PADRE FILIPPO.
[St. Philip Neri is a giant indeed in the household memories of the Roman poor. His acts have become travestied and magnified among them in the most portentous way, and they always talk of him with the most patriotic enthusiasm. ‘He was a Roman!—a Roman indeed!’ they will say. And yet he was not a born Roman, but was made ‘Protector of Rome’ by the Church.
‘Padre Filippo’ is their favourite way of naming him, and sometimes ‘il buon Filippo’ and ‘Pippo buono.’]
1
There was in Padre Filippo’s time a cardinal who was Prefect of the provisions,[1] who let everything go wrong and attended to nothing, and the poor were all suffering because provisions got so dear.
Padre Filippo went to the Pope—Papa Medici[2] it was—and told him how badly off the poor were; so the Pope called the Cardinal to account, and went on making him attend to it till Padre Filippo told him that things were on a better footing.
But the Cardinal came to Padre Filippo and said:
‘Why do you vex me by going and making mischief to the Pope?’