CHRISTIAN ROME.*
M. DE DA GOUBNEBIE'S Rome Chretienne has held a foremost place for more than thirty years among French and Catholic • Christian Rom a Historicat View of its Memories and Monuments, 41-11.67. By Eugene de is Gournerie. Translated and abridged by the Hon. Lady Macdonald. With a Praise.) by His Eminence Cardinal Vaughan. 2 vols. London: Rolancli. P5e.1
books on Rome. It has been little known in England, less than it deserves, for besides being a most complete and compact history of Rome since Christianity was founded there, it is full of interesting detail on all the old churches and Christian monuments of the city. And this is a fortu- nate moment for the book to be translated and brought to the knowledge of that large and intelligent public which a French book rarely or never reaches, for many of the traditions of Rome are passing out now from their long period of dis- credit. It is no longer the right thing to believe that St. Peter never was in Rome ; that St. Paul was buried any. where but under the altar of S. Paolo fuori le Mura. Archeaologists, with Lanciani at their head, have decided that the old Christian story of Rome is probably true after all ; that St. Peter's dust lies untouched under the golden cross of Constantine, and that St. Paul's very tombstone may be seen and touched at S. Paolo. It is rather curious that the verifying of these and other traditions should be one of the results of the changes which have so entirely altered the ancient character of the city of Rome; but this may serve to show that historical Christianity need have no fear of modern research.
The plan of the book is good. Beginning with the year 41 of the first century, when St. Peter is supposed to have become Bishop of Rome, it takes the centuries one by one down to our own day, gives a few details on each of the Popes, and a clear historical sketch of public events at Rome during their reigns, as well as a description, frequently detailed and vivid, of the churches built or restored and the great works of art carried through. M. de la Gournerie's own views on art are candidly expressed and often amusing. The polite respect with which he speaks of Michael Angelo's "Last Judgment" is suggestive : "We have no wish to criticise a work which exemplifies the whole science of drawing."
The whole book shows its author's honesty of mind, and this gives it a certain charm outside its historical interest. It was natural that a writer of these opinions and on this subject should say everything that could fairly be said for the minds and morals of the media3val Popes ; but it is reassuring to read of Alexander VI., though his energetic administration is praised, that his immoral life "attached indelible disgrace to his name," also that with certain tendencies towards better things he was characterised by "perfidious craftiness and depravity of heart." These are the hardest words said of any Pope ; still the worldliness of some, and the weakness of others, meets with sincere condemnation. One of the useful features of the book is a full list of all the Popes, with their family names as far back as these are known, and the places of their birth and burial.
The earlier part of the book is in many ways the most interesting, and its history the most inspiring. Through all the legends there shines out the truth that Christianity in those early days meant self-sacrifice and nothing else. "The Papacy was the first step taken towards the scaffold, and the courageous fulfilment of its duties was only a holy preparation for martyrdom." At least thirteen Popes died for the faith in the second and third centuries ; but yet, towards the end of the second, churches were built, in most cases to be burned by Maximin. The most ancient of Roman churches still existing on the same site is S. Maria in Trastevere, bdilt by Pope S. Calixtus in 224. This also is the first church known to be dedicated to the Virgin Mary. By this time, as Lanciani also points out, senators, magistrates, and great ladies had submitted in numbers to the new faith. Much of the public service of the Church has its origin at this time. Under Sixtus I. (119) the Sanctus was first sung during Mass ; the Christmas midnight service was established by S. Telesphorus (127); the grades of Bishops, priests, and deacons were more clearly determined by S. Hyginus (139) ; S. Anicetus caused the clergy to cut off the long locks which were considered pagan; and Popes S. Pius and S. Victor "decided that Easter should be kept on a Sunday." In these days, too, Christian art was born, chiefly in the catacombs, where the representa- tion of Orpheus became that of our Lord, a beaufiiful young man ; for the sorrows of Christ were less realised then than the glory of his divinity. A. light shining in a dark place,— such was the chief idea of early Christianity.
There are a great many curious things in the book, for the writer searched old manuscripts and chronicles to good pnr- pose, and he describes with considerable detail VariOtUl strange
developments in the history of Rome, both religious and pro. fane. The guests of the Eternal City, saints or sinners, Bishops, monks, Kings, painters, poets, historians, scarcely one of any distinction is unmentioned here. It would indeed be difficult to find a more complete chronicle of nineteen centuries in two volumes, though some modern knowledge is needed, as Cardinal Vaughan hints in his preface, to sift the legendary from the true.
And not only people, but buildings and institutions, have their story written here. For these, one can generally add something, often saddening, now and then pleasant, from the recollections of the thirty years since M. de la Gournerie wrote his last chapter. "Rome remains the same," he says triumphantly, leaving it in perilous times, the temporal power threatened, though not yet destroyed. Perhaps in 1898 he would still say, "Rome remains the same," though to some eyes she is hardly recognisable. After all, she has only entered on a new phase of her history, and, to speak of outside things, few of the old buildings that remain have lost their charm. On the contrary, there are instances where it has deepened, as in the case of Tasso's old convent, Sant' Onofrio, where a children's hospital, even more pathetic than such institutions elsewhere, has been established in the old dormi- tories of the Hieronymites.
The translation of the book is unequal ; sometimes fairly good, sometimes poor and stilted. Its attractiveness is rather lessened by the peculiarities of its printing, which is done in a style hardly worthy of the subject. We trust it will not become the fashion for English books to be "printed in Germany."
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