ITALIAN YESTERDAYSVOL. II
ITALIAN
YESTERDAYS
BY
MRS. HUGH FRASER
Author of “A Diplomatist’s Wife in Japan,”
“A Diplomatist’s Wife in Many Lands,”
“Reminiscences of a Diplomatist’sWife,” etc.
VOL. II
NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
1913
Copyright, 1913, by
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
Published November, 1913
[v]
CONTENTS OF VOL. II
PAGE
Saints of the Church 1
A Friend in Rome—A Story of Two Ways of Loving—Aglaëand Boniface—Become Christians—A New Life—BonifaceEndures Terrible Tortures—Martyrdom—Death ofAglaë—Church of St. Boniface—Alexis, the Pilgrim—HisTravels—Return to Rome—A Ragged Beggar—His Death andBurial in St. Boniface’s Church—St. Alexis’Monastery—Trials of the Church After Constantine—Rome’sLowest Ebb—Growth of the Spiritual City—Benedict theBlessed, and Scholastica.
Founder of Monasticism 15
Norcia in the Sabines—A Matrona—The Twins, Benedict andScholastica—Benedict Goes to Rome—Conversion ofPlacidus—Benedict’s Retirement to La Mentorella—Life ina Cave—Temptations—Visit of St. Francis—Benedict’sMinistering—Real Founder of Monastic Life—Growth of HisOrder—Placidus and Maurus—St. Benedict’s Personality andConversions—His Ideal of the Religious Life—His GreatestMiracles—His Sister, Scholastica—The Last DayTogether—His Ascension.
St. Gregory the Great 37
Birth and Lineage of St. Gregory—Path from the World tothe Cloister—Prayer, Study, and Charity—His Cat—AProphecy—A Cardinal Deacon—Mission toConstantinople—Eutyches’ Heresy—Rome inPestilence—Gregory Elected Pope—His UnbelievableAccomplishments—His Life as Pope—Championship ofthe Oppressed—Bond with English-speaking People—The GreatProcession During the Pestilence—Gregory’s Successors.
Memories of the Pantheon 52
The Pantheon—Hadrian’s Best Monument—Long Idle—Consecratedas St. Mary of the Martyrs—The Cathedral, the Symbolof the Soul—Its Purification—Continuity of the Church—A[vi]Priest’s Visit—The Alabaster Square—Procession of theMartyrs’ Relics—Giovanni Borgi, the Workman—ItalianGuilds—Giovanni’s Selflessness—His Rescue of the ForsakenChildren—Care of Them—Crusade in Behalf of All the Waifsof Rome—His Work of Love—Giovanni’s Successor,Later Pius IX.
Early Life of Father Mastai 70