Filippini, General of the Carmelites. The nave is separated from the aisles by twenty-four ancient Corinthian columns. The aisles are painted with landscapes by _Gaspar Poussin_, having figures introduced by his brother Nicholas. The roof is an addition by S. Carlo Borromeo.

The pillars of different marbles are magnificent, and the effect of the raised choir, with winding staircases to the crypt below, is highly picturesque. On the walls are frescoes by _Cavaluccio_ (ob. 1795), who is buried in the left aisle. The collection of incised gravestones deserves attention, they comprise those of a knight in mail armour of 1349; Cardinal Diomede Caraffa, with a curious epitaph; and various generals and remarkable monks of the Carmelite Order. Beneath the high altar rest the bodies of Popes Sergius, Sylvester, Martin I., Fabian, Stephen I., Soter, Ciriacus, Anastasius, and Innocent I., with several saints not papal, removed hither from the catacombs. In the curious crypt, part of the Baths of Titus, the early Council of Sylvester and Constantine was held, as represented in the fresco in the left aisle of the upper church. The back of the ancient chair of Sylvester still remains, green with age and damp. In the chapel on the left, where St.

Sylvester used to celebrate mass, is an ancient mosaic of the Madonna.

In front of the papal chair is the grand sepulchral figure of a Carmelite, who was General of the Order in the time of Sta. Teresa. An urn contains the intestines of the "Beato," Cardinal Giuseppe-Maria de Tommasis, who died in 1713. His body is preserved beneath an altar in the left aisle of the upper church, and is dressed in his cardinal's robes.

"In 1650 was reopened, beneath SS. Martino e Sylvestro, the long-forgotten oratory formed (according to Anastasius) by Sylvester among the halls of Trajan's Thermae--or, more probably, in an antique palace adjacent to those imperial baths--and called by Christian writers 'Titulus Equitii,' from the name of a Roman priest then proprietor of the ground. Now a gloomy, time-worn, and sepulchral subterranean, this structure is in form an extensive quadrangle, under a high-hung vault, divided into four aisles by massive square piers; the central bay of one aisle adorned with a large red cross, painted as if studded with gems; and ranged round this, four books, each within a nimbus, earliest symbolism to represent the Evangelists. Among the much-faded and dim-seen frescoes on these dusky walls, are figures of the Saviour between SS. Peter and Paul, besides other saints, each crowned by a large nimbus."--_Hemans' Ancient Sacred Art._

Here is preserved a mitre, probably the most ancient extant, and said to be that of St. Sylvester, who lived in the fourth century, and who was the first Latin bishop to wear the mitre originally worn by the priests of pagan temples. This ancient mitre is so low as to rise only just above the crown of the head.

This church was dedicated to St. Martin, the holy Bishop of Tours, within a hundred years after his death, showing the very early veneration with which that saint was regarded.

Leaving S. Martino by the other door, near the tribune, we emerge at the top of the steep street called _Sta. Lucia in Selci_, which is the same with that described by Martial in going to visit the younger Pliny as--

"Altum vincere tramitem Suburrae." _Lib._ x. _Ep._ 19, 5.

And again--

"Alto Suburrani vincenda est semita clivi." _Lib._ v. _Ep._ 23, 5.

Here is a whole group of convents. In the hollow is the convent of S.

Francesco di Paola, with several others. Just above (in the Via Quattro Cantone) is the convent of the Oratorians, or S. Filippo Neri. At this point also are two mediaeval towers, one enclosed within the convent walls of Sta. Lucia in Selci, the other on the opposite side of the street, supposed by some to be the tower of Mecaenas, celebrated by Horace. On the left of the street is the house of Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri), whose residence here is commemorated by an inscription.

Mounting the street we soon reach, on the right, the picturesque tenth century west gate (a high narrow arch upon Ionic columns, modernized and plastered over under the Sardinian government) of the _Church of Sta.

Prassede_, which leads into the atrium of the church. This is seldom open, but we can enter by a door in the north aisle.

Sta. Prassede was sister of Sta. Pudenziana, and daughter of Pudens and his wife Claudia, with whom St. Paul lodged, and who were among his first converts (see Ch. X., Sta. Pudenziana). She gave shelter in her house to a number of persecuted Christians, twenty-three of whom were discovered and martyred in her presence. She then buried their bodies in the catacombs of her grandmother, Sta. Priscilla, but, collecting their blood in a sponge, placed it in a well in her own house, where she was afterwards buried herself. An oratory is said to have been erected on the site by Pius I., A.D. 160, and was certainly in existence in A.D.

499, when it is mentioned in the acts of a Council. In A.D. 822 the original church was destroyed, and the present church erected by Pascal I., of whose time are the low tower, the porch, the terra-cotta cornices, and the mosaics. During the absence of the popes at Avignon, Sta. Prassede was one of the many churches which fell almost into ruin, and it has since suffered terribly from injudicious modernisations, first in the fifteenth century from Rosellini, under Nicholas V., and afterwards under S. Carlo Borromeo in 1564.

The interior is a basilica, the nave being separated from the aisles by sixteen granite columns, many of which have been boxed up in hideous stucco pilasters, decorated with frescoes of apostles; but their Corinthian capitals are visible, carved with figures of birds (the eagle, cock, and dove) in strong relief against the acanthus leaves. The nave is divided into four compartments by arches rising from the square pilasters; the roof is coffered.

In the right aisle is the entrance to the famous chapel, called, from its unusual and mysterious splendour, the _Orto del Paradiso_--originally dedicated to S. Zeno, then to the Virgin, with the invocation "Libera nos a pnis inferi," and finally to the great relic which it contains. Females are never allowed to enter this shrine except upon Sundays in Lent, but can see the relic through a grating.

Males are admitted by the door which is flanked by two columns of rare black and white marble, supporting a richly-sculptured marble cornice, above which are two lines of mosaic heads in circlets--in the outer, the Saviour and the twelve apostles; in the inner, the Virgin between St.

Stephen and St. Laurence, with eight female saints; at the angles St.

Pudens and St. Pastor. In the interior of the chapel four granite columns support a lofty groined vault, which, together with the upper part of the walls, is entirely covered with mosaic figures, which stand out distinctly from a gold ground.

"Here are SS. Peter and Paul before a throne, on which is the cross, but no seated figure; the former apostle holding a single gold key,[265] the latter a scroll; St. John the Evangelist, with a richly-bound volume; SS. James and Andrew, the two daughters of Pudens, and St. Agnes, all in rich vestments, and holding crowns; the Virgin Mary (a veiled matronly figure), and St. John the Baptist standing beside her; under the arch of a window, another half-figure of Mary, with three other females, all having the nimbus, one crowned, one with a square halo to indicate a person still living; above these, the Divine Lamb on a hill, from which the four rivers issue, with stags drinking of their waters; above the altar, the Saviour, between four other saints,--figures in part barbarously sacrificed to a modern tabernacle that conceals them.

On the vault a colossal half-figure of the Saviour, youthful but severe in aspect, with cruciform nimbus, appears in a large circular halo supported by four archangels, solemn forms in long white vestments, that stand finely distinct in the dim light.

Within a niche over the altar is another mosaic of the Virgin and Child, with the two daughters of Pudens, in which Rumohr (Italienische Forsch.) observes ruder execution, indicating origin later than the ninth century."--_Hemans' Ancient Christian Art._

The relic preserved here (one of the principal objects of pilgrimage in Rome) is the column to which our Saviour is reputed to have been bound, said to have been given by the Saracens to Giovanni Colonna, cardinal of this church, and legate of the crusade, because, when he had fallen into their hands and was about to be put to death, he was rescued by a marvellous intervention of celestial light. Its being of the rarest blood jasper is a reason against its authenticity; the peculiarity of its formation having even given rise to the mineralogical term, "Granito della Colonna." A disk of porphyry in the pavement marks the grave of forty martyrs collected by Paschal I. The mother of that pope is also buried here, and the inscription commemorating her observes an ancient ecclesiastical usage in allowing her the title of "episcopa:" "_Ubi utique benignissimae suae genitricis, scilicet Dominae Theodorae, Episcopae corpus quiescit._" In this chapel Paschal I. saw the spirit of his nephew dragged to heaven by an angel, through the little window, while he was saying a mass for his soul.

The high altar covers the entrance to a small crypt, in which are two ancient sarcophagi, containing the remains of the sainted sisters Prassede and Pudenziana. An altar here, richly decorated with mosaic, is shown as that which existed in the house of Prassede. Above is a fresco, referred to the twelfth century, representing the Madonna between the sainted sisters. At the end of the left aisle is a large slab of granite (nero-bianco), upon which Sta. Prassede is said to have slept, and above it a picture of her asleep. In the centre of the nave is the well where she collected the blood, with a hideous statue of her squeezing it out of a sponge.

The chapel at the end of the left aisle is that of S. Carlo Borromeo, who was cardinal of this church, and contains his episcopal throne (a wooden chair) and a table, at which, like St. Gregory, he used to feed and wait upon twelve poor men daily. The pictures in this chapel, by _Louis Stern_, represent S. Carlo in prayer, and in ecstasy before the Sacrament. In the cloister is an old orange-tree which was planted by him, but is still flourishing.

Opposite the side entrance of the Orto del Paradiso is the tomb of Cardinal Cetive (1474), with his sleeping figure and statuettes of SS.

Peter and Paul, Sta. Prassede, and Sta. Pudenziana. This will recall Browning's quaint forcible poem of 'The Bishop who orders his tomb at Saint Praxed's church.'

"Saint Praxed's ever was the church for peace.

And there how I shall lie through centuries, And hear the blessed mutter of the mass, And see God made and eaten all day long, And feel the steady candle flame, and taste Good strong thick stupefying incense-smoke!"

Other tombs of interest are those of Cardinal Ancherus, assassinated in 1286 outside the Porta S. Giovanni, and of Monsignor Santoni, a bust, said to have been executed by Bernini when only ten years old.

Two pictures in side chapels are interesting in a Vallombrosan church, as connected with saints of that order,--one representing S. Pietro Aldobrandini passing through the furnace at Settimo; and another the martyrdom of Cardinal Beccaria, put to death at Florence (whither he was sent by Alexander IV. to make peace between the Guelfs and Ghibellines)--and consigned to hell by Dante.

----"Quel di Beccaria Di cui seg Fiorenza la gorgiera."

_Inferno_, xxxii.

Steps of magnificent rosso-antico lead to the tribune, which is covered with mosaics of A.D. 817-824. Those on the arch represent the heavenly Jerusalem; within is the Saviour with a cruciform halo--the hand of the first person of the Trinity holding a crown over his head--and St. Peter and St. Paul bringing in the sainted sisters of the church; on the right, Pope Paschal I.,[266] with a model of his church; on the left, St. Zeno (?). Above these figures, is the Adoration of the spotless Lamb, and beneath their feet the Jordan; below all is the Lamb again, with the twelve sheep issuing from the mystic cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and verses recording the work of Paschal I.

"The arrangement of saints at Sta. Prassede (817) is altogether different from that at Ravenna, but equally striking. Over the grand arch which separates the choir from the nave is a mosaic, representing the New Jerusalem, as described in the Revelations. It is a walled enclosure, with a gate at each end, guarded by angels.

Within is seen the Saviour of the World, holding in his hand the orb of sovereignty, and a company of blessed seated on thrones: outside, the noble army of martyrs is seen approaching, conducted and received by angels. They are all arrayed in white, and carry crowns in their hands. Lower down, on each side, a host of martyrs press forward with palms and crowns, to do homage to the Lamb, throned in the midst. None of the martyrs are distinguished by name, except those to whom the church is dedicated--Sta. Prassede and her sister Pudenziana."--_Mrs. Jameson._

While Pope Gelasius II. was celebrating mass in this church, he was attacked by armed bands of the inimical houses of Leone and Frangipani, and was only rescued by the assistance of his nephew Gaetano, after a conflict of some hours. Hence in 1630, Moriandi, abbot of Sta.

Prassede, was suddenly carried off and put to fearful tortures, which resulted in his death, ostensibly on account of irregularities in his convent, but really because he had been heard to speak against Urban VIII.[267]

In the sacristy is preserved a fine picture by Giulio Romano of the Flagellation--especially appropriate in the church of the Colonna.

Hence the curious campanile of the old church (built 1110) may be entered, and a loggia whence the great relics of the church are exhibited at Easter, including: portions of the crown of thorns, of the sponge, of the Virgin's hair, and a miniature portrait of our Saviour which is said to have belonged to St. Peter and to have been left by him with the daughters of Pudens.

The _Monastery_ attached to the church, founded by Paschal I., was first occupied by Basilian, but since 1198 has belonged to Vallombrosan monks.

Nothing remains of the mosaic-covered chapel of St. Agnes, built by the founder within its walls.

Where the Via Sta. Prassede crosses the road leading from Sta. Maria Maggiore to the Lateran, is the modern gothic church of _Il Santissimo Redentore_, built by Father Douglas within the last few years.

A little beyond this, attached to the Church of S. Vito, from which it has sometimes been named, is the _Arch of Gallienus_ (supposed to occupy the site of the Esquiline gate in the wall of Servius), dedicated to Gallienus (A.D. 253--260) and his Empress Salonina, by Marcus Aurelius Victor, evidently a court-flatterer of the period, who was prefect of Rome, and possessed gardens on this spot. It is of very inferior execution; the original plan had three arches; only that in the centre remains, but traces of another may be seen on the side next the church.

Gallienus was a cruel and self-indulgent emperor, who excited the indignation of the Romans by leaving his old father, Valerian, to die a captive in the hands of the Persians, so that the inscription, "_Clementissimo principi cuius invicta virtus sola pietate superata est_," is singularly false, even for the time.

"Il arrivait a Gallien de faire tuer trois ou quatre mille soldats en un jour, et il ecrivait des lettres comme celle-ci, adressee a un de ses generaux: 'Tu n'auras pas fait assez pour moi, si tu ne mets a mort que des hommes armes, car le sort de la guerre aurait pu les faire perir. Il faut tuer quiconque a eu une intention mauvaise, quiconque a mal parle de moi. Dechire, tue, extermine: _lacera, occide, concide_.' Entre dans Byzance en promettant leur pardon aux troupes qui avaient combattu contre lui, il les fit egorger, et les soldats ravagerent la ville au point qu'il n'y resta pas un habitant. Voila pour la clemence. Tandis que Valerien, son pere, etait prisonnier du roi des Perses Sapor, qui pour monter a cheval se servait du dos du vieil empereur comme d'un marchepied, en attendant qu'il le fit empailler, l'indigne fils de Valerien vivait au sein des plus honteuses voluptes, et ne tentait pas un seul effort pour le delivrer. Voila pour la vaillance et la piete."--_Ampere, Emp._ ii. 334.

Close to this Gallienus had ordered a statue of himself to be erected, which was to be double the height of the colossus of Nero, but it was unfinished at the time of his death, and destroyed by his successor.

From the centre of the arch hung, from the thirteenth century, the chain and keys of the gates of Viterbo, removed at the same time as the great bell of the Capitol. These interesting memorials of middle-age warfare were taken down in 1825.

Passing under the arch we enter upon the Via Maggiore, the main artery leading to Santa Croce. On the left is the humble convent of the _Monache Polacche_, where the long-suffering Madre Makrena, the sole survivor of the terrible persecution of the nuns of Minsk, has lived in the closest retirement since her escape in 1845.

The story of the cruel sufferings of the Polish-Basilian nuns of Minsk reminds one of the worst persecutions of the early Christians, under Nero and Diocletian. Makrena Miaczylslawska was abbess of a convent of thirty-eight nuns, whom the apostate bishop Siemasko first tried to compel to the Greek faith in the summer of 1838. Their refusal led to their being driven, laden with chains, to Witepsk, in Siberia, where they were forced to hard labour, many of them being beaten to death, one roasted alive in a hot stove, and another having her brains beaten out with a stake by the abbess of the Czernice (apostate nuns), on their persisting in their refusal to change their religion. In 1840 the surviving nuns were removed to Polock, where they were forced to work at building a palace for the bishop Siemasko, and where nine of them perished by a falling scaffold, and many others expired under the heavy weights they were compelled to carry, or under the lash. In 1842 their tortures were increased tenfold, eight of the sisters having their eyes torn out, and others being trodden to death. In 1843 those who still survived were removed to Miadzioly, where the "protopope Skrykin" said that he would "drown them like puppies," and where they were dragged by boats through the shallows of the half-frozen Dwina, up to their necks in water, till many died of the cold. In the spring of 1845, Makrena, with the only three nuns who survived with the use of their limbs (Eusebia Wawrzecka, Clotilda Konarska, and Irene Pomarnacka,) scaled the walls of their prison, while the priests and nuns who guarded them were lying drunk after an orgie, and, after wandering for three months in the forests of Lithuania, made good their escape. The nuns remained in Vienna; the abbess, after a series of extraordinary adventures, arrived in Rome, where she was at first lodged in the convent of the Trinita de' Monti.

The story of the nuns of Minsk was taken down from her dictation at the same time by a number of eminent ecclesiastics, authorized by the pope, and the authenticity of her statements verified; after which she retired into complete seclusion in the Polish convent on the Esquiline, where she has long filled the humble office of portress. Her legs are eaten into the bone by the chains she wore in her prison life. The story of the persecution at Minsk may be read in "Le Recit de Makrena Miaczylslawska," published at Paris, by Lecoffre, in 1846; in a paper by Charles Dickens, in the "Household Words," for May, 1854; and in "Pictures of Christian Heroism," 1855.

Nearly opposite this convent is the picturesque ruin of a nymphaeum, probably of the time of Septimius Severus, erroneously called _The Trophies of Marius_, from the trophies, now on the terrace in front of the Capitol, which were found here.

Beyond this, on the right, is the entrance of the _Villa Palombara_, occupying a great part of the site of the Baths of Titus.

"This villa once belonged to Queen Christina of Sweden, who has left upon the little doorway exactly opposite the ruin called the Trophies of Marius, a curious record of her credulity. It consists of a collection of unintelligible words, signs, and triangles, given her by some alchymist, as the rule to make gold, and which, no doubt, he had found successful, having obtained from her, and probably from many other votaries, abundance of that precious metal in exchange for it. But as she could make nothing of it, she caused it to be inscribed here, in case any passenger, wiser than herself, should be able to develope the mystic signs of this golden secret."--_Eaton's Rome._

Though the existing ruin is misnamed, the trophies erected in honour of the victories which Marius gained over the Cimbri were really set up near this; and, curiously enough, on this site also Marius was defeated at the "Forum Esquilinum" by Sylla, who suddenly descended upon Rome from Nola with six legions, and entering by the Porta Esquilina, met his adversary here, and forced him to fly to Ostia.