
sarcophagus on the summit of Mount Sinai."--See _Jameson's Sacred
Art_, p. 491.
"'Masaccio,' says Vasari, 'whose enthusiasm for art would not allow
him to rest contentedly at Florence, resolved to go to Rome, that
he might learn there to surpass every other painter.' It was during
this journey, which, in fact, added much to his renown, that he
painted, in the Church of San Clemente--the chapel which now so
usually disappoints the expectations of the traveller, on account
of the successive restorations by which his work has been
disfigured.... The heavy brush which has passed over each
compartment has spared neither the delicacy of the outline, the
roundness of the forms, nor the play of light and shade: in a word,
nothing which constitutes the peculiar merit of Masaccio."--_Rio,
Poetry of Christian Art._
At the end of the right aisle is the beautiful tomb of Cardinal
Rovarella, ob. 1476. A statue of St. John the Baptist is by Simone,
brother of Donatello. Beneath the altar repose the relics of St.
Clement, St. Ignatius of Antioch--martyred in the Coliseum, St. Cyril,
and St. Servulus.
"'The Fathers are in dust, yet live to God:'
So says the Truth; as if the motionless clay
Still held the seeds of life beneath the sod,
Smouldering and struggling till the judgment-day.
"And hence we learn with reverence to esteem
Of these frail houses, though the grave confines:
Sophist may urge his cunning tests, and deem
That they are earth;--but they are heavenly shrines."
_J. H. Newman_, 1833.
"St. Grégoire raconte que de son temps on voyait dans le vestibule
de l'église Saint Clément un pauvre paralytique, priant et
mendiant, sans que jamais une plainte sortît de sa bouche, malgré
les vives douleurs qu'il endurait. Chaque fidèle lui donnait, et le
paralytique distribuait à son tour, aux malheureux ce qu'il avait
reçu de la compassion publique. Lorsqu'il mourut, son corps fut
placé près de celui de Saint Clément, pape, et de Saint Ignace
d'Antioche, et son nom fut inscrit au martyrologe. On le vénère
dans l'Eglise sous le nom de Saint Servulus."--_Une Chrétienne à
Rome._
The mosaics in the tribune are well worth examination.
"There are few Christian mosaics in which mystic meaning and poetic
imagination are more felicitous than in those on the apse of S.
Clemente, where the crucifix, and a wide-spreading vine-tree
(allusive to His words, who said 'I am the True Vine'), spring from
the same stem; twelve doves, emblems of the apostles, being on the
cross with the Divine Sufferer; the Mother and St. John beside it,
the usual hand stretched out in glory above, with a crown; the four
doctors of the Church, also other small figures, men and birds,
introduced amidst the mazy vine-foliage; and at the basement, the
four mystic rivers, with stags and peacocks drinking at their
streams. The figure of St. Dominic is a modern addition. It seems
evident, from characteristics of style, that the other mosaics
here, above the apsidal arch, and at the spandrils, are more
ancient, perhaps by about a century; these latter representing the
Saviour in benediction, the four Evangelic emblems, St. Peter and
St. Clement, St. Paul and St. Laurence seated; the two apostles
designated by their names, with the Greek 'hagios' in Latin
letters. The later art-work was ordered (see the Latin inscription
below) in 1299, by a cardinal titular of S. Clemente, nephew to
Boniface VIII.; the same who also bestowed the beautiful gothic
tabernacle for the holy oils, with a relief representing the donor
presented by St. Dominic to the Virgin and Child--set against the
wall near the tribune, an admirable, though but an accessorial,
object of mediæval art."--_Hemans' Mediæval Art._
From the sacristy a staircase leads to the _Lower Church_ (occasionally
illuminated for the public) first discovered in 1857. Here, there are
several pillars of the rarest marbles in perfect preservation, and a
very curious series of frescoes of the eighth and ninth centuries, parts
of which are still clear and almost uninjured. These include--the
Crucifixion, with the Virgin and St. John standing by the cross,--the
earliest example in Rome of this well-known subject; the Ascension,
sometimes called by Romanists (in preparation for their dogma of 1870),
"the Assumption of the Virgin," because the figure of the Virgin is
elevated above the other apostles, though she is evidently intent on
watching the retreating figure of her divine Son--in this fresco the
figure of a pope is introduced (with the square nimbus, showing that it
was painted in his lifetime), and the inscription "Sanctissimus dominus,
Leo Papa Romanus," probably Leo III. or Leo IV.; the Maries at the
sepulchre; the descent into Hades; the Marriage of Cana; the Funeral of
St. Cyril with Pope Nicholas I. (858--67) walking in the procession;
and, the most interesting of all--probably of somewhat later date, the
story of S. Clemente, and that of S. Alexis, whose adventures are
described in the account of his church on the Aventine. An altar of
Mithras was discovered during the excavations here. Beneath this crypt
is still a third structure, discovered 1867,--probably the very house of
St. Clement,--(decorated with rich stucco ornament)--sometimes supposed
to be the 'cavern near S. Clemente' to which the Emperor Otho III., who
died at the age of twenty-two, retired in A.D. 999 with his confessor,
and where he spent fourteen days in penitential retirement.
According to the Acts of the Martyrs, the Prefect Mamertinus ordered the
arrest of Pope Clement, and intended to put him to death, but was
deterred by a tumult of the people, who cried with one voice, "What evil
has he done, or rather what good has he not done?" Clement was then
condemned to exile in the Chersonese, and Mamertinus, touched by his
submission and courage, dismissed him with the words--"May the God you
worship bring you relief in the place of your banishment."
In his exile Clement received into the Church more than two hundred
Christians who had been waiting for baptism, and miraculously discovered
water for their support in a barren rock, to which he was directed by a
Lamb, in whose form he recognised the guidance of the Son of God. The
enthusiasm which these marvels excited led Trajan to send executioners,
by whom he was tied to an anchor and thrown into the sea. But his
disciples, kneeling on the shore, prayed that his relics might be given
up to them, when the waves retired, and disclosed a marble chapel, built
by unearthly hands--over the tomb of the saint. From the Chersonese the
remains of St. Clement were brought back to Rome by St. Cyril, the
Apostle of the Slavonians, who, dying here himself, was buried by his
side.