The small cloister has a beautiful tomb of Christopher Bainbrigg, archbishop of York, British envoy to Julius II., who died at Rome 1514, and a monument of Sir Thomas Dereham, ob. 1739. Against the wall is the monument of Martha Swinburne, a prodigy of nine years old, inscribed:
"Memoriæ Marthæ, Henrici et Marthæ Swinburne. Nat. Angliæ. ex. Antiqua. et. Nobili. Familia. Caphæton. Northumbriæ. Parentes. Mœstiss. Filiæ. Carissimæ. Pr. Quæ. Ingenio. Excellenti. Forma. Eximia. Incredibili. Doctrina. Moribus. Suavissimis. Vix. Ann. viii. Men. xi. Tantum. Prærepta. Romæ. v. ID. SEPT. AN. MDCCLXVIII.
"Martha Swinburne, born Oct. X. MDCCLVIII. Died Sept. VIII. MDCCLXVII. Her years were few, but her life was long and full. She spoke English, French, and Italian, and had made some progress in the Latin tongue; knew the English and Roman histories, arithmetic, and geography; sang the most difficult music at sight with one of the finest voices in the world, was a great proficient on the harpsichord, wrote well, and danced many sorts of dances with strength and elegance. Her face was beautiful and majestic, her body a perfect model, and all her motions graceful. Her docility in doing everything to make her parents happy, could only be equalled by her sense and aptitude. With so many perfections, amidst the praises of all persons, from the sovereign down to the beggar in the street, her heart was incapable of vanity; affectation and arrogance were unknown to her. Her beauty and accomplishments made her the admiration of all beholders, the love of all that enjoyed her company. Think, then, what the pangs of her wretched parents must be on so cruel a separation. Their only comfort is in the certitude of her being completely happy beyond the reach of pain, and for ever freed from the miseries of this life. She can never feel the torments they endure for the loss of a beloved child. Blame them not for indulging an innocent pride in transmitting her memory to posterity as an honour to her family and to her native country England. Let this plain character, penned by her disconsolate father, draw a tear of pity from every eye that peruses it."
The arm of St. Thomas à Becket is the chief "relic" preserved here.
At the end of the street are two exceedingly ugly little churches—very interesting from their associations. On the right is St. Girolamo della Carità, founded on the site of the house of Sta. Paula, where she received St Jerome upon his being called to Rome from the Thebaid by Pope Damasus in 392. Here he remained for three years, till, embittered by the scandal excited by his residence in the house of the widow, he returned to his solitude.
In 1519 S. Filippo Neri founded here a Confraternity for the distribution of dowries to poor girls, for the assistance of debtors, and for the maintenance of fourteen priests for the visitation and confession of the sick.
"Lorsque St. Philippe de Neri fut prêtre, il alla se loger à Saint-Jerôme della Carità, où il demeura trente-cinq ans, dans la société des pieux ecclésiastiques qui administraient les sacrements dans cette paroisse. Chaque soir, Philippe ouvrait, dans sa chambre qui existe encore, des conférences sur tous les points du dogme catholique; les jeunes gens affluaient à ces saintes réunions: on y voyait Baronius; Bordini, qui fut archevêque; Salviati, frère du cardinal; Tarugia, neveu du pape Jules III. Un désir ardent d'exercer ensemble le ministère de la prédication et les devoirs de la charité porta ces pieux jeunes gens à vivre en commun, sous la discipline du vertueux prêtre, dont le parole était si puissante sur leurs cœurs."—Gournerie.
The masterpiece of Domenichino, the Last Communion of St. Jerome, in which Sta. Paula is introduced kissing the hand of the dying saint, hung in this church till carried off to Paris by the French.
Opposite this is the Church of Sta. Brigitta, on the site of the dwelling of the saint, a daughter of the house of Brahé, and wife of Walfon, duke of Nericia, who came hither in her widowhood, to pass her declining years near the Tomb of the Apostles. With her, lived her daughter St. Catherine of Sweden, who was so excessively beautiful, and met with so many importunities in that wild time (1350), that she made a vow never to leave her own roof except to visit the churches. The crucifix, prayer-book, and black mantle of St. Bridget are preserved here.[302]
"St. Bridget exercised a reformatory influence as well upon the higher class of the priesthood in Rome as in Naples. For she did not alone satisfy herself with praying at the graves of the martyrs, she earnestly exhorted bishops and cardinals, nay, even the pope himself, to a life of the true worship of God and of good works, from which they had almost universally fallen, to devote themselves to worldly ambition. She awoke the consciences of many, as well by her prayers and remonstrances, as by her example. For she herself, of a rich and noble race, that of a Brahé, one of the nobles in Sweden, yet lived here in Rome, and laboured like a truly humble servant of Christ. 'We must walk barefoot over pride, if we would overcome it,' said she, and Brigitta Brahé did so; and, in so doing, overcame those proud hearts, and won them to God."—Frederika Bremer.