A Complete Story

New Zealand Tablet, 24 April 1924, Page 11

A Complete Story

~ Siena on All Souls’ Day : . - (By Edith Cowell, in the London Month.) v ■,.;':.• {.£■{; Diana ,{ had threatened to murder me if I ' came home without' any..‘figs,i-so' on my way to - the Cathedral I stopped an old country-woman whom I happened to meet, and bought a dozen purple ones for her and as many more green ones for myself, all for one penny. r . Just as we were finishing the transaction we were both nearly run over by a long . geranium-colored wine chariot s 'drawn;. by two elephantcolored oxen, yoked by a, single careless cord, knotted over ■ their spreading horns. . The old lady dived with her . basket under, a Gothic archway, and in my. efforts to do the same I backed against an unlatched door and nearly fell backwards. V-' ■■.• -V; . . /• ■■' ■_ Recovering, I found myself in 'a tiny chapel. Mass was being said, and from behind a screen on the left came the low level sound of nuns' voices, singing the Dies irce in Plain Chant. * The chapel was empty, save for a row of servant-girls or orphans; a peasant or two, and an old Sister, evidently a member of the community behind the screen. Immediately resolving to renounce Mass at the Cathedral I chose a place near the door, putting my parcel of figs' carefully on a chair behind me./ .v , I wish I knew how to describe that . chapel. Everything in it spoke of poverty and simplicity, and humble loving care. I suppose there was not a statue or an ornament in it which might not be called tawdry, and yet everything looked so precious. I explain it very badly, but perhaps you will understand, for so "many convent chapels have that special charm, made up of spotless cleanliness and exquisite and that atmosphere saturated with prayer, which so often one misses in large and splendid churches. There’was no server,' but a faint voice from behind the screen made the responses, and rang the tiny, tinkling bell. At the Vomine, non sum y dignus the old Sister,rounded up her flock, sweeping me in the procession, and kneeling behind, said the Conf it ear aloud. (I suppose she had made her Communion hours ago, with the rest of the community). ■' V:’ ■ ; '-T When Mass was over, the priest began a second time to offer the Holy Sacrifice for the Faithful Departed. Just before the Gospel the little maids disappeared through some side door, and the chapel was empty save for me and the Sister. It was then that I first noticed her curious behaviour, for she began suddenly to turn her head towards the door, and look at her watch in the most restless, manner-, .Decidedly, I thought, this Sister is anything but recollected! She gives me distractions enough for ten! As time went on she became worse, and just before: the Sdnctus she dashed; (yes, really, there is no other word), to the door, and began a whispered conversation with same invisible person. I did not mean to look round, but when that person sat down heavily behind me, I suddenly remem- ■ bered my poor figs, and turned to put them in a safe place. . Imagine my surprise to find „ that - the , Sister’s friend was one of the most superb-looking Italian cavalry officers you ever saw 1 You know, perhaps, that they are the most -splendid in the whole world? When they come to England, people ,laugh at them for their -very{beautiful appearance,' and say they are too ornamental by half, but when it comes ..to. the Military Tournament they beat everyone else hollow. Of course Diana and I adore them. “Lamp-posts” w© used to call them in ; ,Siena ? before”the war, when they were kind enough to illuminate the streets with their presence,at that ’beguiling hour when everyone who is, or wishes ‘to. be, in “Society” flocks to the most expensive confectioners to drink tea (a penance for the Italians, but they do it ’ gladly, because it is du dernier chic), and eat haba-s mi : rhum. Diana used to rave over their powder-blue togas;and their broad blue ribbons and decorations.

;; And here was one of these “lamp-posts,” at seven o’clock in the morning . in a convent chapel. - Of : course it w-as edifying,: but when I turned round again (purely on account of my figs), and, saw him . sitting there smelling of inorocco leather, ' and the best cigars and heliotrope scent, with his arms folded in the most lordly manner, as if the place belonged to him, I hated him. Why, pray, was he not in the passes fighting with the others? Of course he had taken care to find himself a “soft billet,”- as our men call it! What would anyone so foppish and effeminate be “doing in the firing line?. ;• And for the matter of that, what was he doing here? That I was soon to discover. The Domine, non sum dignus bell rang once more, and the old Sister rose and brushed 1 behind me. There .were more whisperings, more scrapings of chairsand then I understood. Slowdy she led him up the aisle. He had one leg and tw'o crutches. With difficulty, and evidently with pain, he reached the altar rails, and paused to wipe the beads of perspiration from his forehead. He remained standing, and the Sister fussed gently round him, putting the altar-card in his hands, and almost supporting him. Then, also standing, she said the Confiieor for him in her loud deliberate old voice. The sun came glowing through a , half-open window,and a flowering shrub with an aromatic perfume thrust its blossoms almost into the sanctuary. A little brown bird came and perched itself on the window-sill, turning its head inquisitively, and chirping loudly*. . 4 Then the priest came down the altar steps and I could just hear the low-spoken words. . Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam tvam in vitam ccternam. Amen. You will understand, perhaps, why I did not see any more? ? When I got back I found Diana leaning out of the window in a Japanese wrapper, and whistling. 11. “ . No, it is not distinguished to lean out “of windows• especially convent windowsand whistle, and Diana knows that as well as you and I do, but she insists on doing in Italy all the things she* can not do at home, because she has ,discovered that the Italians, excuse anything the foresfieri do. Poor things, -r-they are often so . dependent on us for funds, and they put up so patiently with all our whims and fancies. - “Carina,” called out Diana (this is just a nice name she has found ’ for me), ‘Carina, do come here and tell me what this old man is saying! . He looks as if he wanted to murder me, but one never , knows. Perhaps he is making love. It would be most awfully exciting. Do come quick!” ■ I came quick, and looked out of the window. In the courtyard below*, there was a wine chariot, drawn by two oxen exactly like the ones which had nearly caught me j on their horns when I fled into the chapel. Standing by was a little old man in a violent temper. “ V ; “Ah, you!” he called out at sight of me. “Ah, you I have the kindness, please to tell that good-for-nothing woman ( donnaccia was his word) not to throw* stones at my beasts. They are of'great price, and very nervous. If .she throws stones at them, she will pay for it.” “- “Diana!” I exclaimed, “did you throw stones? He says you musn’t. .. The oxen are very valuable and easily frightened.” “Of course I didn’t throw stones,” cried Diana, indignantly. “As if I should! He’s making it up. He wants money. He’s trying to frighten me. You horrid old thing,” she added, leaning out of the w*indow* to shake her fist at him, >■, 1. v ...... “Diana, do stop,” I said. “This lady says she hasn’t thrown any stones, I said to the man. . “Perhaps not, but she will, the minute my back is turned, and how can I be her© all the time, when I have .to carry all this wine into the cellar? I can’t be in two places at once, can I? And women like that who’ lean out of :windows and whistle arid jeer are capable of the "w orst things. -Tell her I will make "her: pay ” • • - “What rot!” cried Diana, in response to my translation. “I wasn’t jeering. I waa only admiring the oxen,

and telling them what leauties see the horrid 'old thing.” - > ’• V “This jady says she was- only talking to admiring them,” I repeated, rather meekly pT S "Talking to the oxen? What childishness! Is the woman of sound mind?” -f , Sv>’- C • ; ; know ” Uite ’” 1 aSSmed : him “ But She is 'English, ' you • “English!” His face cleared. “Ah, 'if the Signora is English that is a different matter. Speaking with the' respect, the English are crazy,, but 1 not malicious. Ask the ady if she would like to photograph my oxen. ‘ So many times when the English meet me, they stop and ask per-" mission to photograph them. Two ’francs, SignorS, and me included.” ■ ’ _ u . “You included?” 7 > Yes, Signora, in the photograph.” “He forgives you,” I told Diana, “because you are Engl,sh, and therefore mad, but not badly-intentioned. And would you like to take a photograph of him and the oxen. His price is two francs?” “Good egg!” cried Diana, in her deplorable slang, ell him to wait two minutes, Carina. Just let me prepare my camera.” . . „“And* just let me have my breakfast,” I said. “Here is Sister with the coffee,” " " - ' Good-morning,” said Suora Giacinta, severely. “And you are forty minutes late this morning, Signorina ” "I know, Sister, but it is the Day of the Dead.’ One hears an extra Mass.” _ ‘Then one gets up half an hour earlier,” said the bister, who barks often -and has never been known to bite. Any letters, Sister?” asked Diana, in French. “No, none at all,” replied Suora Giacinta, in the same language. All Italians are splendid linguists. “I behpye- you eat them,” teased Diana. “Per cant a !” replied the Sister, permitting herself -to smile. ‘Now I come to think of it, some came last night A\ait a little moment,” and diving under her apron she produced a packet, and Diana fell on them. • " “Mademoiselle, so long as you have this impatience for news you will never learn detachment from the world ” was Sister’s last shot. , ■ . , ’ “Why should I be?” asked Diana, innocently. (Did I tell you she was a Protestant, poor child / Suora Giacinta withdrew, and Diana waited impatiently while I finished breakfast. ' “Your eyes are red,” she said, presently. - “It is the tramontane— east wind,” I replied. Diana threw her arm round me. “Carina,” she teased. “I always say you Papists have no regard for, the truth! Lend me two francs at once, and come and help me with the photographs.” •; 7 .. ” ; in. ■ 1 A tramontana was really blowing #t“ afternoon and Diana said she was not going out. - : ' Oh yes, you are, I said, “you are coming with me to the cemetery.” ■ ' ■ 5; v-, ’’. “It’s true I haven’t seen it. But why to-day?” ... Because it is the Day of the Dead. Everybody goes. ■ I want you to see-how they .care for the dead in Italy.” , Diana still objected-that her- Italian mistress was coming to give her a lesson. (Everyone should learn' Italian in Siena, where the purest Italian is spoken.) I suggested that we should call for her,'"and that she should give the lesson on the way to the cemetery. _ Top hole.!” cried Diana. (A few lessons in English wouldn’t be a waste of her time, would it?) *. ' “ So we called- at the Hotel Rimini and ; asked for the lady who- was the daughter of the proprietor. 5 We were shown into what was evidently the family sitting-room, and found many-long candles lit before portraits draped in black. I was explaining this to Diana when - a high! thin excited voice interrupted us. -- You see? asked one invisible lady of someone, behind the ; half-open door into the corridor. “Actually! Such childish superstition h., And apparently they are- quite intelligent people, otherwise. It is deplorable.” “It” as the candles, of course. ■■■■••■* ! - r... “Do you consider it deplorable, Diana?” r I had the' curiosity to ask. - ...vj, - - = I ™ not sure, said Diana simply. Sincfe ; the war,

> and especially since we came to Siena,' she bad had fits of thoughtfulness. 1 (One day will she put down her arms, and : lay her head on the knees of our Mother?) • The Signorina, who was amiability itself, would have been charmed to come, but seeing she had a sore throat we begged her to keep indoors, and set out alone. This • visit had delayed us, and before, we were half-way to the Campo Santo (it is a nice'name, isn’t itthe Holy Field the long violet shadows closed down on us and* darkness fell suddenly in the dramatic way it has in Italy. Imme--1 diately the whole city was lit by electricity. In Italy the smallest village is supplied with electric light down to the meanest hovel of a wine-shop. This is because there is such splendid water-power, and it means that in the future, when electricity has taken the place of coal, Italy (and Switzerland) will have advantages over all the rest of Europe. That afternoon the light fell on a small army of mourning pilgrims to the Campo Santo. The usual gay chatter of the city was stilled, and the silence was scarcely broken except by the sound of hundreds of feet on the flagstones. I hoped the Campo Santo would not be lit, too. Diana had never seen a Campo Santo. 1 had seen many, and I wanted her to see this one, her first, in all the beauty of Faith and Charity, unspoiled by such accidental blemishes as artificial flowers, gaudy streamers bearing wailing inscriptions, cheap bas-reliefs of common-place worthies, and all the other gushing vulgarities which jar so horribly on our northern nerves. This time all was well. Even the moonlight was wanting, and we should not have been able to grope our way between the entrance gates had it not been for two Brothers of the Misericordia who stood one on each side in their black habits, with their wide hats strapped on their backs, and their visors lowered, leaving nothing visible but their eyes. Each held a torch in one hand, and in the other a money-box, which he offered silently to each passerby. In all the years I have lived in Italy I never remember seeing anyone, rich or poor, old or young, refuse a coin for the box thus silently tendered. Why silently P Because of humility. The Misericordia Brothers are people living in the world. Some arc princes; some are cobblers; and each leads the ordinary life of a person in his social position. But each gives up a certain proportion of his time to the service of the poor, the sick, the dying, and the dead. When they are so engaged the Brothers wear their habits, which disguise them completely, and no Broather may speak the unnecessary word which will disclose his identity to the admiring public. We found our little offerings— is a generous giver— and passed through under the shadow of the tall cypresses. With cunning I drew Diana away from the - chapels of the rich, and led her down the narrow path, lit ,by torches, between the rows of humble graves. Each was lit by a tiny lamp, and was covered by chrysanthemums. One had to walk very carefully in the uncertain light, to avoid knocking against the kneeling figures, and many times we had to turn sharply aside to avoid intruding on some private prayer, or some outburst of sorrow. There were hundreds and hundreds of mourning figures. Some invisible force seemed to have drawn all Siena towards this Field of Sorrow and Faith and Love. fcl-The air, laden with sweets as it is always in Italy, grow cold, and we were obliged to set out home. “When I am old,” said Diana, breaking a long silence, “I shall come to Siena to die. I should like to be buried here.” “I am afraid they would take you to the Protestant cemetery,” I said, drily. “Oh!” said Diana. “I’ll take you to'see it, .if you like,” I said, nastily, v “No, thank you — at least not to-night,” said Diana, hastily. . Which was as well, for as far as I know, there isn’t one.

The Church : al Absolutism in (By Agnes- Mary' IIA^ie^HBfHHHiHHHHH “There is no power but from (Io and princes decree justice.” In accordauce^HHnSHSH . history, when fairly and impartially reveals the Church as the defender of religion and social . order against the tyranny and despotism of powerful monarchs. It is with this form of absolutism, - involving the right of the Church, especially during the, Middle Ages, to be supreme in religous affairs while recognising the legitimate rights and powers of temporal sovereigns, that this paper principally is concerned. That the Church and the State should be antagonistic, /♦ in any age, is due principally to two of the Church’s characteristics, her cosmopolitanism and her autonomy; she is both international and independent. She is not bound v by racial or national ties, but is a distinct* universal entity, transcending all the nationalities of geography and blood, a celestial nation with an uncircumscribed territory, a visible government, infallible laws, and universal jurisdiction. It is on account of these characteristics that the Church has ever been in conflict with the civil power. Not only in the days of ancient Rome or of Pope Martin, but onwards to the struggle for liberty against the rulers of Germany and England in the Middle Ages, even down to our own days, she had upheld the tradition of the Apostolic independence, always giving her testimony, regardless of the con- _ sequences, in behalf of the moral and revealed law. An impartial study of the Middle Ages also reveals the admirable struggle of the Popes against tyrannical sovereigns, whose subjects had no other resource with which to oppose their despotism than the protection of the Pontiff. < That the interposition-of the Church in defence of nations opressed by the absolutism of their raonarchs was jurisdically justified, even when it resulted in the deposition of a ruler, has been clearly established from numerous authentic documents; in fact it has been admitted not only by the contemporaries of the Popes of the Middle Ages, but even by the infidel Voltaire. Furthermore, it is obvious that any Pope who found it his painful duty to take such action did so only at the request of the people themselves * and after every other means had failed. That it was his duty, as the visible head of the Church and the common father of her children, there is no doubt. One of the most important of these conflicts in the Middle Ages was the contest in Germany and England re- , garding lay-investiture of ecclesiastics. During the closing years of the eleventh century, this practice, especially ill. Germany, was attended with all the evils of simony. As a * result, a decree solemnly prohibiting lay-investiture was promulgated in 1075 by Pope Gregory VII. The German king, Henry IV., refused to obey this law, and the Pope was obliged, in true defence of the Church’s rights, to excommunicate him, at the same time declaring the Germans no longer bound by their oath of allegiance to him. This question of investitures was finally settled in 1122, when, in the Concordat of .Worms, the necessary steps were taken to secure the Church’s full rights. In England the defence of the Church in this matter resulted in St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, being twice driven into exile. After threat erf excommunication, Henry I. permitted his return, and in 1107 an agreement was reached providing that there should lie no investiture of ecclesiastics at all, the bishops merely taking an oath of fidelity for their feudal possessions. Under Henry 11. of England the Church was called upon to oppose the encroachments of the civil power, when this king attempted to make the obnoxious “Constitutions of Clarendon” the law of the land. In Thomas a Beckct, Archbishop of Canterbury, he found a fearless champion of the rights of the Church. ‘ Although Becket signed this document, he publicly retracted at the next session of the council of bishops and fled to France to escape the king’s anger. Pope Alexander prevailed upon Henry to allow the Archbishop to return to Canterbury, but his invincible Coil rage had so aroused'the animosity of the king that he A ivaS InUrdered in 1170 by four of the king’s courtiers. Tile resiilts of .the martyr’s death were victory for. his cause in tlifi cancellation 6f illfl Clare lido ti articles aiid public pen-

a nee by the , king. .Hp became one of the most, r popular saints, the . English people feeling that ; he had fpught for. their liberty while upholding the rights of the Church. ■' : During the same century ; Frederick I. of Germany g made; strong efforts to, oppress both the See of Rome and several small States ofhjtaly, and ,also attempted to effect a general schism in. the Church and place Popes of his own ■ v choice >in Rome. - His ’punishment was twofold. In a terrible pestilence, which was generally considered a judgment of God, twenty, thousand of his best troops perished; follow- . ing this, the Rope, Alexander 111.-, combined with the oppressed cities in the fight for their lawful liberties, and at . the battle .of Legnano, in 1176, the causes of ecclesiastical liberty, and civil freedom triumphed over the tyranny of ;; the encroaching secular ruler. \ During the early part of the thirteenth century the subjects of King John of England, through the efforts of : Pope Innocent 111., obtained his promise to redress the - grievances which they were then suffering.' However, this •.. promise was not fulfilled, and in 1213, Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, drew up a document embodying ' j the demands of the barons and townsmen. -On June 15, ; 1215, at Runnymede, the king reluctantly affixed his signature. This document, known as Magna Charta, established . the principle of “no taxation without representation,” and %l : practically all of its principles have passed into the constitutions of the American States. >. From a study of these historical facts, it is clear that the frequent complaint of undue interference by the Church in the affairs of the civil power is highly untenable. Any fear of such action on the part of the Church is an idle one, and if rulers and subjects alike render to God the things that are God’s, Caesar will receive his tenfold. By the Church’s triumph over absolutism she as enabled to extinguish heresy, unite Europe in the .Crusades, J ir. the Atv nt fl art-,’- 'in an mi rata ' and develop great universities, being, in fact the supreme authV ority of the west and the universal spiritual oracle. Unfortunately, this happy state'of affairs did not last. Temporal rulers gradually drifted away from real conformity to the principles of Christianity ,and the, present deplorable condition is well described in the following quotation from The Church at the Turning Points of History, by Kurth: “The Christian nations wrenched from the guidance of the Church have not found their way; they seem condemned to travel the whole cycle of error before finding g their way again. They give heed every day to new systems' which become bankrupt one after another. Philosophisin', liberalism, socialism, anarchism, to say nothing of the intermediate doctrines, are the legitimate heirs of royal absolutism ;■ like it, they will betray their promises. The . unrest will last'as long as the destiny of the Christian nations remains in the hands of a political system which does not worry about Christian principles. The Catholic Church, seated at the foot of the Cross, waits calmly for the day. when revolution shall have finished the education of mankind.” •"