‘No, no! to the great St. Paul’s outside the walls, where the monks of St. Benedict are; and he waited there all day, for before the time was out the Devil couldn’t take him. At last evening came on, and the chierico[7] wanted to shut the church up; so he told Pietro Bailliardo he must go, and showed him to the door. But when he came to the door, he found the Devil there waiting for him dressed like a paino.[8] When he saw that, no power of the chierico could make him go; so the chierico was obliged to call the Father Abbot.
‘To the Father Abbot Pietro Bailliardo told his whole story, and the Father Abbot said, “If that is so, come with me to the Inquisition, and tell your story there and receive absolution.” Then he sent for a carriage, and said to the driver, “Be of good heart, for I have many relics of saints with me, and whatever strange thing you may see or hear by the way, have no fear, it shall not harm you.”
‘The Devil saw all this, and was in a great fury, for he has no power to alter future events, and so he couldn’t help Pietro Bailliardo going into the church for sanctuary before the time was up. He got a number of devils together, therefore, and made unearthly and terrible noises all the way. But the driver had confidence in the word of the Abbot, and drove on without heeding. Only when they got to the bridge of St. Angelo the noise was so tremendous he got quite bewildered; moreover the bridge heaved and rocked as though it were going to break in twain.
‘“Fear nothing, fear nothing! Nothing will harm you,” said the Father Abbot; and the driver, having confidence in his words, drove on without heeding, and they arrived safely at the Palace of the Inquisition.
‘The Father Abbot now delivered Pietro Bailliardo over to the Penitentiary, to whom, moreover, he made confession of his terrible crimes, and begged to remain to perform his penance and obtain reconciliation with God.
‘But as Pietro Bailliardo had been used to follow his own strange ways all his life, he must needs now perform his penance too in his own strange way. Therefore he made a vow that he would perform such a penance as man never performed before; and this penance was to visit, all in one night, the SS. Crocifisso in the Chapel of the Holy Office, S. Giacomo di Galizia, and the sanctuary of Cirollo. All in one night!’
‘Stop! S. Giacomo di Galizia I know; we call it S. James of Compostella; but the sanctuary of Cirollo! I never heard of that; where is it?’
‘Oh, Cirollo is all the same as if you said Loreto; the Madonna di Loreto; it is all one.’
I appealed to one sitting there who, I knew, had been brought up at Loreto.
‘Yes, yes,’ she said. ‘That is all right; Cirollo is just a walk from Loreto. Noi altri when living at Loreto often go there, but those who come from far, most often don’t; so we have a saying, “Who goes to Loreto and not to Cirollo, he sees the mother, but not the son.”[9] ‘It is a saying, and nothing more.’