The Savannah morning news., 1902-02-09
REV. Mr.. STR0NG'S LETTER.
Continued From Page Seventeen.

Continued From Page Seventeen.
relics, we have the undoubted fact that
| all the relics are OF very great age-a
| thousand years or more--and this
| makes them venerable objects, and
when we have the further fact that for
all this length of time the worship of
men has centered around them, then
| we can regard them with feelings at
| least of veneration. Now this Christ
mas afternoon the cause which had
brought together this great crowd was
| the procession of the Santa Culla,'
Holy Cradle, from the high altar to
the side chapel, where 1t was to re-
| pose during the entire week And a
great and brilliant procession 1t was!
| Preceded by banners and lights, with
| hundreds of priests and canons bearing
| tapers, the sacred relic resting under
| an embroidered canopy of silk, followed
| by the cardinal in his red robes, the
| long line of dignitaries moved down
| the broad center aisle of the Basilica
| Some few knelt and wept as Ii passed
| by: the majority stood reverently and
| endeavored to measure the vast span
| that separated between that manger in
| the inn at Bthlehem and this bril-
| liantly Illuminated church and it's Holy
Cradle. Moral measurements are the
only ones worth taking away; undoubt-
| edly many of those present carried out
into the rainy night an indelible i'm
| preston of the Birth of Christ, and
their lives were the brighter for the
vision. At least. these thoughts came
to us, as we left the great church
towering above the neighboring houses,
its lights all extinguished. and we real
lied how potent symbolism Is in teach
ing vast numbers OF our races. st. Ste
fano Rotondo took up the teaching for
st. Stephens Day., and the great Ba-
silica of st. John Lakeran (ranking
next to st. Peters, took up the cele-
bration for st. Johns Day. The first
is a curious round church. three circles
around an altar; human ingenuity has
exhausted itself to cover its entire wall
surface with all conceivable torments
of the martyrs prosecuted under pagan
Rome. The great mogul, Lengths
Khan, could not have displayed such
horrible ingenuity. Nothing occurred
TO my mind but ST. Paul's description
OF the sufferings of the saints in 11th
Hebrews: "They were sawed asunder,"
etc, and where definite historical
knowledge did not supply the painter
with his material, his own imagination
left nothing of horror to be desired. st.
Johns Lakran, the original home and
church Of the Popes from the time Of
Constantine to the removal OF the pa
pacy TO Avignon, cannot be treated In
the close Of letter.. but there ls ono
celebration continuous from Christmas
20 Epiphany which cannot be omitted,
and that rs the celebration or Bam-
buino Where the Ars. the citadel OF
ancient Rome, once stood on the Capt.
tollne HIN, now stands, and has stood,
from the eighth century. the church OF
Ara coeli, the Altar OF Heaven. A
dear. quaint old church. with columns
Of all kinds and sizes, taken from pa
gan temples-one ! saw marked "the
cubicula ~ Augustus" evidently "a
church for the very poor. Bnt ono
treasure u Possesses dear 10 the chill.
dfen OF the poor, and that IN the Bam-
buino. doll. an image of the Holy
Child, AT covered with Jewels and gold,
the offerings ~ the rich, whom the
BanDuiuo has cured. This Image
came down from heaven we are rofif-
luF tho pOpulnf faifh and has stayed
~ Ara fofl in spite ~ the andsag g0fa
~ Ffeul iiim nway Whfa stolen one
Abe lsg0r liflo lBamDUlno came hafk 10
Ihs door " ths church neat morning.