The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-04-02
ofmany gems into galleries, eontain
numbers of fine paintings; you often

numbers of fine paintings; you often
come upon them quite unawares.
+ did so the other day in the crypt OF
Santa Martina, near the capitoline
! forum, where the cs1stede pointed out
| to me a Madonna of soft and dreamy
beauty. by Andrea del Sarto, within
an obscure little altar, placed in such
darkness that he had to light it up
with his taper before | could see
all. The day following, while
strolling, we. without any previous
knowledge, stepped into what proved
to be the Church of the Capuch1ns,
which contains Guido's celebrated
Saint Michael, one of his finest pro-
auctions, called by Forsyth the Chato
| lie Apollo. The Saint, unlike most
others, is of the most graceful and
youthful proportions. breathing the
warm soft hues of youth, lit up as it
were by holy light. The head of the
very ugly devil, upon whose neck the
Saints foot rests, is said to be por-
trait of Cardinal Pamfili, after
wards Pope Innocent x, who had
offended the artist by hisIcriticisms.
The church contains other good
paintings, and is, richly endowed by
the Barbarini family, whose tombs are
here; underneath are, fonrsIow vault
ed chambers, shown US by enc of the
friars, which constitute the cemetery
of the order When one of the friars
dies, he is buried in holy earth
brought from j Jerusalem, In one of the
four graves which is emptied of its
former occupant for the benefit of the
newly deceased brother s. The skele-
tons SO taken up. are either clothed
in the cowl Of the order, and with
a rosary in their feshless fingers set
up in niche of the wall, or taken
to pieces, the skulls, crossbones,
and larger morsels piled up
with as great regularity as brick in a
kiln, and all the small bones made
into the most fantastic designs imag-
Unable to decorate the ceiling and
walls. Even the lamps suspended in
each chamber are made of human
bones. Strange sight, this, denoting
certainly very singular taste.
To fully describe all the churches of
Rome would be no small task their
interest is varied some are magnifi-
cent architectural achievements, 9TH
ers interesting for their age and their
history. while very many attract by
the works of art they contain, and their
magnificent interiors. To the devotee
they should, of course, all be attractive
alike. and | always assume that they
are so, and try to conduct myself
with that decorum and respect while
withinAthem due to the embodiment
of that sentiment representative of
that which il best and most loveable
in our nature, L am sorry to. say,
however, that 4 have now and then
observed NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. in
some instances-display brusque be-
haviorr amounting to rudeness, quite
out Of place. They would sniff around
everywhere, whether permitted or not,
talk loud while people were at
their devotions, and make them
selves generally conspicuous, to the
great annoyanceof others.vfI, for N.Y.
self, envy not the head or the heart of
that man who, when he sees the pave
ment of Catholic Church sprinkled
withsliying forms, 2rapt with devotion
al fervor, is conscious of no other
than a sneering protest
against the mummeries of supersti-
t on. AIM W - 31yEY 91E1
The oldest of all church edifces.
perhaps, is the Pantheon. 1t is at the
same time the only structure of an
tiquity Greeted twenty-seven years be-
fore Christi J, which is preserved en-
tire, and, although it has been strip
ped of its ornaments long ago. in its
present state of unadorned nudity it
70 hnh oil .Ht
grandeur and soidity seldom met
with elsewhere. IT'S portico Of one
hundred and ten feet width, although
It counts twenty-seven years more
than does the Christian Era, is, in its
proportions, still borne
aloft by those sixteen matchless gran
lite columns, each cut out of one piece,
nearly fifty feet high. The centre of |
the dome is open, and admits rain as
we'll as sunshine. neither of which |
ever interferes with the service, as |
the affairs all range in a circle close |
up agalnstthe walls. A simple slab and |
inscription near one of the affairs marks |
the place where the remains of the |
great Raphael rest. There are also |
other masters of painting buried here. |
The Oldest of all Christian Churches. |
however built for that purpose, has
within the last few years, been exca
waited under the present old church of
Saint Clemente, which again has been
found to set on top of the very ex-
tensives remains of a .teunle. dating
back to the Republican period of an.
Gent Rome, giving only one of. the |
many illustrations how one generation |
builds UP out Of and upon the decay
of its predecessor. This, and the !
many other excavations made in and /