ROME LETTER

New Zealand Tablet, 10 September 1914, Page 53

ROME LETTER

(From our own correspondent.) During the next couple of months, when the Eternal City will have well-nigh suspended animation and all who can will escape the dead heat of August and September, the Roman letter will consist of an article of interest to Catholic readers. So, for the nonce, we will bid adieu to —there is very little of it in Rome during the summer. Sometimes the subject chosen will be light, again heavy, and this because of the charm one feels in variety ! VITERBO. Although I have passed a time, short and long, in nearly all the chief cities of Europe, Asia, and Africa, I have found none having suburban towns so numerous and so interesting as has Rome. Each of these little worlds surrounding the great world of the Eternal City is just as proud of its age, of its great sons, as is she who so majestically sits upon her seven hills; some of them are much more ancient for example, Tivoli—than Rome ; some of them crossed swords with her; and all have their history bound up with hers in some shape or form. One of these is Viterbo, which lies some 40 miles from Rome, sleeping on its lovely hill, with its 20,000 inhabitantsmost of whom are farmers of the land around it, rich in that kind of historic loro that charms the traveller of Italy. It has a bishop, seminary, mayor, and a wealth of memories of love and war that make one, while within its battlements, live again in the Middle Ages. The Long Conclave. Turn over your Pastor’s History of the Popes and you will find some interesting reading of an event that occurred in a hall of the residence occupied by the Bishop of to-day. Those were the days when rough and ready means were often adopted, means at which the world would now gasp. The trouble began, as my guide reminds me, when Pope Clement IV. had just died in Viterbo, and the Sacred College came from Rome and entered into Conclave to choose a successor. One year passed, but the College of Cardinals could not come to any agreement. So also two and three years, with a similar result. Finally, the custodian of the Conclave and the people of Viterbo began to lose patience. - They had no Pope, but a Pope they would have, and if these Cardinals could not make up their minds, why, then, better give them a little help in the matter ! Detto, fatto. That very evening the Viterbesi saw the black smoke issuing for the thousandth time from the chimney of the Conclave Hall, and their minds were made up. The result was that when their Eminences rose to leave they were astonished to find the doors and windows locked and barred. Threats and.entreaties were alike useless. No Pope, no egress, was the rejoinder short and sweet. The Cardinals sat down to consider ‘and vote next morning, but once more the black smoke told the ‘ bravi Viterbesi ’ their deliberations had been in vain. What to do now? Off with the roof! Detto, fatto again— off came the roof, and the Cardinals passed that night gazing at the stars. Next day came the hour for voting but the black smoke of the voting papers burning along with damp straw caused the people to lose all patience. What to do again ? A little starvation ! Ecco—night the Cardinals went to sleep hungry. No Pope, little food ! There’s nothing succeeds like success, for in a few days the Viterbesi were crying ‘ Viva il Papa’ to Cardinal Visconti. And as I looked up at the roof of the old hall last week I could not help laughing at the drastic way in which the people of Viterbo had ended the long Conclave. The Fair Galliana. One-of the most curious objects, in Viterbo is the tomb of ‘ La Bella Galliana,’ which is in ' a dead well

in one of the squares of the town. What a curious history is connected with the bones-that were laid to rest in so public a place in the year 1135 A.D. Many accounts tell us of the dazzling beauty of Galliana, the pride of the Viterbesi in the twelfth century. She had scarcely reached the age of womanhood when the fame of her loveliness had gone down to Rome and reached the ears of a Roman baron, one of the turbulent noblemen who rendered life by the Tiber in those days one long fierce quarrel. Their years were passed within their own fortresses hero and there in Rome. Each baron had his own army, and when not engaged in fighting with each other, they fought with the Pope or one of the princes of Italy. Those were the days when might meant right, so no wonder the baron's suit for the hand of La Bella Galliana was the signal for war. Viterbo would not allow the marriage; but this did not baulk the fierce Roman • baron: his retainers were soon at the gates of the obstinate town, and the siege began. Fear had no place in the hearts of the stout Viterbesi : they would never yield Galliana to the Roman. And so the battle raged from day to day. Each morning saw the men-at-arms attack the walls (they are there yet), and each evening saw the people of Viterbo cleaning bloody swords. At last both sides grew tired. He would raise the siege and depart, promised the Roman baron, if fair Galliana were only brought to the ramparts that he might gaze again upon her charms. And to this Viterbo consented. With the chivalry of the age the disappointed suitor bade her adieu and returned homewards. What became of Galliana afterwards I know not. Tradition is vague about her. And to-day all that the Viterbesi say for certain is that her beauty was surpassing. She died in the course of years, and they laid her body in a niche high in the public square, where we see the slab to-day. For the Pope’s Body. When Fre Elia, in 1230, unceremoniously closed the doors of the Church of St. Francisco in the face of the great cortege that accompanied the body of the Poor Man of Assisi to its last resting place in that edifice, the sturdy old friar knew what he was about. Perugia should never know the spot whence to steal the Patriarch’s body if he could help it. And so well did he succeed that it took seven centuries to discover the particular spot where he had the ‘ Seraph of Umbria’ laid. If the Church of St. Damiano, Assisi, the cradle of the Poor Clares, had such a keen eye to possible consequences of the French occupation it would not now have only the empty shrine . in which the body of Blessed Anthony of Stroncone once reposed. For taking advantage of the confusion caused by the French, the people of Stroncone raided San Damiano, and, taking the body from the shrine, carried it off to their little town a dozen miles away. Beato Antonio first saw the light in Stroncone, they argued, and therefore his body belonged to it. And something like this caused the long-standing quarrel in Viterbo. On the evening of November 28, 1268, Clement IV., who lay dying in Viterbo, was asked his wish regarding his place of sepulture. ‘ln the Chiesa di Gradi of the Dominican Order,’ replied the Pontiff, and breathed his last. But the Chapter of San Lorenzo took the body when the obsequies were over and buried it in the Cathedral, and so the trouble began. However, in due time Gregory X. stepped in and threatened the canons with excommunication unless they gave up the Pope’s body. They obeyed, but the remains were changed several times afterwards, the last occasion being in 1885, when they were laid in the Church of St. Francis.