Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-05-12

= time fOugnI the ueVll. lie then gave
us all bis hearty benedictiOn, and
turned away and departed, and that
ended the reception. What a nice old
gentleman, said everybody.
On Fridays, in Lent. the Pope goes
into st. Peters to say his prayers.
Perhaps it IS supposed to be a private
ceremony; but notice of it is posted
up at the bookstores, and so people,
Protestants especially, 60 over to see
the Pope pray. | think il is rather q
heathenish thing to do, but the church
gets up so many spectacles here, evi-
IDENTIFY on purpose for the PrOtestants
who come sightseeing, that one gets
a little confused as to the mOralities
and deceneies. At any rate, | disap-
prove of going to see any one pray ::
but the fact IS that happened to be
in 1t. Peters on Friday, and waited
to see, with the thousands of others
who happened TO be there. what would
come of il. The whole of il was that
praying desks We're set up before the
principal chapelS, with Side-benehes
[ for the Cardinals; and the Pope's
guard, in their gaudily-striped uni
form. which was designed by Michael
Angelo, and is rather that OF harle-
quin than soldier, kept spaces clear
near them. About II the Pope, in
silence, without note of music or
chant, walked in. The Guarda Mo-
bile preceded him: the Cardinals, in
purple, followed /; and after that came
priests in ermine, and some gorgeous,
pOmpOus fellows in scarlet. And the
Pope kneeled at a prie-dSeU, and SILENT
+ " said his prayers; and then, with
his retinue, moved on to another, and
did the same. | noted as an import
ant fact that, in his pilgrimage, he
stopped and twice kissed the toe Of the
quaint image of st. Peter-an image,
| can not help remarking, 50 unchris-
tian in its appearance that | can not
/ but think that II is of heather origin.
Since l am writing you about the
Pope saying his private prayers pub
icly, and was mean enough to look
on, might As well tell you the truth
about it. When he knelt at the desk
near me, his first performance was to
take out his snuff-boX, and ne refresh
ed himself with its contents while
going through his devotions-ahout
which l have nothing 10 say, except
that it did not seem to me a very good
However it is my own fault that l saw
the Pope take snuff while saying his
prayers. l honestly felt that l was
doing the smaller business of the two,
standing there looking on. And, after
a sense of this came over me, should
have gone directly away, but we
could not pasSthe guards, and 50 was
punished for our curiosity by being
kept there standing for a half hour
longer; and to stand still on a marble
floor when you are dead tired is a sort
of pHrgatory that ] can appreciate
There is only one worse trial in
Europe, and that is being marched
through any Of the grand, dreary
palaces, with pushing crowd and a
stereotype custodian.
1t is often remarked, if you will
permit me to make a sudden transit |
ton, that it is wonderful that a relig- |
ion which could build such temples, /
make such statues, and leave such in |
destructible monuments as that of
Pagan, Greece and Rome, shoald so 7
utterly have vanished from the earth 4
that there is not living soul to-day !
anywhere who gives it the slightest |
credence or homage; and not an in /
telligent traveller who does not find it /
difficult to realize that the splendid /
edifices to Jupiter, and Minerva, and |
Venus could ever have been seriously /
erected as an expression of faith. And 4
yet, when one gets familiar with the !
and the churches of Rome
he becomes Conscious of q Pagan fla
vOr remaining, and in time he will be
bewildered by the inharmonious mix
ture of the old and the new. The
Obelisk of HeliopoliS, brought hither
and set up ages ago, with inscriptions
recording the exploits of AntOninus
or Augustus, is surmOUnted by cross;
the graceful COrinthian column that
once adorned some temple of the gods
Is re-erected in a new square, and
supports the figure which commemO-
rates the dogma Of the Immaculate
where once the bronze
image of Trajan stood on his sculptur-
ed column now stands the Virgin;
and the splendid pillars of modern
and basilicas once graced the
pOrticos of temples of Saturn or Mi
nerva, or were dug out of the ruins of
the forums of Republic or Empire. 1
have even seen. in one of the church.
ss, the tomb of a great dignitary of
the church, the base of which is an
ancient sarcophagus, covered with
bas-reliefs.
1 was thinking of these things the
other day, as | ascended the flight of
steps in the rear of the Museum of the
Capitol, to the entrance of tbs Con-
vent of the Gray Friars, or the Re
formed Franciscans, as they are called a
here. which was once the palace of
the POpes, and is a rambling, interm- i
Inable old rOOkery. 1t is Just behind
he Church-of Sta Maria, in Ara CGeh, b,
which all the world knows dates from I
the sixth century, aud was built eS-
lctly on the site of the Temple of Ju-
piter Capitolinus, and represents,
therefore, two antiquities. There were
'entinels pacing in front Of the arched
doorway, who permitted me 10 pass; /
and within was a sort Of guarG-rOOm, /,
with soldiers lOunging about, and
and weapons militant
.Ossed about on the benches. Ipassed
under archway after archway, turning
through half-lighted halls, and find
ing court and clOisters, passages lead
ng down, stairwayS and corridors
lne of the queer old labyrinths that
must have grown in the middle ages, ]
and never could have been the product ;
Df any architects brain. Soldiers {
we're polishing their brasses in the
courts, where a little sunshine strug- ]
gled in; Others were cooking in remote !
that smelled like Italian 5
and friars were coming and ]
going in that industrious, aimless way !
in which friars always do come and {
20. Unchallenged, 1 climbed up old !
stone stairs, worn half away by the ]
feet of generations of monks who have [
wearily gone up and down them now '
ior more than six hundred years, snd
iound myself in long passages, with {
lreary paintings of saints, with shrines y
1t the corners and lamps burning, and {
he bare-fOoted friars fitting about, {
out of some shadowy angle,
in their little cells, and {
keeping up their round {
If religious duties-nOt differing very |
much in manner from ghosts, who {
night be supposed to haunt so sacred /
/ spot.
After repeated attempts and the aid [
II some of the German sOldiers-the |
Germans are all good fellows, whether /
n uniform or out found rear en- {
rance to the old church, (the front S
ioor is usually closed, and, knocking, 9
vas admitted by a young Franciscan, 10
Who looked too fresh and jolly for his 5