The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-11-18
The LeOnine City-what 1t is.

From the Pail Mall 6azette.
The Leonine City derives its name from
Leo w., who first fortified the environs of
the Vatican, left entirely open and with
out the city when Aurelian carried the
walls around Rome. Even when St Pc.
ter's had been built, and around it had
grown up monasteries, hospitals and
dwellings of all kinds, and the foreign
colony had settled on the left of it, DO
Pope thought of fortifying or protecting
this part by walls. For, says Gregorious,
to whose "Hisiory of Rome" we owe these
data, the enemies of Rome had till then
been Christians. Leo III. first conceived
the plan; had he carried it out
the Sarrassins would not hsve
plundered the Basilica- The works
commenced by him had been stop
ped by internal connections, and the Ro-
mans quietly possessed themselves of the
materials Of the half finished buildings,
and used them for other purposes. After
the pillage, however, Leo ". again took
up the plan most vigorously. and carried it
out with energy. He first submitted it to
the Emperor Lothian, without whose per-
mission he dared not undertake so impor-
tant q work, and not only found him ready
to permit it but to contribute largely to its
execution. The costly undertaking was
next divided in such a manner that all the
individual cities of the states of the
Church, all public estates of the Church,
the city, the monasteries aud converts, had
to place q certain sum and a certain num-
Der of their people at the disposal OF the
building committee.
The work was begun In o4S and compile
ted in $50. The Vatican environs Tor the
Porticus of ST. Peter) are surrounded IN
such a manner that the walls rose from the
Hadrianeum up to the side of the Vatican
mountain, then encircled st. Peters, and
next, descending straight from this height,
! we're carried as far as the river, below the
present gate Ssnto Spirito, which was sd-
ded afterwards. The walls reached a
height of nearly forty feet. of correspond
ing thickness, and were guarded by forty
four strong towers.
A good deal of this horseshoe-like wall
ring of Leo ". is still discernible in the
Borgo, in the Alexander walk, near the
Mint and the Papal garden as far as the
stout corner tower, in the line Of the Porta
Pertusa, and towards the Porta Fabrica-
But later buildings in the new Borgo, the
bastions of S. Spirito, have brosen through
the walls and destroyed their traces in
many places, vnd with the new great en-
closure of the Vatican by Plus ". the
Leonine City shared the fate which the old
Servian walls underwent at the time of
Aurelian.
When Leo had finished his work, he
proudly called his city Civitas Leonina.
Rome, o which the Popes had now un-
mistakably impressed the stamp eff their
rule, had not for centuries celebrated a
higher festival than the Inauguration of
those walls on June 81, $50. All the bish.
ops, priests, and monastic orderso of Rome,
led by the Pope himself, went round the
walls barefooted, ashes on their heads,
and singing hymns. As they passed the
walls, the seven cardinal bishops sprinkled
holy water upon them; at each gate they
stopped, and each time the Pope invoked
a blessing from heaven upon the new city.
The procession over, the pope made large
presents Of gold, silver and silken pallis
to the nobility, the people, and the for
eigners' colonies.
Nor were appropriate, though somewhat
barbsrous, inscriptions wanting. Over
the principal gate, that of s. Peregrinus,
the conventional ''wayfarer" was addressed
in this wise:
Qui vents &C vadis decus hoe adteTde ~viator,
Quod Qusrtus struxit nunc Leo Papa ibens
Marmore precise radiant ha culmins pulchra,
Qua manibus hominum facta decore pls-
cent, &c.
And over the gate at the Castellum:
Romanus Francus Bardusque viator ct omnis
Hoe qui intendit opus cantica digna ~cantet;
Quod bonus Antistes qusrtus Leo rite novavit
Pro patrie &C plebis ecce salute sus.
Principe cum summo gaudens ct evans per
amos
Perfect cujus emicat altus honor.
Quos veneranda fdes mimic devinixit amore
Hos Deus omnipotens perferat arce poll.
Ciuads LeoHtRd pocdtur.
The new city was dedicated by ths Pope
to Christ, and recommended to the pro-
lection of Peter and Paul, and the Pere-
GRIM continued to live there principally;
but by certain privileges many Romans
and Trssteverini also were in time induced
to take up their residence there.