Walks in Rome

by Augustus J. C. Hare

After we turn the corner at the hill top, with its fine view over the Palatine, and cross the trench of fortification formed during the fear of a Garibaldian invasion in 1867, we skirt what appears to be part of a city wall. This is in fact the wall of the Honorian city, built by Pope Honorius III., of the great family of Savelli, whose idea was to render the Aventine once more the populous and favourite portion of the city, and who began great works for this purpose. Before his arrangements were completed St. Dominic arrived in Rome, and was appointed master of the papal household, and abbot of the convent of Sta. Sabina, where his ministrations and popularity soon formed such an attraction, that the pope wisely abandoned his design of founding a new city which should commemorate himself, and left the field to St. Dominic,—to whom he made over the land on this side of the hill. Henceforward the convent of Sta. Sabina and its surroundings have become, more than any other spot, connected with the history of the Dominican Order,—there, all the great saints of the Order have received their first inspiration,—have resided,—or are buried; there St. Dominic himself received in a beatific vision the institution of the rosary; there he was ordered to plant the famous orange-tree, which, being then unknown in Rome, he brought from his native Spain as the only present which it was suitable for the gratitude of a poor monk to offer to his patron Honorius, who was himself one of the great botanists of his time,—an orange-tree which still lives, and which is firmly believed by the monks to flourish or fail with the fortunes of the Order, so that it has lately been greatly the worse for the suppression of the convents in Northern Italy, though the residence of Père Lacordaire within the convent proved exceedingly beneficial to it, and his visit even caused a new sucker to sprout.

The Church of Sta. Sabina was built on the site of the house of the saint—in which she suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Hadrian,[187] in A.D. 423—by Peter, a priest of Illyria, "rich for the poor, and poor for himself" (pauperibus locuples, sibi pauper), as we read by the mosaic inscription inside the principal entrance. St. Gregory the Great read two of his homilies here. The church was rebuilt in 824, and restored and reconsecrated by Gregory IX. in 1238. Much of its interest,—ancient pavements, mosaics, &c.,—was destroyed in 1587 by Sixtus V., who took the credit of discovering the relics of the martyrs who are buried beneath the altar.

On the west is a covered corridor containing several ancient inscriptions. It is supported on one side by ancient spiral columns of pavonazzetto, on the other these have been plundered and replaced by granite. Hence, through a window, ladies are allowed to gaze upon the celebrated orange-tree, 665 years old, which they cannot approach; a rude figure of St. Dominic is sculptured upon the low wall which surrounds it. The west door, of the twelfth century, in a richly sculptured frame, is cited by Kugler as an instance of the extinction of the Byzantine influence upon art. Its panels are covered with carvings from the Old and New Testament, referred by Mamachi to the seventh, by Agincourt to the thirteenth century. Some of the subjects have been destroyed; among those which remain are the Annunciation, the Angels appearing to the Shepherds, the Angel and Zachariah in the Temple, the Magi, Moses turning the rods into serpents, the ascent of Elijah, Christ before Pilate, the denial of Peter, and the Ascension. Within the entrance are the only remains of the magnificent mosaic, erected in 431, under Celestine I., which entirely covered the west wall till the time of Sixtus V., consisting of an inscription in large letters, with a female figure on either side, that on the left bearing the name "Ecclesia cum circumcisione," that on the right, "Ecclesia ex gentibus." Among the parts destroyed were the four beasts typical of the Evangelists, and St. Peter and St. Paul. The church was thus gorgeously decorated, because in the time of the Savelli popes, it was what the Sistine is now, the Chiesa Apostolica.

The nave is lined by twenty-four Corinthian columns of white marble, relics of the temple of Juno Regina, which once stood here. Above, is an inlaid frieze of pietradura, of A.D. 431, which once extended up to the windows, but was destroyed by Sixtus V., who at the same time built up the windows which till then existed over each pier. In the middle of the pavement near the altar, is a very curious mosaic figure over the grave of Munoz de Zamora, a General of the Dominican Order, who died in 1300. Nearer the west door are interesting incised slabs representing a German bishop and a lady, benefactors of this church, and (on the left) a slab with arms in mosaic, to a lady of the Savelli family. In the left aisle is another monument of 1312, commemorating a warrior of the imperial house of Germany. The high altar covers the remains of Sabina and Seraphia, Alexander the Pope, Eventius and Theodulus, all martyrs. In the chapel beneath St. Dominic is said to have flagellated himself three times nightly, "perché uno colpo solo non abbastava per mortificare la carne."

At the end of the right aisle is the Chapel of the Rosary, where a beautiful picture of Sassoferrato, called "La Madonna del Rosario," commemorates the vision of St. Dominic on that spot, in which he received the rosary from the hands of the Virgin.

"St. Catherine of Siena kneels with St. Dominic before the throne of the Madonna; the lily at her feet. The Infant Saviour is turned towards her, and with one hand he crowns her with thorns, with the other he presents the rosary. This is the master-piece of the painter, with all his usual elegance, without his usual insipidity."—Jameson's Monastic Orders.

Few Roman Catholic practices have excited more animadversion than the "vain repetition" of the worship of the Rosary. The Père Lacordaire (a Dominican) defended it, saying—

"Le rationaliste sourit en voyant passer de longues files de gens qui redisent une même parole. Celui qui est éclairé d'une meilleure lumière comprend que l'amour n'a qu'un mot, et qu'en le disant toujours, il ne le répète jamais."

Grouped around this chapel are three beautiful tombs,—a cardinal, a bishop, and a priest of the end of the fifteenth century. That of the cardinal (which is of the well-known Roman type of the time), is inscribed "Ut moriens viveret, vixit est moriturus;" the others are incised slabs. At the other end of this aisle is a marble slab, on which St. Dominic is said to have been wont to lie prostrate in prayer. One day while he was lying thus, the Devil in his rage is said to have hurled a huge stone (a round black marble, pietra di paragone,) at him, which missed the saint, who left the attack entirely unnoticed. The devil was frantic with disappointment, and the stone, remaining as a relic, is preserved on a low pillar in the nave. A small gothic ciborium, richly inlaid with mosaic, remains on the left of the tribune.

Opening from the left aisle is a chapel built by Elic of Tuscany—very rich in precious marbles. The frame of the panel on the left is said to be unique.