The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-09-11

have an aversion to figures ON gener-.
principles. But here are the dime /
sions Of st. Peters: Length 696 feet
breadth, 500 feet, height, to the top o
the dome, 4O3 feet 1t may furnish
somebody amusement to figure how
many business blocks of an averag,
Kansas town could be set down insid,
OF it. 1t is not particularly beautiful
or imposing as you approach 1t, for tn,
front is brown and weatherbeater
and does not seem so large as you hao
expected. And after you have enter,
ed you are not impressed at once will
the large size Of the room. But thu
longer you stay, the more its "big
ness" grows upon you. And after
you have walked for two hours with
out having yet seen half the things
of interest that are there, you are pre-
pared to believe the statement that il
will hold $4,000 people and not be
crowded. And it is certainly the
most gorgeously decorated church
ever saw. For nearly 400 years the
best works of the best artists in the
world have been poured in here, un-
til now the walls, the ceiling, the pill
lars and little side chapels are covered
and heaped with master pieces OF
sculpture and painting. With one ex-
ception every picture is done in mosa-
ic and the effect Is rich and beautiful
away beyond any words of mine to
describe. 1t would not be thought
by one who has not seen it that pieces
of colored glass could be set together
so as to perfectly reproduce the most
delicate shading and the most subtle
expression of all oil painting. But the
mosaics of st. Peters seem to me to be
even more smooth and certainly much
brighter than the original oils. To
mention with any detail the decora-
lions of the church would be tedious
and Improbable even if it were posi-
BILE. I can only say that I fingered
long In st. Peters and left it with re-
greet, for I shall never look upon its
like again.
~
There are $50 churches i'm Rome.
Eighty of them are dedicated to the
Virgin and the rest to some saint or
other. Some of them are interesting
because they are beautiful, others be-
cause of the "holy" relics they con-
tain and others because of some his
tory or tradition associated with them.
The most beautiful one, perhaps, next
to st. Peters, is st. Paul's without
the gates. 1t is not handsome OH the
outside, but on the inside the walls
are marble from floor to ceiling, there
are magnificent alabaster columns,
the finest in existence-presented by
the Khedive of Egypt,-mosiac por-
traits of all the Popes, and numberIess
splendid paintings. Our intelligent
guide informed us with much impress
iveness that "the half of st. Peter and
the half of st. Paul" reposed in the
crypt. But after bordering the mat
ter have concluded that misunder-
stood him and that he probably ill.,
tended to say that the heads of the
two apostles are deposited here. This
church has rather special interest to
Americans from the fact that Mrs.
Gen. Sherman contributed a large
sum a few year. ago to restore the
'front.' which had fallen into decay.
The "Church of the Holy Saints" is
20 called because it contains a flight
If 2S marble steps said to be the ones
Up which Christ walked when he
vent to the judgment hall of PLATE.
They were brought from Jerusalem
,y the mother of the Emperor Con-
tantine in the year 326 and placed
n this church. No one is allowed to
'scend them except on his knees. But
70 many of the faithful made the pill
,rimage that in the course of ten cen
uries the steps were all but worn
way and since then they have been
overed with wood which has to be
enewed every few years. 1t is rath-
r impressive sight to see devout
'atholic ascending these steps. saying
prayer on each one. But it is not
t all impressive to see, as saw,
Whole raft of irreverent American
ourists clambering up the flight hur-
idly and awkwardly and with much
ght talk and laughter.
A short distance out on the Appian
Way is little chapel, built to mark
he spot where Christ appeared to Pc
Or as the latter was fleeing from Rome
D escape persecution. Peter asked
Lord, where goest thou?" ITO Rome
D be crucified again." Peter, rebuk-
d, returned to Rome to suffer his
and our Savior assembled
gain to heaven. But upon marble
alb upon which he stood, remained
ne deep imprint of his bare feet. '
his slab was taken to the church of I
t. Sebastian and put in a glass case t
ehind thick curtain. For two cents ]
lie curtain will be drawn aside and
Oh can see for yourself that the story
true. Within this church are the {
'mains of the martyr st. Sebastian L
no is always pictured as tied 10 t