Notes of Travel

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 9, 11 March 1925, Page 25

Notes of Travel

(By J.K.)

All roads lead to Rome, and already pilgrims from all quarters are pouring in for the Holy Year. To gain the Plenary Indulgence Romans must visit twenty times the

four basilicas of St. Peter, St. Paul, St. John Lateran, and St. Mary Major. For strangers ten visits are prescribed. All four to be taken in in each of the twenty or ten days. Special trams are provided by the municipal authorities, and as one goes the rounds one hears English, German, and French spoken almost as often as Italian, St. Peter’s stands alone in its colossal magnificence, but St. Paul’s is a singularly beautiful church, with its shining marble floor and walls, and its rich altar of malachite, and its alabaster columns. St. John’s, venerable and devotional, proud of its title of Mother Church of the Catholic World, now contains the tomb of Pope Leo XIII, whose bones lie in a noble monument erected to his memory by his own cardinals. St. Mary Major’s contains the hallowed relics of the Crib, and it lias a beauty all its own, with its Greek - entablatures. * * * The political atmosphere is charged with electricity at the present moment. All Mussolini’s enemies have united in an attempt to overthrow him, making the confession of 1 di Rossi their chief weapon.. The Prime Minister faced his toes on Saturday and Sr-" created a sensation by delivering the boldest f k speech ever made by a politician. It was a speech of • defiance in which he frankly assumed responsibility for the policy of the Fascisti and declared that he would stand by his ideals to the last even if force were • necessary'' to solve the difficulties. Many people ‘ - fear a revolution, but others are hopeful , that things will gradually readjust

themselves. It goes without saying that those most concerned are very anxious that no trouble shall come to disturb the ; Holy Year, and certainly those of us who are en-

IV—THE ETERNAL CITY.

joying a visit to Italy do not want to be banished. I.* * * On <January the ‘fifth I had my first audience with the Holy Father. Physically, he is well-built and active, but he has the eyes of a weary man, even though his face beams with good nature and kindness when he smiles. His voice is deep and musical even if it lacks the thrilling vibrations of the voice of Leo XIII. The present Pope maintains all the old ceremonial observances that befit the Court of the Ruler of Christ’s children all over the globe. The Swiss Guards are there, in their picturesque uniform, designed by Michelangelo. Papal gens d’armes abound about the Vatican. And the princes of Italy delight to take their place in the ranks of the Noble Guard. * * * The interest of Rome never wanes. Everywhere you go there is something to see —a church, a work of art, or a relic of the days of the Caesars. In these notes I have no intention of trying to tell the readers of the Tablet about all the interesting people, places, and things, I see day by day. I can do no more than hint at them.

Yesterday, with some other clergy from under the Southern Cross, I walked through the Coliseum, across the Forum, and over the Capitol. Classical students will not need reminding of all the history that is packed into that area. On the summit of the Capitol is the glorious equestrian figure of “the good Emperor,” Marcus Aurelius. His position is symbolical, for he has his back , to the ruins and his face towards modern Rome. Near him is Rienzi, the great Tribune, and if you turn to the right or left you will find in the galleries immortal statues i'• • and pictures that money could not purchase. Indeed, in every gallery in Rome there are several such treasures. And one can but go quietly and spend a short time studying a few of the works of the great masters. Some people make the mistake of trying to see too much, with the result that they remem- : ber nothing. After the Epiphany I took my New Zealand friends to the Castelli Romani, as the towns in the Alban Hills are called. We went first to Gengano and saw Lake Nemi, returning to Albanc., through Ariccia. At Albano we climbed the hill to the road by the Lago di Albano, and then walked round by Castel Gandolfo and Marino to Grotta Ferrata. It was a clear winter day, and only that the woods were sombre it was ideal for seeing the magnificent scenery all along that lonely road. Below was the Campagna. Beyond it lay Rome, while, farther out, was the blue of the Mediterranean. Our way lay through immemorial groves of olives, elexes, and elms, and at every step we got new views of the lakes and mountains, and of the quaint old towns perched on the summits. i* * * \j The Irish College flourishes under the paternal rule of my dear old friend, Monsignor Hagan. It is a home for all the exiles from Erin in Rome. They drop in for dinner or for afternoon tea, and they are always welcome. I have said Mass several times in the old church which I learned to love in my student years. I have walked among the corridors and seen again the portrait

galleries of the great . Irish churchmen who graduated in my dear Alma Mater, since its foundation in IG2B. It is all a vita nuova. The past is always present in Rome, and time is nothing. And everyday I repeat .with Goethe: Fine Welt gar hist du , 0 Bom !