The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-07-02
TOMBS IN ST. PETERS.


Ono of the best tombs in the basilics
is that OF sixtus Nv, the first pope OF the
Revere family, in the Chapel of the Sacra-
ment. The bronze figure, lying low on Q
sarcophagus placed out upon the floor, has
quiet manly dignity about 1t which
one can not forget. But in the same
tomb lies a greater man of the same race,
Julius III, for whom Michel Angelo made
his great "Moses, in the church of San
Pietro in Vincoli, man who did more
than any other, perhaps, to make the great
hascilica what it is, and who, by a chain
OF mistakes, got no tomb of his own. He
who solemnly laid the foundations
OF the present church, and lived to see
the four main piers completed, with their
arches, has only little slab In the pave
ment to recall his memory. The protector
and friend Of Bramante, of Michel Angelo,
and of Raphael OF the great architect,
the great sculptor, and the great painter,
has not so much as the least work of any
of the three to mark his place of rest.
Perhaps he needed nothing but his
name, which must always stand among
the greatest.
After all, his bones have been allowed
to rest in peace, which Is more than
can be said of all that have been buried
within the area OF the church. Urban
vi had no such good fortune. He SO
much surprised the cardinals, as soon as
tucy ubu elcCltu ulln, ny HIS NlbOfOus
moral reforms, that they hastily retired
to Anagni, and elected.an anti-pope OF
milder manners and less sensitive con-
science. He lived to triumph over his.
enemies. In PiocenZa ne was beseiged by
King Charles of Naples. He excommuni.
Gated him, tortured seven cardinals
whom he caught in conspiracy, and put
five OF them TO death, overcame and slew
Charles, refused him burial, and had his
body exposed to the derision OF the
crowd. The chronicler says that "Italy,
Germany, England, Hungary, Bohemia,
Poland. Sicily and Portugal were obed-
lent to the Lord Pope Urban VI" He
died peacefully, and was buried in ct.
Peters in a marble sarcophagus.
But when Sixtns v, who also supris-
ed the cardinals greatly, was In a tit Of
haste to finish the dome, the masons,
wanting receptacle for water lsid
hands on Urban's stone coffin, pitched
his bones into corner, and used the
sarcophagus as they pleased, leaving It
to serve as a water tank for many years
afterwards.
In extending the foundations OF the
church Paul III came upon the bodies
of Maria and Hermantis, the two wives
of Honorus, the emperor who djsestab-
lished paganism in favor of Christianity.
They were sisters, daughters of Sti!icho,
and had been buried in their imperial
robes, with many rich objects and femi-
nine trinkets; and they were found in
tact, as they had been buried, in the
month OF February, 1543 Forty pounds
OF fine gold were taken from their robes
alone, says Baracconi, without counting
all the jewels and trinkets, among
which was very beautiful lamp, besides
a great number of precious stones. The
Pope melted down the gold for the ex-
penses OF the building, and set the
gems in a tiara, where IL they could be
identified they certainly exist to1ay--.the
very stones worn by empresses of ancient
Rome. -'St. Peters," by Marion Craw-
ford, in the Century for July.