  S. Gregorio—S. Giovanni e Paolo—Arch of Dolabella—S. Tommaso in Formis—Villa Mattei—Sta. Maria della Navicella—S. Stefano Rotondo—I Santi Quattro Incoronati—S. Clemente. The Coelian Hill extends from St. John Lateran to the Vigna of the Porta Capena, and from the Fountain of Egeria to the Convent of S. Gregorio. It is now entirely uninhabited, except by monks of the Camaldolese, Passionist, and Redemptorist Orders, and by the Augustinian Nuns of the Incoronati. IN the earliest times the name of this hill was Mons Querquetulanus, "The Hill of Oaks," and it was clothed with forest, part of which long remained as the sacred wood of the CamenÆ. It first received its name of Coelius from Coelius Vibenna, an Etruscan Lucumo of Ardea, who is said to have come to the assistance of Romulus in his war against the Sabine king Tatius, and to have afterwards established himself here. In the reign of Tullus Hostilius the Coelian assumed some importance, as that king fixed his residence here, and transported hither the Latin population of Alba. As the Coelian had a less prominent share in the history of Rome than any of the other hills, it preserves scarcely To the Christian visitor, however, the Coelian will always prove of the deepest interest—and the slight thread of connection which runs between all its principal objects, as well as their nearness to one another, brings them pleasantly within the limits of a single day's excursion. Many of those who are not mere passing visitors at Rome, will probably find that their chief pleasure lies not amid the well-known sights of the great basilicas and palaces, but in quiet walks through the silent lanes and amid the decaying buildings of these more distant hills. "The recollection of Rome will come back, after many years, in "For myself, I must say that I know nothing to compare with a pilgrimage among the antique churches scattered over the Esquiline, the Coelian, and the Aventine Hills. They stand apart, each in its solitude, amid gardens, and vineyards, and heaps of nameless ruins;—here a group of cypresses, there a lofty pine or solitary palm; the tutelary saint, perhaps some Sant' Achilleo, or Santa Bibiana, whom we never heard of before,—an altar rich in precious marbles,—columns of porphyry,—the old frescoes dropping from the walls,—the everlasting colossal mosaics looking down so solemn, so dim, so spectral;—these grow upon us, until at each succeeding visit they themselves, and the associations by which they are surrounded, become a part of our daily life, and may be said to hallow that daily life when considered in a right spirit. True, what is most sacred, what is most poetical, is often desecrated to the fancy by the intrusion of those prosaic realities which We may pass under the Arch of Constantine, or through the pleasant sunny walks known as the Parco di San Gregorio,—planted by the French during their first occupation of Rome, but which may almost be regarded as a remnant of the sacred grove of the CamenÆ which once occupied this site. The further gate of the Parco opens on a small triangular piazza, whence a broad flight of steps lead up to the Church of S. Gregorio, to the English pilgrim one of the most interesting spots in Rome, for it was at the head of these steps that St. Augustine took his last farewell of Gregory the Great, and, kneeling on this green-sward below, the first missionaries of England received the parting blessing of the great pontiff, as he stood on the height in the gateway. As we enter the portico (built 1633, by Card. Scipio Borghese,) we see on either side two world-famous inscriptions. On the right: Adsta hospes On the left:
"Cette ville incomparable renferme peu de sites plus attrayants et plus dignes d'Éternelle mÉmoire. Le sanctuaire occupe l'angle occidental du mont Coelius.... Il est À Égale distance du grand Cirque, des Thermes de Caracalla et du ColisÉe, tout proche de l'Église des saints martyrs Jean et Paul. Le berceau du christianisme de l'Angleterre touche ainsi au sol trempÉ par le sang de tant de milliers de martyrs. En face s'ÉlÈve le mont Palatin, berceau de Rome paÏenne, encore couvert des vastes dÉbris du palais des CÉsars.... OÙ est donc l'Anglais digne de ce nom qui, en portant son regard du Palatin au ColisÉe, pourrait contempler sans Émotion ce coin de terre d'oÙ lui sont venus la foi, le nom chrÉtien et la Bible dont il est si fier. VoilÀ oÙ les enfants esclaves de ses aÏeux Étaient recueillis et sauvÉs! Sur ces pierres s'agenouillaient ceux qui ont fait sa patrie chrÉtienne! Sous ces voÛtes a ÉtÉ conÇu par une Âme sainte, confiÉ À Dieu, bÉni par Dieu, acceptÉ et accompli par d'humbles et gÉnÉreux chrÉtiens, le grand dessein! Par ces degrÉs sont descendus les quarante moines qui ont portÉ À l'Angleterre la parole de Dieu, la lumiÈre de l'Évangile, la succession apostolique et la rÈgle de Saint-BenoÎt!"—Montalembert, Moines d'Occident. Hard by was the house of Sta. Silvia, mother of St. Gregory, of which the ruins still remain, opposite to the church of S. Giovanni e Paolo, and in the little garden which still exists, we may believe that he played as a child under his mother's care. Close to his mother's home he founded the monastery of St. Andrew, where he dwelt for many years as a monk, employed in writing homilies, and in the enjoyment of visionary conversation with the Virgin, whom he believed to answer him in person from her picture before which he knelt. "To this monastery he presented his own portrait, with those of his father and mother, which were probably in existence 300 years after his death; and this portrait of himself probably furnished that peculiar type of physiognomy which we trace in all the best representations of him." "Un moine (A.D. 590) va monter pour la premiÈre fois sur la chaire apostolique. Ce moine, le plus illustre de tous ceux qui ont comptÉ parmi les souverains pontifes, y rayonnera d'un Éclat qu'aucun de ses prÉdÉcesseurs n'a ÉgalÉ et qui rejaillera comme une sanction suprÊme, sur l'institut dont il est issu. GrÉgoire, le seul parmi les hommes avec le Pape LÉon Ier qui ait reÇu À la fois, du consentement universel, le double surnom de Saint et de Grand, sera l'eternel honneur de l'Ordre bÉnÉdictin comme de la papautÉ. Par son gÉnie, mais surtout par le charme et l'ascendant de sa vertu, il organisera le domaine temporel des papes, il dÉveloppera et rÉgularisera leur souverainetÉ spirituelle, il fondera leur paternelle suprÉmatie sur les royautÉs naissantes et les nations nouvelles qui vont devenir les grands peuples de l'avenir, et s'appeler la France, l'Espagne, l'Angleterre. A vrai dire, c'est lui qui inaugure le moyen Âge, la sociÉtÉ moderne et la civilisation chrÉtienne."—Montalembert. The church of St. Gregory is approached by a cloistered court filled with monuments. On the left is that of Sir Edward Carne, one of the commissioners to obtain the opinion of foreign universities respecting the divorce of Henry VIII. from Catherine of Arragon, ambassador to Charles V., and afterwards to the court of Rome. He was recalled when the embassy was suppressed by Elizabeth, "Roberto Pecham Anglo, equite aurato, Philippi et MariÆ AngliÆ et Hispan regibus olim a consiliis genere religione virtute prÆclaro qui cum patriam suam a fede catholica deficientem adspicere sine summo dolore non posset, relictis omnibus quÆ in hac vita carissima esse solent, in voluntarium profectus exilium, post sex annis pauperibus Christi heredibus testamento institutis, sanctissime e vita migravit." The Church, rebuilt in 1734, under Francesco Ferrari, has sixteen ancient granite columns and a fine Opus-Alexandrinum pavement. Among its monuments we may observe that of Cardinal Zurla, a learned writer on geographical subjects, who was abbot of the adjoining convent. It was a curious characteristic of the laxity of morals in the time of Julius II. (1503-13), that her friends did not hesitate to bury the famous Aspasia of that age in this church, and to inscribe upon her tomb: "Imperia, cortisana Romana, quÆ digna tanto nomine, rarÆ inter homines formÆ specimen dedit. Vixit annos xxvi. dies xii. obiit 1511, die 15 Augusti,"—but this monument has now been removed. At the end of the right aisle is a picture by Badalocchi, commemorating a miracle on this spot, when, at the moment of elevation, the Host is said to have bled in the hands of St. Gregory, to convince an unbeliever of the truth of transubstantiation. It will be observed that in this and in most other representations of St. Gregory, a dove is perched upon his shoulder, and whispering into his ear. This is commemorative of the impression that every word and act of the saint was directly inspired by the Holy Ghost; a belief first A low door near this leads into the monastic cell of St. Gregory, containing his marble chair, and the spot where his bed lay, inscribed: Here also an immense collection of minute relics of saints are exposed to the veneration of the credulous. On the opposite side of the church is the Salviati Chapel, the burial-place of that noble family, modernized in 1690 by Carlo Maderno. Over the altar is a copy of Annibale Caracci's picture of St. Gregory, which once existed here, but is now in England. On the right is the picture of the Madonna, "which spoke to St. Gregory," and which is said to have become suddenly impressed upon the wall after a vision in which she appeared to him;—on the left is a beautiful marble ciborium. Hence a sacristan will admit the visitor into the Garden of Sta. Silvia, whence there is a grand view over the opposite Palatine. "To stand here on the summit of the flight of steps which leads to the portal, and look across to the ruined Palace of the CÆsars, makes the mind giddy with the rush of thoughts. There, before us, the Palatine Hill—pagan Rome in the dust; here, the little cell, a few feet square, where slept in sackcloth the man who gave the last blow to the power of the CÆsars, and first set his foot as sovereign on the cradle and capital of their greatness."—Mrs. Jameson. Here are three Chapels, restored by the historian Cardinal Baronius, in the sixteenth century. The first, of Sta. Silvia, contains a fresco of the Almighty with a choir of angels, by Guido, and beneath it a beautiful statue of the venerable saint (especially invoked against convulsions), by Niccolo Cordieri—one of the best statues of saints in Rome. The second chapel, of St. Andrew, contains the two famous rival frescoes of Guido and Domenichino. Guido has represented St. Andrew kneeling in reverent thankfulness at first sight of the cross on which he was to suffer; Domenichino—a more painful subject—the flagellation of the saint. Of these paintings Annibale Caracci observed that "Guido's was the painting of the Master; but Domenichino's the painting of the scholar who knew more than the master." The beautiful group of figures in the corner, where a terrified child is hiding its face in its mother's dress, is introduced in several other pictures of Domenichino. "It is a well-known anecdote that a poor old woman stood for a long time before the story of Domenichino, pointing it out bit by bit and explaining it to a child who was with her,—and that she then turned to the story told by Guido, admired the landscape, and went away. It is added that when Annibale Caracci heard of this, it seemed to him in itself a sufficient reason for giving the preference to the former work. It is also said that when Domenichino was painting one of the executioners, he worked himself up into a fury with threatening words and "In historical pictures Domenichino is often cold and studied, especially in the principal subject, while on the other hand, the subordinate persons have much grace, and a noble character of beauty. Thus, in the scourging of St. Andrew, a group of women thrust back by the executioners is of the highest beauty. Guido's fresco is of high merit—St. Andrew, on his way to execution, sees the cross before him in the distance, and falls upon his knees in adoration,—the executioners and spectators regard him with astonishment."—Kugler. The third chapel, of Sta. Barbara, contains a grand statue of St. Gregory by Niccolo Cordieri The adjoining Convent (modern) is of vast size, and is now occupied by Camaldolese monks, though in the time of St. Gregory it belonged to the Benedictines. In its situation it is beautiful and quiet, and must have been so even in the time of St. Gregory, who often regretted the seclusion which he was compelled to quit. "Un jour, plus accablÉ que jamais par le poids des affaires sÉculiÈres, il s'Était retirÉ dans un lieu secret pour s'y livrer dans un long silence À Pope Gregory XVI. was for some years abbot of this convent, to which he was afterwards a generous benefactor;—regretting always, like his great predecessor, the peace of his monastic life. His last words to his cardinals, who were imploring him, for political purposes, to conceal his danger, were singularly expressive of this—"Per Dio lasciatemi!—voglio morire da frate, non da sovrano." The last great ceremony enacted at S. Gregorio was when Cardinal Wiseman consecrated the mitred abbot of English Cistercians,—Dr. Manning preaching at the same time on the prospects of English Catholicism. Ascending the steep paved lane between S. Gregorio and the Parco, the picturesque church on the left with the arcaded apse and tall campanile (c. A.D. 1206), inlaid with coloured tiles and marbles, is that of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Above the tribune are frescoes by Pomerancio. A splendid chapel on the right was built 1868;—two of its alabaster pillars were the gift of Pius IX. Beneath the altar on the left of the tribune is preserved the embalmed body of St. Paul of the Cross (who died 1776), founder of the Order of Passionists, who inhabit the adjoining convent. The aged face bears a beautiful expression of repose;—the body is dressed in the robe which clothed it when living. Male visitors are admitted through the convent to its large and beautiful Garden, which overhangs the steep side of the Coelian towards the Coliseum, of which there is a fine view between its ancient cypresses. Here, on a site near the monastery, are some remains believed to be those of the temple built by Agrippina (c. A.D. 57), daughter of Germanicus, to the honour of her deified husband (and uncle) Claudius, after she had sent him to Olympus by feeding him with poisonous mushrooms. This temple was pulled down by Nero, who wished to efface the memory of his predecessor, on the pretext that it interfered with his Golden House; but was rebuilt under Vespasian. In this garden also is the entrance to the vast substructions known as the Vivarium, whence the wild beasts who devoured the early Christian martyrs were frightened by burning tow down a subterranean passage into the arena. The famous Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo at Venice was founded by emigrants from this convent. The memory Continuing to follow the lane up the Coelian, we reach the richly tinted brick Arch of Dolabella, erected, A.D. 10, by the consuls P. Cornelius Dolabella and Caius Julius Silanus. Nero, building his aqueduct to the palace of the CÆsars, made use of this, which already existed, and included it in his line of arches. Above the arch is a Hermitage, revered as that where S. Giovanni di Matha lived, and where he died in 1213. Before he came to reside here he had been miraculously brought from Tunis (whither he had gone on a mission) to Ostia, in a boat without helm or sail, in which he knelt without ceasing before the crucifix throughout the whole of his voyage! Passing beneath the gateway, we emerge upon the picturesque irregular Piazza of the Navicella, the central point of the Coelian, which is surrounded by a most interesting group of buildings, and which contains an isolated fragment of the aqueduct of Nero, dear to artists from its colour. Behind this, under the trees, is the little marble Navicella, which is supposed to have been originally a votive offering of a sailor to Jupiter Redux, whose temple stood near this; but which was adapted by Leo X. as a Christian emblem of the Church,—the boat of St. Peter. "The allegory of a ship is peculiarly dwelt upon by the ancient Fathers. A ship entering the port was a favourite heathen emblem of the close of life. But the Christian idea, and its elevation from individual to universal or catholic humanity, is derived directly from the Bible,—see, for instance, I Peter iii. 20, 21. 'Without doubt,' says St. Augustine, 'the ark is the figure of the city of God pilgrimising in this world, in other words, of the Church, which is saved by the wood on which hung the mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.' The same interpretation was recognised in the Latin Church in the days of Tertullian and St. Cyprian, &c. The bark of St. Peter is similarly represented on a Greek gem, found in the Catacombs, as sailing on a fish, probably Leviathan or Satan, while doves, emblematical of the faithful, perch on the mast and stern,—two Apostles row, a third lifts up his hands in prayer, and our Saviour, approaching the vessel, supports Peter by the hand when about to sink.... But the allegory of the ship is carried out to its fullest extent in the fifty-seventh chapter of the second book of the 'Apostolical Constitutions,' supposed to have been compiled in the name of the Apostles, in the fourth century."—Lord Lindsay's Christian Art, i. 18. On the right is (first) the gateway of the deserted convent of Redemptorists, called S. Tommaso in Formis, which was founded by S. Giovanni de Matha, who, when celebrating his first mass at Paris, beheld in a vision, an angel robed in white, with a red and blue cross upon his breast, and his hands resting in benediction upon the heads of two captives,—a white and a black man. The bishop of Paris sent him to Rome to seek explanation from Innocent III., who was celebrated as an interpreter of dreams,—his foundation of the Franciscan order having resulted from one which befell him. S. Giovanni was accompanied to the pope by another hermit, Felix de Valois. They found that Innocent had himself seen the same vision of the angel between the two captives while celebrating mass at the Lateran, and he interpreted it as inculcating the duty of charity towards Christian slaves, for which purpose he The next gate beyond the church is that of the Villa Mattei, the garden of the Redemptorists. (The villa is now the property of Baron Richard Hoffmann: visitors are generally admitted upon writing down their names at the gate.) These grounds are well worth visiting—quite the ideal of a deserted Roman garden, a wealth of large Roman daisies, roses, and periwinkle spreading at will amid remains of ancient statues and columns. A grand little avenue of ilexes leads to a terrace whence there is a most beautiful view towards the aqueducts and the Alban Hills, with a noble sarcophagus and a quantity of fine aloes and prickly-pears in the foreground. There is an obelisk, of which only the top is Egyptian. It is said that there is a man's hand underneath;—when the obelisk was lowered it fell suddenly, and one of the workmen had not time to take his hand away. In the grounds annexed to the lower part of the villa is the Fountain of Egeria (p. 375). Almost standing in the garden of the villa, and occupying the site of the house of Sta. Cyriaca, is the Church of Sta. Maria in Domenica or della Navicella. (If no one is here, the hermit at S. Stefano Rotondo will unlock it.) The portico is due to Raphael (his design is at Windsor). The damp interior (rebuilt by Leo X. from designs of Raphael) is solemn and striking. It is in the basilica form, the nave separated from the aisles by eighteen columns of granite and one (smaller, near the tribune) of porphyry. The frieze, in chiaroscuro, was painted by Giulio Romano and Pierino del Vaga. Beneath the confessional are the "Within the tribune are mosaics of the Virgin and Child seated on a throne, with angels ranged in regular rows on each side; and, at her feet, with unspeakable stiffness of limb, the kneeling figure of Pope Paschal I. Upon the walls of the tribune is the Saviour with a nimbus, surrounded with two angels and the twelve apostles, and further below, on a much larger scale, two prophets, who appear to point towards him. The most remarkable thing here is the rich foliage decoration. Besides the wreaths of flowers (otherwise not a rare feature) which are growing out of two vessels on the edge of the dome, the floor beneath the figures is also decorated with flowers—a graceful species of ornament seldom aimed at in the moroseness of Byzantine art. From this point, the decline into utter barbarism is rapid."—Kugler. "The Olivetan monks inhabited the church and cloisters of Sta. Maria in Domenica, commonly called in Navicella, from the rudely sculptured marble monument that stands on the grass before its portal, a remnant of bygone days, to which neither history nor tradition has given a name, but which has itself given one to the picturesque old church which stands on the brow of the Coelian Hill."—Lady Georgiana Fullerton. A tradition of the Church narrates that St. Lorenzo, deacon and martyr, daily distributed alms to the poor in front of this church—then the house of Sta. Cyriaca—with whom he had taken refuge. Opposite, is the round Church of S. Stefano Rotondo, dedicated by St. Simplicius in 467. It appears to have The walls are lined with frescoes by Pomerancio and Tempesta. They begin with the Crucifixion, but as the Holy Innocents really suffered before our Saviour, one of them is represented lying on each side of the cross. Next comes the stoning of St. Stephen, and the frescoes continue to pourtray every phase of human agony in the most revolting detail, but are interesting as showing a historical series of what the Roman Catholic Church considers as the best authenticated martyrdoms, viz.:
The last picture represents the reunion of eminent martyrs (in which the Roman Church includes English sufferers under Elizabeth), and above is inscribed this verse from Isaiah xxv., "Laudabit populus fortis, civitas gentium robustarum." "Au-dessus du tableau de la Crucifixion se trouve cette inscription: 'Roi glorieux des martyrs, s'il donne sa vie pour racheter la pÉchÉ, il verra une postÉritÉ sans fin.' Et quelle postÉritÉ! Hommes, femmes, vieillards, jeunes hommes, jeunes filles, enfants! Comme tous accourent, comme tous savent mourir."—Une ChrÉtienne À Rome. "Les paÏens avaient divinisÉ la vie, les chrÉtiens divinisÈrent la mort."—Madame de Stael. "S. Stefano Rotondo exhibits, in a series of pictures all round the church, the martyrdoms of the Christians in the so-called persecutions, with a general picture of the most eminent martyrs since the triumph of Christianity. No doubt many of the particular stories thus painted will bear no critical examination; it is likely enough, too, that Gibbon has truly accused the general statements of exaggeration. But this is a thankless labour, such as Lingard and others have undertaken with regard to the St. Bartholomew massacre, and the Irish massacre of 1642. Divide the sum total of reported martyrs by twenty,—by fifty, if you will,—but after all you have a number of persons of all ages and sexes suffering cruel torments and death for conscience' sake and for Christ's, and by their sufferings manifestly, with God's blessing, ensuring the triumph of Christ's gospel. Neither do I think that we consider the excellence of this martyr-spirit half enough. I do not think pleasure is a sin: the stoics of old, and the ascetic Christians since, who have said so (see the answers of that excellent man, Pope Gregory the Great, to Augustine's questions, as given at length by Bede), have, in saying so, outstepped "On croit que l'Église de Saint-Etienne-le-Rond est bÂtie sur l'emplacement du Macellum Augusti. S'il en est ainsi, les supplices des martyrs, hideusement reprÉsentÉs sur les murs de cette Église, rappellent ce qu'elle a remplacÉ."—AmpÈre, Emp. i. 270. The first chapel on the left, dedicated to SS. Primus and Felicianus, contains some delicate small mosaics. "The mosaics of the small altar of S. Stefano Rotondo, are of A.D. 642—649. A brilliantly-decorated cross is represented between two standing figures of St. Primus and St. Felicianus. On the upper end of the cross (very tastefully introduced) appears a small head of Christ with a nimbus, over which the hand of the Father is extended in benediction."—Kugler. In the next chapel is a very beautiful tomb of Bernardino Capella, Canon of St. Peter's, who died 1524. In a small house, which formerly stood among the gardens in this neighbourhood, Palestrina lived and wrote. "Sous le rÈgne de Paul IV., Palestrina faisait partie de la chapelle papale; mais il fut obligÉ de la quitter, parce-qu'il Était mariÉ. Il se retira alors dans une chaumiÈre perdue au milieu des vignes du Mont Coelius, et lÀ, seul, inconnu au monde, il se livra, durant de longs jours, À cette extase de la pensÉe qui agrandit, au-delÀ de toute mesure, la puissance crÉatrice de l'homme. Le dÉsir des PÈres du concile lui ayant ÉtÉ manifestÉ, il prit aussitÔt une plume, Écrivit en tÊte de son cahier, 'Mon Dieu, Éclairez-moi,' et se mit À l'oeuvre avec un saint enthousiasme. Ses premiers efforts ne rÉpondirent pas À l'idÉal que son gÉnie s'Était formÉ; mais peu À peu ses pensÉes s'Éclaircirent, et les flots de poÉsie qui inondaient son Âme, se rÉpandirent en mÉlodies touchantes. Chaque parole du texte retentissait clairement, allait chercher toutes les consciences, et les exaltait dans une Émotion commune. La messe du pape Marcel trancha la question; et Pie IV. s'Écria, aprÈs l'avoir entendue, qu'il avait cru assister aux concerts des anges."—Gournerie, Rome ChrÉtienne, ii. 195. Following the lane of S. Stefano Rotondo—skirted by broken fragments of Nero's aqueduct—almost to its debouchment near St. J. Lateran, and then turning to the left, we reach the quaint fortress like church and convent of the Santi Quattro Incoronati crowned by a stumpy campanile of 1112. The full title of this church is "I Santi quattro Pittori Incoronati e i cinque Scultori Martiri," the names which the Church attributes to the painters being Severus, Severianus, Carpoforus, and Vittorinus; and those of the sculptors Claudius, Nicostratus, Sinforianus, Castorius, and Simplicius,—who all suffered for refusing to carve and paint idols for Diocletian. Their festa is kept on Nov. 8. This church was founded on the site of a temple of Diana by Honorius I., A.D. 622; rebuilt by Leo IV. A.D. 850; and again rebuilt in its present form by Paschal II., who consecrated it afresh in A.D. 1111. It is approached through a double court, in which are many ancient columns,—perhaps remains of the temple. Some antiquaries suppose that the church itself was once of larger size, and that the "HÆc quÆcumque vides veteri prostrata ruina Obruta verberis, ederis, dumisque jacebant." Opening out of the court in front of the church is the little Chapel of S. Sylvestro, built by Innocent II. in 1140. It contains a series of very curious frescoes. "Showing the influence of Byzantine upon Roman art is the little chapel of S. Silvestro, detailing the history of the conversion of Constantine with a naÏvetÉ which, with the exception of a certain dignity in some of the figures, constitutes their sole attraction. They are indeed little better than Chinese paintings; the last of the series, representing Constantine leading Pope Sylvester's horse by the bridle, walking beside him in his long flowing robe, with a chattah held over his head by an attendant, has quite an Asiatic character."—Lord Lindsay's Christian Art. "Here, as in so many instances, legend is the genuine reflex, not of the external, but the moral part of history. In this series of curious wall-paintings, we see Constantine dismissing, consoled and laden with gifts, the mothers whose children were to be slaughtered to provide a bath of blood, the remedy prescribed—but which he humanely rejected—for his leprosy, his punishment for persecuting the Church while he yet lingered in the darkness of paganism; we see the vision of St. Peter and In the fresco of the Crucifixion in this chapel an angel is represented taking off the crown of thorns and putting on a real crown, an incident nowhere else introduced in art. The castellated Convent of the Santi Quattro was built by Paschal II. at the same time as the church, and was used as a papal palace while the Lateran was in ruins, hence its defensive aspect, suited to the troublous times of the anti-popes. It is now inhabited by Augustinian Nuns. At the foot of the Coelian beneath the Incoronati, and in the street leading from the Coliseum to the Lateran, is the Church of S. Clemente, to which recent discoveries, have given an extraordinary interest. The upper church, in spite of modernizations under Clement XI. in the last century, retains more of the details belonging to primitive ecclesiastical architecture than any other building in Rome. It was consecrated in memory of Clement, the fellow-labourer of St Paul, and the third bishop of Rome, upon the site of his family house. It was already important in the time of Gregory the Great, who here read his thirty-third and thirty-eighth homilies. It was altered by Adrian I. in A.D. 772, and by John VIII. in A.D. 800, and again restored in A.D. 1099 by Paschal II., who had been cardinal of the church, and who was elected to the papacy within its walls. The greater part of the existing building is thus either of the ninth or the twelfth century. At the west end a porch supported by two columns, and attributed to the eighth century, leads into the quadriporticus, from which is the entrance to the nave, separated from its aisles by sixteen columns evidently plundered from pagan buildings. Raised above the nave and protected by a low marble wall is the cancellum, preserving its ancient pavement, ambones, altar, and episcopal throne. "In S. Clemente, built on the site of his paternal mansion, and restored at the beginning of the twelfth century, an example is still to be seen, in perfect preservation, of the primitive church; everything remains in statu quo—the court, the portico, the cancellum, the ambones, paschal candlestick, crypt, and ciborium—virgin and intact; the wooden roof has unfortunately disappeared, and a small chapel, dedicated to St. Catherine, has been added, yet even this is atoned for by the lovely frescoes of Masaccio. I most especially recommend this relic of early Christianity to your affectionate and tender admiration. Yet the beauty of S. Clemente is internal only, outwardly it is little more than a barn."—Lord Lindsay. On the left of the side entrance is the Chapel of the Passion, clothed with frescoes of Masaccio, which, though "The celebrated series relating to St. Catherine is still most striking in the grace and refinement of its principal figures: "1. St. Catherine (cousin of the Emperor Constantine) refuses to worship idols. "2. She converts the empress of Maximin. She is seen through a window seated inside a prison, and the empress is seated outside the prison, opposite to her, in a graceful listening attitude. "3. The empress is beheaded, and her soul is carried to heaven by an angel. "4. Catherine disputes with the pagan philosophers. She is standing in the midst of a hall, the forefinger of one hand laid on the other, as in the act of demonstrating. She is represented fair and girlish, dressed with great simplicity in a tunic and girdle,—no crown, nor any other attribute. The sages are ranged on each side, some lost in thought, others in astonishment, the tyrant (Maximin) is seen behind, as if watching the conference, while through an open window we behold the fire kindled for the converted philosophers, and the scene of their execution. "5. Catherine is delivered from the wheels, which are broken by an angel. "6. She is beheaded. In the background three angels lay her in a sarcophagus on the summit of Mount Sinai."—See Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 491. "'Masaccio,' says Vasari, 'whose enthusiasm for art would not allow him to rest contentedly at Florence, resolved to go to Rome, that he might learn there to surpass every other painter.' It was during this journey, which, in fact, added much to his renown, that he painted, in the Church of San Clemente—the chapel which now so usually disappoints the expectations of the traveller, on account of the successive restorations by which his work has been disfigured.... The heavy brush which has passed over each compartment has spared neither the delicacy of the outline, the roundness of the forms, nor the play of light and shade: in a word, nothing which constitutes the peculiar merit of Masaccio."—Rio, Poetry of Christian Art. At the end of the right aisle is the beautiful tomb of Cardinal Rovarella, ob. 1476. A statue of St. John the "'The Fathers are in dust, yet live to God:' So says the Truth; as if the motionless clay Still held the seeds of life beneath the sod, Smouldering and struggling till the judgment-day. "And hence we learn with reverence to esteem Of these frail houses, though the grave confines: Sophist may urge his cunning tests, and deem That they are earth;—but they are heavenly shrines." J. H. Newman, 1833. "St. GrÉgoire raconte que de son temps on voyait dans le vestibule de l'Église Saint ClÉment un pauvre paralytique, priant et mendiant, sans que jamais une plainte sortÎt de sa bouche, malgrÉ les vives douleurs qu'il endurait. Chaque fidÈle lui donnait, et le paralytique distribuait À son tour, aux malheureux ce qu'il avait reÇu de la compassion publique. Lorsqu'il mourut, son corps fut placÉ prÈs de celui de Saint ClÉment, pape, et de Saint Ignace d'Antioche, et son nom fut inscrit au martyrologe. On le vÉnÈre dans l'Eglise sous le nom de Saint Servulus."—Une ChrÉtienne À Rome. The mosaics in the tribune are well worth examination. "There are few Christian mosaics in which mystic meaning and poetic imagination are more felicitous than in those on the apse of S. Clemente, where the crucifix, and a wide-spreading vine-tree (allusive to His words, who said 'I am the True Vine'), spring from the same stem; twelve doves, emblems of the apostles, being on the cross with the Divine Sufferer; the Mother and St. John beside it, the usual hand stretched out in glory above, with a crown; the four doctors of the Church, also other small figures, men and birds, introduced amidst the mazy vine-foliage; and at the basement, the four mystic rivers, with stags and peacocks drinking at their streams. The figure of St. Dominic is a modern addition. It seems evident, from characteristics of style, that the other mosaics here, above the apsidal arch, and at the spandrils, are more ancient, perhaps by about a century; these latter representing the Saviour in benediction, the four Evangelic emblems, From the sacristy a staircase leads to the Lower Church (occasionally illuminated for the public) first discovered in 1857. Here, there are several pillars of the rarest marbles in perfect preservation, and a very curious series of frescoes of the eighth and ninth centuries, parts of which are still clear and almost uninjured. These include—the Crucifixion, with the Virgin and St. John standing by the cross,—the earliest example in Rome of this well-known subject; the Ascension, sometimes called by Romanists (in preparation for their dogma of 1870), "the Assumption of the Virgin," because the figure of the Virgin is elevated above the other apostles, though she is evidently intent on watching the retreating figure of her divine Son—in this fresco the figure of a pope is introduced (with the square nimbus, showing that it was painted in his lifetime), and the inscription "Sanctissimus dominus, Leo Papa Romanus," probably Leo III. or Leo IV.; the Maries at the sepulchre; the descent into Hades; the Marriage of Cana; the Funeral of St. Cyril with Pope Nicholas I. (858—67) walking in the procession; and, the most interesting of all—probably of somewhat later date, the story of S. Clemente, and that of S. Alexis, whose adventures are described in the account of his church on the Aventine. An altar of Mithras was discovered during the excavations here. Beneath this crypt According to the Acts of the Martyrs, the Prefect Mamertinus ordered the arrest of Pope Clement, and intended to put him to death, but was deterred by a tumult of the people, who cried with one voice, "What evil has he done, or rather what good has he not done?" Clement was then condemned to exile in the Chersonese, and Mamertinus, touched by his submission and courage, dismissed him with the words—"May the God you worship bring you relief in the place of your banishment." In his exile Clement received into the Church more than two hundred Christians who had been waiting for baptism, and miraculously discovered water for their support in a barren rock, to which he was directed by a Lamb, in whose form he recognised the guidance of the Son of God. The enthusiasm which these marvels excited led Trajan to send executioners, by whom he was tied to an anchor and thrown into the sea. But his disciples, kneeling on the shore, prayed that his relics might be given up to them, when the waves retired, and disclosed a marble chapel, built by unearthly hands—over the tomb of the saint. From the Chersonese the remains of St. Clement were brought back to Rome by St. Cyril, the Apostle of the Slavonians, who, dying here himself, was buried by his side. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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