Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-05-07
RELIGIOUS Superstition of the Italians
nIirn cIe- Working lima Res in II ONE.

Harriet Beecher Stowe writes to the New
York Independent from Rome, recently, as
follows:
Yesterday afternoon we went to the Church
of the Ava Celi, to see the miracle-working
Bambino. The priests put on vestments and
lit candles and unlocked with solemn rever-
ences little coffin a foot and half long,
lined with white gold-embroidered silk, and
there lay the ugliest little wooden doll that
eyes ever rested on. Said doll is said to have
been carved from olive wood on the Mount Of
Olives, and painted by st. Luke, and is
covered from head to foot with jewels, which
attest the miracles ithas wrought-diamonds,
emeralds, rubies, sapphires, from various
princesses and royal personages to whom it
has been sent. For the payment of a certain
sum, the Bambino is carried in state through
the street, 10 the relief of any sick person,
psalms being chanted in its honor.
An American gentleman while looking at
it the other day, inquired if it could cure
weak eyes. The priest answered in the
affirmative. The gentleman then said that
he should like to try it for his, which were
ailing. "How long will the benefit probably
last2" he added. "Are you a ProtestanR'
said the priest. eyes" The priest imme-
diatcly began to laugh, and had quite little
time of joking over the whole affair.
Yet have heard an English gentleman of
high position and talent, a recent convert,
seriously defend the faith in this Bambino
and the priests who encourage it. "The
Italian" he says, sis childlike, and the priest
condescends to veil religious truth in images
suited to the sweet childhood of religion.
How much better such tender faith than the
proud material reason of the nineteenth CEN
tury;" and he would end with, "Whosoever
shall not receive the kingdom of heaven as a
little child, he shall not enter therein" Such
is the modern English version of the Bambino,
at which the shrewder priest laughs in his
sleeve.
As Bambinos appeared to be in the ascend
ent, our guide proposed TO show us another,
which he gravely informed US was the richest
in Rome. We went, therefore, to the Church
Of st. Augusta, where we found an image OF
the Madonna and Child, completely covered
with watches, seals, chains, rings, jewels OF
all shapes, sizes and settings, the whole inside
of the church being in like manner covered
with offerings, among which large silver
hearts appeared to be the most favorite arti-
Gle. Pictures on the wall expressed various
miracles wrought by this image--a child pre-
served from being run over by horses, people
rescued from drowning, fire, and other acci.
dents, were portrayed with more or lessvigor,
each picture being presentation of some
votary, memorial of the event chronicled.
The whole church was filled with murmur
of prayers, which multitude of people on
their knees were here reciting. a.
Drawn up in hollow squares round the side
aisles of the church were classes of children,
with priest in the middle of each, who was
instructing them to repeat the Credo, the
Ava Maria, and the Paternoster, in Latin.
class of these little fellows, surrounding a
grey-haired old monk, particularly struck
me-ragged, unkempt, and unwashed, they
were yet so bright and intelligent-looking,
and all with such dark, soft eyes, and many
of them so handsome, that one could not help
wishing there were some saint in the Romish
Calendar who presided over soap and water