The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-12
sAxrA MARIA DEL 1oro1o,
Rx Erancea Grimm.

By Frances Griffin.
 The statement in the dispatches this naofntns that Mgr. volponi is to be buried In the Church of Santa Maria del Popolc. brings to mind visit there years ago.
 sursiy mortal man could not desire . more beautiful place in which to go to dust. Not even that huge pile. known as St. John de Lateran, where the pres ent Pope has chosen to lie. as next door neighbor to Pope Plus Ix., is such mu- scum of sculpture and high art. recall with intense feeling the December morn ing of my stroll through this consecrated collection of ehapels and tombs and hronse figures and paintings and nemo- rtss of the high and the mighty. The date of t4so. Think of 1t! Twelve years before America had permitted herself to be discovered, is assigned as the time when this church gave itself the frst se- cure adjustment upon It's pillars. and be- gan decoration that is wonder to the world; but even before that time. II nao had a pretty good send-of by means ot d collection amongst the common people, hence Its name, "St. Mary of the Peo- ple." While l am about 1t, may as well tell all the tale as twas told to me. Nobody need ever believe more of any thing than they want to, in these good days, and that's a blessing. The church tradition tells that the Emperor Nero was buried somewhere about there. and that from his grave grew a gigantic walnut tree In which vast focks of crows took up their abode, and their mad chatter ings proved nuisance to the neighbor- hood. In consequence. the Pope had dream in which the Virgin Mary (a wo- man abating a nuisance again) com manded him to cut down the tree and build a church. What better advice could have been given7
 In the sense that we. in America, know the word church, this building in nowise resembles one. When you have entered one of its many doors, on each side or the aisle through which you pass are chapela in which are great marble tombs of rare workmanship and countless cost; great pillars of jasper or alabaster or precious stone of some sort, overhead is q fresco painting aiming to represent the Almighty and His Heavenly hosts-but 1t is little of in that regard,--or the Vir- gin studying in the Temple, or the Ma donna and the four saints. all executed with the power of the old masters. It seemed to me that every tomb of them held a Cardinal with occasionally a very rich nobieman thrown in; so that this recent deposit of Monseigneur Voiponi, Is a compliment to the gentleman. who, if he has leisure to consider his surround ings, will feel painfully new. in observ- ing the date on the tomb of Cardinal Costo, of Lisbon. 1898. l may be pardoned if I speak, even at the risk of wearying you, a little longer of this famous church. that may tell of a chapel at the ex- treme end of an aisle in which Is buried a rich banker of Rome, Agostino Chigi. The powers of Raffaelle were taxed to construct this marvellous work of art, and he showed himself painter, sculptor and architect. You almost hold your breath in the presence of such gioriss. It is like a temple, all of marble. whose columns are alabaster. whose ceiling Is a mosaic with a design representing Je- hovah with a conglomerated surrounding Venus and Mars showing up in the midst, and an abundance of angels and of every variety of figure and length of winas,--but the effect, whether one likes the grouping or not, is worthy of the artist. Among the statuary Is the repro duction of Jonah in the unusual role of being seated on the back of the whale, a much more comfortable situation than the one usually assigned to him. The al- tar piece is a painting of the Nativity of the Virgin. There are statues of Ell jah and Daniel and Habbakuk of fault less proportions and beauty, all of which, taken together, constitute one of the most interesting chapels of the church. So, the brief statement that Mgr. Volpani was carried to the Church of Santa Ma ria del Popolo'' gives rise to all that, and many times more, when one looks on the inside of things.