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Show j Christmas in come BY GRACE V. CHRISTMAS. : It is Christmas time, and there is a f?on.e.6f stir and excitement in the crisp, cool atmosphere. The pavements ' of the " Eternal City" are trodden by people of varied nationalities speaking i in various tor.j?ues, and the shops are gay with plittoring baubles. Tlum puddings for sale." The printed print-ed notice attracts the eye from the windows win-dows of the "English Tea-Uooms," and j the English and Americans, as they i pass to and fro across the sunlit Piazza f di Spagna. seeking souvenirs of the sea- i son for "the old folks at home." dis- I cover suddenly that the prosaic an- ( nouncement is invested with a touch of ' poetry and pathos under an Italian ! ky! .Scarlet hollybei ries gleam. simongft the purple violets and many-hucd many-hucd chrysanthemums at the Howe.' stalls, and Christmas cards may be i purc-hasod on every side. The native f shopkeeper has fully grasped the sit-! sit-! uation. and finds, both pleasure and profit in supplying the national wants ; of the lavishly disposed forestieri with-' with-' in his gates. I Regarded from a Roman point of I view, however, Christmas day is not so j much a family festa as is the case in 1 other countries. It is celebrated with all possible pomp and magnificence as ,1 one of the greatest feasts of the church, but the presentation of useful or ornamental orna-mental gifts plays no leading part in the programme. . The exception to the lack of Christmas Christ-mas presents is found within the walls -of the ijuirinal Palace. (Jueen Marghe- j rita is extremely lavish in her ideas, j and enriches her maids of honor and particular friends -with a variety of splendid gifts, thereby gladdening the hearts and filling the pockets of the shopkeepers on the Corso on these occasions. oc-casions. King Humbert of the melancholy melan-choly visage is also not behindhand in this respect, and his nephews come in fur a large share of his munificence. Christmas gifts of a more ideal character char-acter How from the outstretched hands of the saintly Prisoner in the Vatican in the shape of practical assistance to !od"s poor, who are also provided with several Christmas dinners through the Balcony Scene In Rome. ' cliarity of. the various Catholic societies in Rome. In sunny Italy, by the way. the Cnristmas dinner is not quite such a solemn function as it is in England auci Germany; still the natives of this fair land are well able to appreciate the delicacies del-icacies of the season. The huge sirloin of beef, and ihe ilaming plum pudding, whose memory is apt to linger in the form of indigestion, as known items in an Italian dinner, their place being usurped by a caron stuffed with chestnuts, chest-nuts, and the gaJa dish on all festive occasions, "panna montata," or whip- lod cream. The following is a fairly typical menu of a Roman dinner party on the. 2r.th of December. It varies according ac-cording to tastes, but this is the gen--? f cral ord: r of the courses; Clear soup with "co pellet If floating in it, viz., lit-' tie hat-shaped pieces of macearoni filled L ' ..... ... : with forcemeat. This is followed by the "lesso," or meat of which the soup has been made, an inevitable feature on the majority of Italian tables, and served with a piquant sauce and vegetables. vege-tables. The next course is the "fritto misto," a dish of brains, liver, potatoes and various vegetables, all fried that rich golden color which seems to be only obtainable in a foreign frying pan. Bologna sausage, a specialite of the season, is then partaken of; no Christmas Christ-mas dinner being considered complete without its somewhat garlicky presence. Now appears the capon in all its substantial sub-stantial gloryv surrounded by siffets of fried bread and pounded anchovies, and accompanied by a fresh green salad. Then follows the sweets, ices and "panna "pan-na montata," etc. Notwithstanding the fact that Christmas Christ-mas Eve is a black fast, fhe evening meal on that solemn vigil partakes somewhat of the nature of a festa. The changes are rung on roast, boiled and friend fish, and the piece de resistance consists of a diss of stewed eels. Many of the quaint customs which formerly distinguished a Roman Christ- mas have in these modern days unhappily unhap-pily fallen into disuse. Time was when. I during the nine days of the novena j which precedes the feast of Christmas, j picturesquely clad shepherds from the Abruzzi mountains made their appear-' appear-' ance in the "City of the Saints" to her- aid the birth of Christ. The "Pifferi.' i as they were termed, played carols on j their bagpipes before the shrines of the Madonna which adorns so many I of the old Roman streets, and I on the payment of a few "soldi" ! their services could be obtained in pri-I pri-I vate oratories for family devotion. ; We have considered Christmas from a material and gastronomic point of view; now let us glance at the spiritual side of things. It is. Christmas evj, and the broad tlight of steps leading to St. Peter's is thronged with the cosmopolitan crowd. Inside the vast basilica the first Vespers Ves-pers of the feast are being sung, the sweet voices of the Sistinc Choir rising and falling in melodious cadences, and blending together in waves of harmonv which echo through the lofty done. Now they are singing the "Magnificat." and a procession headed by the cardinal-secretary of state with his scarlet robes and dignified presence, parses on its way to the altar of Blessed Sacra-meni Sacra-meni a gorgeous procession of ermine-coped canons and students from j the Vatican Seminary in their deep j purple cassocks. I On this Christmas Eve of 1S99 begins , the solemn year of Jubilee, and the j "holy door," closed for so long a space of time, is to be thrown open by the I Holy Father, as a sign that the "Anno Santo" has begun to run its course. 1 There is no Midnight Mass within the walls of thte grand Basilica, but the office of Lauds is chanted, and an exquisite "Pastoieile." suirg bv the Sis-tine Sis-tine Chair in the . "wee sma' hours" before- the dawn, and the first High Mass on Christmas morning is celebrated cele-brated at 5 o'clock a. m. In every college col-lege and convent chapel in Rome, how- Koly Sacrifice is- offered up at midnight, mid-night, and the joyful tidings "In terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis" once r.ung by the angc'.s are' repeated over and over on earth and are echoed in heaven. It is Christmas morning. morn-ing. . Rome 011 her seven . hills lies bathed in sunshine, and overhead stretches a canopy of cloudless, unfathomable un-fathomable blue. Bells are pealing gaily from many a gray old belfry and lefty tower: the churches are decked with silken hangings of gold and crimson, crim-son, and waxen tapers gleam on every altar, and shed their light beside the Crib of the Babe of Bethlehem. Let us ascend the historic tlight of step? leading to the side entrance of the Church of Ara Coeli. We are terad-ing terad-ing upon haunted ground haunted by the epirits of the pagan past. Here Tiberius Gracchus met his death in front of the Temple of Jupiter, and at the summit is the spot where Valerius the consul fought with Htrdonius for the possession of the Capitol. Here, also but these memories are incongruous incongru-ous with the joyful festa of today. The picturesque old church is thronged with worshipers, and the brown-clad sons of St. Francis are singing the "Gloria in" Excelsis." There is no touch of modernity in this spacious spa-cious building, where the dust of centuries cen-turies lies on the mediaeval tombs, and time has laid a. heavy hand on the once gorgeously tinted frescoes of Pesaro and Pinturicchio. and on. the rich gilding gild-ing of the lofty roof. Represents, in fact, a certain dim, dingy;. appearance; but. as it has been happily described, it is "the dimness t faded splendor." Let us turn to the Chapel of the Pre-scpio. Pre-scpio. where the celebrated image of the Bambino d'Ara Coeli lies in His ( Mother's- arms. It is- but fitting that the most beautiful crib in Rome should ! be found in a church of the Franciscan . Order, for it was the Seraphic Friar of Assisi who first conceived the idea of a representation of the stable at Bethlehem. Beth-lehem. In the foreground the life-size figures of our lady and St. Joseph are placed m a grotto, and immediately behind them we see the ox and the ass. On one side shepherds and kings are kneeling kneel-ing in adoration, and overhead the Eternal Father is surrounded by smiling smil-ing cherubs and angels "harping on their harps." In the background is seen a pastoral landscape, in which the perspective is admirably executed. Shepherds are reposing under the shade of palm trees, and sheep, made of real wool and cotton wool; are feeding near a crystal fountain, while women bearing bear-ing baskets of oranges and other fruits on their heads, are approaching the grotto. Diamond pendants sparkle in the ears of the Virgin Mother, and the Bambino, swathed in gold and silver sil-ver tissue, glitters with precious stones. A temporary platform is erected opposite op-posite the Presepio, from which every day the octave juvenile orators deliver eloquent sermons on the Incarnation. It . is amusing to tttTtYTtttrtttttttt1ttt tttttTrrrrtrTt - ' 4 4- 4- t &w 4 Pb' ff' ' . 4- x I . mg$mk 'v 4 4 4 A VENDOR OF MISTLETOE. 1 watch the gestures and the varying expressions ex-pressions of these tiny, preachers as they stand surrounded by a group of admiring relations. The quality of shyness is usually conspicuous by its absence from these performances, and whenever a trace of it does appear it is invariably in a little boy. Space will not allow us to dwell upon the history of the Bambino d'Ara Coeli. Hare describes it as the "oldest medical medi-cal practitioner in Rome," and many are the miraculous cures attributed to it. There is a very pretty legend concerning con-cerning it which, if not true, is at least ! "ben trovato." . A woman had cast i covetous eyes upon the wonder-work- j ing image, and, having feigned sickness, sick-ness, begged that the "Bambino" might 1 be brought to her bedside. As soon as she was alone with her prize she j dressed up another image, with which she had provided herself, in its garments, gar-ments, and eventually returned it to the Ara Coeli, retaining the original in her own possession. That night the sleeping friars were aroused from their clumbers by a violent ringing of bells and thundering knocks on the west door of the church nnrl h:i stpninf fJiither 5 saw a tiny pink foot peeping through a j crevice. They opened , the door, and j there stood the little naked figure of the- true "Bambino," shivering in the wind and the rain. . Since then it has never, under any j protext. been left alone with those who demand its presence. On the Epiphany it is carried in procession round the church, accompanied by priests and 1 people, Tertiaries in their brown habits, gendarmes to guard the diamonds, ru-! ru-! bies and emeralds with which it is encrusted, en-crusted, and a band of music. The I great west door is thrown open, the j golden ..glory of the sunset gilds the 1 Mosaic pavement, and the "Bambino" I is raised high above the crowd to be-j be-j stow its blessings upon the "Eternal j City." The scene on this long flight of 1 14 steps leading to the west door has I been well described in "Roba di Roma;" j "Hei.j are to bo seen all sorts of cur- ious Tittle colored prints of the Madonna and Child, little bags, pewter medals and crosses stamped with the same figures, fig-ures, all offered at once for the sum 1 of one soldo. Here also are framed pic-j pic-j tures of the saints and of the Nativity. Little wax dolls clad in cotton wools, to j represent the Saviour, and sheep made j of the same material, are also sold by I the basketful. Children and 'contadini' ! jnre busy buying them, and there is a j deafening roar all up and down the i steps of 'Mezzo soldo, bello colorito. j Diario Romano. Ritratto colorito Bambinello di Cera un soldo 1' None of the prices 'are higher than one soldo, except to strangers, and generally sev-I sev-I eral articles are held up together, enumerated, enu-merated, and proffered with a loud voice for this sum. Meanwhile men. women, children, priests, beggars, soldiers sol-diers and 'Villanr", are crowding up and down, and we. crowd with them." In the. afternoon of Christmas day .all Rome flocks to Santa -Maria Maggi ore, on the Esquiline hill. Solemn Vespers are sung by the Slstine choir, and at their conclusion the "Holy Cradle," in its crystal and gold case, ia carried in procession, followed bv canons, priests and acolytes, the cardinal tttnlar of the basilica bringing up the rear. Apart from the religious ceremonies Santa Maria Maggiore is a rendezvous for friend3 and acquaintances on Christmas afternoon. One must have arrived at a very high pitch of spirituality spirit-uality to be able to follow undistracted the never-ending psalms as rendered by Rome's sweetest singers. Those, therefore, there-fore, who are still clinging to the lower rungs of the ladder of perfection walk up and down the spacious edifice waiting wait-ing for the procession, or stand about in groups of twos and threes, exchanging the greetings of the season. That "great endings have small beginnings" is. an .aphorism which is truer than most. Two conversions to Catholicity within our knowledge, and possibly many others, have originated in a few chance words spoken on Christmas day in the -old historic church of Santa Maria Ma-ria Maggiore. In one case, by the way, the instrument chosvn by God for a soul's salvation was a young man, then studying for the priesthood at the North American college, col-lege, and who is now laboring in his own country for the good of his fellow-creatures. fellow-creatures. And she who was led by his influence into the one true fold of Christ has gone to receive her eternal reward in heaven. The Epiphany, or "Befana." is preeminently pre-eminently the children's feast in Rome, and the day on which they reap a fine harvest of presents. It is a time of family rejoicing especially. This year the beautiful custom of having the "Quaranf Ore" all night long will be observed in every church in Rome on the eve of this feast to usher in the pew century. Vespers are over on the feast of the Epiphany; the last verse of the "Magnificat" "Mag-nificat" has died away upon the incense-scented air; the momentary twilight twi-light has faded and the stars are beginning be-ginning to glitter in the southern sky. The festa is at an end, but it leaves behind it deep and lingering memories, and though it may be that we shall celebrate succeeding anniversaries of the birth of Christ in other. lands," $.nd amidEt other surroundings, the recollection recol-lection of our Christmas in Rome will be stamped forever on the tablets of our minds. . |