Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-03-09
TEN YEARS IN ROME.
From the Galaxy for March.

the foregoing remarks apply more or
less to them, and are part of the report
! I have used in compiling this paper
And, first of all. it may be interesting
to the reader to be made acquainted
with the znodus oper0ndi of founding
a religious order. The original idea
/ implied in it is seclusion for the bet
ter service of God. Much may be
said for and against it. 1t is curious
that the most pious member Of the ad-
vanced Oxford school that to-day is
/ seeking to restore mOnasticiSm wrote.
! forty years ago the doctrine still ad-
vanced by those who deem that the
Christians work, like that of his
great Exemplar, is for men and
amongst them:
We need not bid, for cloistered cell,
Our neighbor and our work farewell.
Nor strive to wind ourselves too high
For sinful man beneath the sky.
The trivial round. the common task,
Will furnish all We ought TO ask
Room TO deny ourselves. a road
To lead us daily nearer God.
Whether or not this last excellent
aim can be better attained apart from
! the busy haunts of men-becOming
the one engrOssing topic of pursuit.
/ is still an undecided question. But
wnen a man decides that he has dis
covered "a more excellent way"
whereby a greater degree of sanctity
may be attained, and additional bene-
| fit accrue to the world, he forms re-
] ligious order. The day of anchorites
are gone, and now monks as well as
! laymen believe that unity is strength
| a few, perhaps one or two, are inOcu-
1 lated with the founders zeal. Let US
not imagine cases, but take such as
exist. Twenty years ago two persons,
one Blessed Paul of the Cross, found
ed the Passinnists, and VincenZo Pal
lotti an order styled the "Congregazi-
one Apostolico." The Passionists are
known by a coarse frock of black
serge, a badge in white representing
the heart of Jesus, a girdle, and san-
daled feet. The Honorable and Rev
erend George Spencer, brother of the
Earl Spencer, and formerly a clergy
man of the English Church, visited
America in that peculiar garb. The
order of Pallotti, which as yet has re-
| ceived no distinctive name. dresses
/ like any ordinary Roman priest. The
I object of the first is TO excite in the
! faithful a greater devotion to the pas
sion of our Saviour. It has had one
very shining light in the person of
1 Leonard of Porto MauriZio, since
beatified. They live by aims and in
strict poverty. A few men were gath
cred together, and addressed on the
grand theme of the sufferings of Jesus.
| The speaker, Paul of the Cross, at
once seized on those his eloquence
had moved. They would go forth to
advance the glory of the Crucified /;
their very designation should call to
mems minds the passion of the Re
deemer. The one object of their life
. should be the exalta'ion of the cross.
In a short time men flOcked to the
new order-some who sought for an
outlet for their zeal and devotion.
Others who wished a clearer idea Of
the rule of life most conducive to sane
tity, and some as a means of liveli-
hood. They spread ranidly; for. de-
spite all modern indifferentism and
skepticism, the grand story of the
cross kindles in the coolest heart an
enthusiasm nothing else inspires. The
rich took off their robes to go bare
footed, mobiles became beggars, great
lights of literature scrubbed floors and
performed the most meDial Offices-all
animated by the transcendent glory
of the cross.
In an obscure street leading from
the Ponte di San Sisto is the church
of San Salvatore in Onda- It is a
plain church, but in the right-hand
corner near the altar rests religious
revoIutionist. His name was Vincen-
20 Pallotti. The house annexed has
his room, in the state he left it at his
death-a long. dark apartment, in no
way inspiring to devotee or student.
Yet in the closet guarded by an iron
wire screen which they show you, the
true character of its occupant is re-
vealed. Mark that discipline of stout
waxed thongs ingeniOusly interviewer
with pins and sharp iron points, still
bearing traces of human blood-that
cruel hair shirt, those shoes full of
torturing nails, that girdle set with
rasping points.
I knew a young man who decidedly
objected TO the discipline. Every
Friday the prior walks up and down
the corridor reciting in slow tones the
s'Miserere," and during this the
novices are expected to fog themselves
on the bare flesh. This young gentle
l /
eept at Stonyhurst, where he was by
no means a consenter to the operation,
disliking the performance, stationed
| himself in an angle of the wall and
fiogged at right and left most heartily.
His zeal excited the envy of those
whose flesh appeared more tender or
their devotion colder, until the prior,
with a view to check the indiscreet
ardor of the novice, peeped in one
night, and, of course, was shocked to
discover the real state of affairs. The
scene that followed was rather comic.
!, The prior, a '.jokist," undertook to
show him how 10 do it, and, after re-
,, citing a verse, lay to with will, amid
the howls of his pupil. Then he read
another verse, and so on to the end oi
the psalm. When he departed he ex-
? pressed his regret that it had not been
the 18th instead of the 5lst. AT the
monastery of st. Johns Cowley, the
Anglican revival, which is chiefly re-
, cruited by American elergymen, this
same spirit of penance is not only in
! culcated, but eXemplified in the su-
> perior, who, from being at one time a
great exquisite, now never discards a
! shirt be has once put on until it falls
| from MIN OF lJS OWL weak Will. line
Franciseans fully exemplify the sane
tity of foul linen and dirt generally, as
we shall see anon.
But, returning to Pallotti. He gath
cred around him three or four priests,
ali Italians, whom he despatched on
missions to England, seemingly with
,, but one object, that of gathering re-
cruits. They obtained several young
men, rostly Irish, and these We're ed
! ucated for the priesthood at San Sal
j vztore, in their turn, to obtain re-
: cruits. The consent of the Pope, and
q bull erecting the congregation into
an order, is requisite ere it can have
any status, and TO this end the usual
; method is to get the founder made q
saint. Several miracles are declared
: at times, and when money is forth
3 coming-for canonization is a most
J costly process-these are examined
The saints claim is contested by
counsel called the DEVILS advocate,