[St. Philip Neri is a giant indeed in the household memories of the
Roman poor. His acts have become travestied and magnified among them
in the most portentous way, and they always talk of him with the most
patriotic enthusiasm. 'He was a Roman!--a Roman indeed!' they will
say. And yet he was not a born Roman, but was made 'Protector of Rome'
by the Church.
'Padre Filippo' is their favourite way of naming him, and sometimes
'il buon Filippo' and 'Pippo buono.']
1
There was in Padre Filippo's time a cardinal who was Prefect of the
provisions, [201] who let everything go wrong and attended to nothing,
and the poor were all suffering because provisions got so dear.
Padre Filippo went to the Pope--Papa Medici [202] it was--and told
him how badly off the poor were; so the Pope called the Cardinal to
account, and went on making him attend to it till Padre Filippo told
him that things were on a better footing.
But the Cardinal came to Padre Filippo and said:
'Why do you vex me by going and making mischief to the Pope?'
But Padre Filippo, instead of being frightened at his anger, rose up
and said:
'Come here and I will show you what is the fate of those who oppress
and neglect the poor. Come here Eminentissimo, and look,' and he took
him to the window and asked him what he saw.
The Cardinal looked, and he saw a great fire of Hell, and the souls
writhing in it. The Cardinal said no more and went away, but not long
after he gave up being a cardinal and became a simple brother under
Padre Filippo.
[Who this cardinal may have been I do not know, but the story was
told me another time in this form:--]