Chapter 27. Events relating to Cecilia and her Basilica throughout the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, Homage paid by literature and the Arts to the Roman Virgin

In the year 1484, the Bacilica of St. Cecilia gave a fifth Pope to the Church, John Baptist Cibo, under the name of Innocent VIII * A short time after his exaltation, he invested Lawrence Cibo, his nephew, with the purple, giving him at first the title of St. Susanna, which he afterwards changed for that of St. Cecilia. This cardinal was very munificent in his donations to the Basilica. He restored the inner porch, renewed the chapel of the bathroom, where his coat of arms may still be seen; but he respected the altar and pavement of this venerable sanctuary, and these preserve their mediaeval character.

Numerous modifications successively made in this chapel, had entirely destroyed its primitive character. Pompey Ugonius, who wrote in 1588, declares that in his time this sacred place was called the Thalamus or Oratorium of St. Cecilia, and that there were old men who remembered having venerated in their youth the bathroom, in which the holy virgin suffered martvrdom ; but he adds, that all traces of this room had disappeared, either because it had not been con-

• Among the gifts presented by the Cardinal J. B. Cibo to this Basilica, was an immense bell which he placed in the chapel, although it already contained three of smaller dimensions, dating back to the year 1311 : MSS. Vatican, de Gallctti. 8025 Santa Cecilia, tome i.

sidered a monument of much, importance, or from some other reason.

In the eleventh century, tradition expressly declared that Cecilia's bathroom was in this place, and that Cardinal Ubaldus, Bishop of Sabine, had dedicated an altar there in 1073. Before long all uncertainty will cease, and we shall see this holy place, such as it appeared on the day of Cecilia's martyrdom, thus restoring to her dwelling its most important apartment to which are linked the most sacred remembrances.

The monks of the monastery, which St. Paschal built near the Basilica of St. Cecilia, did not persevere in the practice of the Benedictine Eules, and the building, like many others, was finally changed into a collegiate church. Thenceforth Divine service was not celebrated with the same zeal at Cecilia's tomb. In 1417, Martin V. gave the Church and monastery to the congregation of the Saviour, founded by St. Bridget ;* but these religious did not long retain possession of it, and before the end of the fifteenth century the Benedictines were once more established at Sancta Cecilia, f

The Lombard congregation of the Humiliati, a branch of the Benedictines, were installed in the monastery after the departure of the Brigittines ; but from the beginning of the sixteenth century, the congregation became so reduced that their number was

• Ciacconius, tome ii., page 825.

f This is proved by a sepulchral inscription, found in the Basilica, which dates hack to the year 1475, and certifies that from that time the Church and monastery were in the hands of the Humiliati.

not sufficiently large to take charge of the monasteries placed under their care. Clement VII. concluded to make it a commendatory benifice, and, in 1532, conferred it upon Cardinal Franciotto Orsini.* This venerable sanctuary had been so sadly neglected during these disastrous years, that it was barely possible to celebrate the Divine office in it on the feast of St. Cecilia, and on the day of the station which was solemnized each year in this Basilica on the Wednesday of the second week of Lent. It seemed God's will to send these dark clouds as a prelude to the incomparable splendor which was destined in 1527 to illuminate this Basilica and restore the glory which had suffered a momentary eclipse.

At the time when the commendary seemed about to destroy Paschal's pious foundation, the Lord inspired one of his servants with a design which saved it. Maura Magalotta, the pious abbess of the Benedictines of the Campus Martius, urged Clement VII. to allow her the privilege of going to dwell with those of her sisters who wished to accompany her in the monastery of St. Cecilia, and that she might not interfere with the congregation of the Humiliati, to whom the house was supposed to belong, she offered to adopt their Constitutions.

The Pope was both edified and pleased with the proposition of the abbess; but he could not grant her request without the consent of the Titulary Cardinal. This Franciotto Orsini generously gave, and in honor of St. Cecilia resigned the rich benifice which had been bestowed upon him four yea^s pre * Laderchi, tome ii., page 284.

viously. Clement VII. had at this time retired to the Castle of St. Angelo, where he was besieged by the Constable de Bourbon. From this fortress he dated the Bull which ensured the permanent celebration of the Divine office in the Basilica, according to St. Paschal's intentions. The Bull was dated the seventh of the Calends of July, in Arce Sancti Angeli; it authorized the removal of Mother Maura Magalotta to the monastery of St. Cecilia, creating her abbess of the congregation of the Humiliati, under the rule of St. Benedict.*

It is well known that this order was suppressed by St. Pius V. in 1575, in punishment of an attempt made by one of its members at Milan to assassinate St. Charles Borromeo ; but the Pontiff, far from extending this chastisement to the monastery of St. Cecilia, which was flourishing with so much edificacation, took it under his special protection, and enriched it with new privileges. Later, the female congregation of the Humiliati having become extinct, the Benedictines of the Campus Martius were called upon to take charge of the monastery. In memory of their sisters, who had been established here by Clement VII., the nuns of St. Cecilia wear the white habit formerly worn by the Humiliati.

Maura Magalotta devoted herself with zeal to the reparation of her dear Basilica, which was somewhat dilapidated, and made important improvements in the monastery, the enclosure of which she enlarged. An inscription placed over the principal door of this

• Laderchi, tome ii., page 313.

holy house records the services of the worthy abbess,* who died on the 17th of May, 1566, aged seventytwo years. She was buried in the Basilica, before the altar of the Confession, by Mother Scholastica Serleoni, who succeeded her.f

In 1584, under Gregory XIII., two altars were re-dedicatecl in St. Cecilia's Church. One of the two had borne the title of St. Mammes, and had been consecrated in 1098, as we before stated, by Maurice, Bishop of Porto, under Urban II. It was now destined to be the altar of the blessed sacrament, and was dedicated on the 7th of August, by Thomas Goldwell, Bishop of St. Asaph.;}; The relics which had served for the first consecration, in 1098, were again placed in the altar. Among these relics, were found some bones attributed to St. Cecilia ; we have already spoken of them, but the moment was now approaching, when it was to be fully proved that they could not have belonged to our martyr.

In the preceding }rear, Gregory XIII. had given the purple to Nicholas Sfondrato, Bishop of Cre-

• Maura Magalotta Abbatissa, a Clemente VII., et Franciotto cardinali Orsino praeposito hue accita, sedem banc divae Caecilise sacram, quam monachi Humiliatorum S. Benedicti obtinebant. in pnesentis nionasterii, ejusdem ordinis monialium formani redegit, eainque pene collabentem restituit, adjectis insuper hortis, quorum etiam ut honestior usus esset, claustrali eos muro cinxit, anno a partu Virginis mdxxxi.

f D. 0. M. Maura Magalotta, per triennium Abbatissa raonasterii Canrpi Martii, deinde a Clemente VII., Pont. Max. Abbatissa perpetua monasterii Sanctae Caecilise creata, quae instituit, instauravit etdotavit. Obiit anno Dni mdlxvi. xvi. Kal. Junii, vitse suae an. lxxii. Scolastica Serleoni Rom. Abbatissa, et suffecta posuit.

t Ladercbi, tome ii. pages 340 and 406.

mona. This Prelate, who was of an illustrious Milanese family, and of distinguished piety, received the Title of St. Cecilia, and seven years after was elected to the chair of St. Peter. He took the name of Gregory XIV. and was the seventh Pope from the Basilica of St. Cecilia. After ten months of a brilliant Pontificate, he died, but fortunately not before he had elevated to the Cardinalate, his nephew, Paul Emile Sfondrato, whose name is held in veneration by all who are interested in the glory of our illustrious virgin.

But before relating the great event which heaven seemed to have held in reserve, only to throw more vivid light upon the Acts of St. Cecilia, and to reanimate the enthusiasm of the faithful towards this Spouse of Christ, we will devote some pages to recording the homage paid her by literature and the arts. We have already listened to the harmonious cadence of the Sacramentaries, the musical hymns of the Mozarabic rite of Christian Greece, the epithalamium of the Saxon Bishop, the uncultivated verses of Flodoard, the flowing sequence of the twelfth century ; all these have formed a poetical concert to Cecilia's glory. The pious Thomas A. Kempis now offers his tribute of veneration to the Roman virgin, in a most devotional hymn, and a charming acrostic*

• En virginis Cseciliae Hinc amor et dcvotio,

Fulget vita clarissima, Fervebat cum eloquio.

Quam sponsus pudicitise Hinc diebus ac noctibus

Elegit ab infantia. Sacris intendit fructibus.

Quae Christi Evangelium Nam duos fratres nobiles Abscondebat in pectoro ; Christi offecit milites,

Ut Jesum nitons lilium Quos per ejus vestigium

Gasto servaret corpora. Hortatur ad Martyr in in.

He is soon followed by the celebrated Latin poet, Baptista Spagnuolo, called the Mantuan, who consecrated to Cecilia his seventh Parthenia, dedicated to Isabella, Duchess of Mantua. This poem of nine hundred verses, filled with profane reminiscences, like all the compositions of the Mantuan, is written in the pagan style of the period in which its author lived; it nevertheless contains many graceful and easy verses.

We will not extend this list of the compositions which form the poetical crown of Cecilia, but we cannot pass over in silence the Epithalamium of Angelo Sangrini, Abbot of Monte Casino, in which the author extols the holy martyr, whom Italy particularly venerated in the sixteenth century. This century, which gave to the Church the Annals of Baronius, and the Controversies of Bellarmine, had also the glory of collecting the Acts of the Saints, thus preluding the immortal compilation of the lesuits of Anvers. The different collections of this

Hsec cernens tunc Episcopus 0 Beata Csecilia,

Urbanus vir Angelicus, Devota Christi famula

Resolvitur in lacrymis Per tua sacra merita,

De fructu tantee Virginia Nos Deo reconcilia.,

Domine Jesu suscipe Deo £atri sit gloria,

De manibus Caecilise Ejusque soli Filio,

Fructus casti consilii, Cum Spiritu Paraclito,

Sicut odorem balsami. Et nunc, et sine termino. Amen.

^ onsolatrix infirmorura, compassione.

tej lectrix supernorum, contemplations

Q onfortatrix Christianorum, prsedicatione.

- mitatrix Beatorum, sacra passione.

t"1 iberatrix perditorum, devota oratione.

hh nventrix liliorum, casta conversations

ssociatrix Angelorum, ccelesti revelatione.

nature, which appeared at this epoch, all make honorable mention of Cecilia. From Bonino Mombrizzio, who opened this new path to sacred erudition in the early part of the fifteenth century, by his Sanctuavium, dedicated to Simonetta, secretary of the Duchess of Milan, down to the Carthusian friar, Lawrence Surius, who, in 1568, published his Original Lives of the Saints, (comprising in the interval, the Agiologium of George Wicklius, in 1541, and the collection of Louis Lipoman, Bishop of Verona and Bergama) the Acts of St. Cecilia were faithfully reproduced. Surius was inclined to follow Metaphrastes, who, as we have said, borrowed them from the Latin ; and the translation from the Greek, compared with the Roman manuscript, shows the great respect with which the religious writer of Constantinople treated the touching relation of Cecilia's virtues and martyrdom. The arts were even more eager to glorify the daughter of the Cecilii. Architecture paid its tribute in an elegant Roman Basilica, with its marbles, mosaics, and sumptuous decorations, and in the magnificent Cathedral of Alby, with the majesty, grace, and boldness of its proportions. The statuary of the Middle Age paid its homage by placing the noble and placid image of St. Cecilia, under the porticoes of our Cathedrals, where she stands like a queen among the Spouses of Christ. We shall hereafter speak of the masterpiece with which Stephen Maderno enriched the Roman Basilica. It represents the virgin sleeping in her mysterious tomb.*

• We cannot mention here as a Catholic statue, the Muse

But Catholic painters, have, as it were, surpassed themselves, in endeavoring to express the charm and grandeur recalled by Cecilia's name. We will not undertake here an enumeration which would far exceed the limits of this monograph. We leave to others, the pleasure of describing the large stained windows on which is traced the history of our martyr, the graceful illustrations of liturgical manuscripts, the inspired works of the mystical school of the fifteenth century, and all the marvellous testimonies of love given her by so many artists. We shall content ourselves with mentioning the mosaic of Eavenna in the sixth century, already described, as well as that which St. Paschal caused to be executed in the apsis of the Basilica when the Virgin's body was translated thither ; these two mosaics seem to be the most ancient representations of St. Cecilia which have reached us. The ninth century offers us a miniature, in the Menology of the Emperor Basil, representing the martyrdom of the Saint. We next mention a fresco of the twelfth century, painted in a crypt of the Basilica of St. Lawrence outside the walls. The painting is copied with great care in the magnificent collection of the frescos of the Catacombs, executed by M. Perret, and published by the French Government. There are many other interesting paintings, relating to the illustrious Virgin, in the ancient pagan temple near which St. Urban lived, and which has been converted into a Church. These paintings have been which. David sculptured under the name of St. Cecilia, and which may be seen in the choir of the Cathedral of Angers. The statue is graceful, but cannot be classed among the works inspired by Christian faith in honor of Cecilia.

reproduced by Agin court in his Histoire de V Art par les monuments, and are referred to the thirteenth century; they represent several incidents from the Acts of St. Cecilia. We trust that at some future day these frescoes will be published in a more suitable manner, as they are doubly interesting, both on account of their tasteful execution and of the Church which they ornament. At this same epoch, Cimabue painted a portrait of Cecilia. She is represented seated, veiled, and wrapt in a deep blue mantle, holding in one hand a palm branch, whilst the other rests upon a book of the Gospels. Eight small pictures of incidents taken from the Acts, surround the main figure, forming as it were a frame. By this representation, we see that in the thirteenth century, no special attribute was assigned to Cecilia. This painting, now in the gallery at Florence, was designed for a Church of St. Cecilia, which formerly stood in that city, but which has been destroyed. We refer to the thirteenth, and not to the ninth century, the graceful paintings in compartments which formerly adorned St. Cecilia's Church, only one of which has been saved. The others are only known by the copies which were taken before they had totally perished, and which are preserved in the Barberini Library, and also by the very imperfect engraving published by Bosio* in his edition of the Acts of Saint Cecilia. The fresco which remains, represents the burial of the Virgin by St. Urban, and her apparition to Paschal ; this latter scene is admirably executed. The

• D'Agincourt gives the designs of these pictures, hut in such a miniature form, that it is impossible to form a correct judgment of them.

nitre and pluviale* of the Pontiff do not permit us to date this picture before the thirteenth century ; it may even be placed in the fourteenth. In the fifteenth century, we cannot omit Pinturieehio. who painted five subjects taken from the life of our illustrious Virgin, with that indefinable charm which characterizes all his productions. They may be seen at the gallery of Berlin. We must also speak of a charming fresco of the same century, now placed in the sacristy of the little Church, which, according to its ancient title, we have called St. Cecilia de i .

It represents the Angel crowning Cecilia and Val :-rian; Tiburtius and Urban are also introduced. Although considerably defaced, the picture breathes an air of piety and recollection, and recalls the calm repose which is the charm of Angelico da Fiesole's productions. TTe do not intend to enumerate all the monuments of St. Cecilia, but we consider it a duty net to omit mentioning the admirable frescoes pain by Francisco Francia and his pupils, in a chapel of St James' Church, at Bologna. These pictures are composed often compartments: the subjects are borrowed from the Acts of the Saint, and are deservedly ranked among the noblest works of Catholic art. in its most brilliant period.

Thev have been inexcusably neglected and allowed to deteriorate, yet they still preserve much of their original beauty. The fresco which represents C martyrdom, f is the only one which can be positively

*Cope.

t Rio De 1' Art Chretien, page 250. Montalembert. Du Vandal:sme et du Catholicisme dans Tart, p. 147. Rio. Ibid, page 172. In the Memoirs of the Academic Society of the /Lube.

attributed to Francia ; it is far superior to the others. These ten frescoes were engraven and published in 1825 ; but the engravings are so very imperfect, that it is to be hoped others will be made. Unfortunately, the entire series of paintings upon the Life of Saint Cecilia, executed by Taddeo Bartolo, in St. Dominic's Church at Perugia, has entirely perished. These different compositions show how highly the artists of this period appreciated our Acts. A precious document of the fifteenth century, recently published by M. Guignard, bookseller of Dijon, reveals to us that profound study, which enabled these artists to delineate with so much soul and truth, all the most delicate and dramatic incidents in the lives of the Saints.

This document contains the notes given to the artists who were charged with executing the cartoons of a tapestry destined for the collegiate Church of St. Urban de Troyes. The plan comprised six large pieces of tapestry, divided into twenty two subjects, ten of which were to represent events taken from the Acts of Saint Cecilia. The exactitude and attention with which the scenes chosen were first analyzed, and afterwards arranged in accordance with the simplicity of the times : the sentiment to be expressed, the attitudes of the figures introduced, the costumes ; the details of surroundings ; all prove a careful study of the Acts, and it is much to be regretted that thia beautiful composition has perished, or, as Mr. Guignard is inclined to think, was never executed. Wo mention it, however, as one of the most touching

22*

homages offered by art to the memory of St. Cecilia.*

The great artists of the sixteenth century, did not forget Saint Cecilia. Their style was indeed little suited to the supernatural, yet we find that many among them delighted in painting Saint Cecilia. We might cite Garofalo, Procaccini, Paul Veronese, Salimbeni, Tempesta, Guido Eeni, Carlo Dolci, etc. ; but these painters sink into the shade by the side of the immortal Eaphael. Who does not know that the Saint Cecilia of the Museum of Bologna, is classed among the great works of this prince of modern artists. Still we must acknowledge that many of the figures are wanting in that heavenly expression

• We will refer here to a peculiarity of the fourth piece of tapestry, which needs to be explained, as it is found in the most beautiful frescoes of Francia, at Bologna. The artists of the Middle Age, not understanding the vapor baths which were taken by the ancients in the caldarium, were unable to comprehend the torment to which Almachius condemned Cecilia, otherwise than by supposing that she was placed in a caldron of boiling water. They were somewhat embarrassed in their efforts to explain the passage of the Acts which refers to the prodigy by which Cecilia's body was preserved from moisture If she had been immersed in boiling water, this passage would have been, to say the least, very singular. In the fifteenth century, the archaeologists were unable to explain to the artists a style of baths which were not then used. Moreover, the latter would have found great difficulty in representing in a painting the saint praying in the caldarium, whilst by representing her half plunged in a caldron, or, as Francia does, in a bath, with a lictor brandishing his sword above her head, they were able to describe both kinds of martyrdom, as they understood them. A little later, Julius Romanus and Guido understood the ancient customs, and represented Cecilia kneeling in her caldarium, and extending her neck to the executioner.

which characterizes all his early paintings. For the ' honor of Cecilia, we prefer therefore, mentioning first, ' the beautiful picture in the royal gallery at Naples, although she only figures in it as an accessory. Eaphael painted it in 1505, for the religious of Saint Anthony of Perugia, The principal subject represents our Saviour taken down from the Cross and placed on his mother's knees, Saints Peter and Paul stand on one side, Saints Cecilia and Catherine on the other. The wonderful talent of the artist is very evident in these four figures, and thus we have a Cecilia truly worthy of the divine Eaphael."36, The painting at Bologna is chiefly valuable as a work of art: St. John the Evangelist and Saint Paul stand on the right of the martyr, St. Augustin and St. Mary Magdalen on her left. All these figures are incontestably beautiful, but there is no mystical expression about them. Magdalen in particular does not at all correspond with our idea of a holy penitent. There is a heavenly expression about Cecilia, but her embonpoint badly accords with our notions of a saint. Emblems of profane music are scattered at her feet ; her lyre rests upon her knees ; her eyes are raised to heaven and she seems listening to angelic concerts. This much admired painting was destined for the chapel of St. John in Monte , at Bologna. Vasari has asserted that Francesco Francia, after looking at it, died of jealousy. Happily for the honor of Catholic art, this is a mere fable. Eaphael commenced his picture of St. Cecilia towards the end of the year 1513, and finished it in 1514, and

• Vasari. Tonic iii. p. 1(J6.

Francesco Francia did not die until 1533. Finally, that we may omit nothing relating to the famous St. Cecilia of Bologna, we will remind our readers that it was this painting which awakened in Corregio the consciousness of his own talent, and made him exclaim, " And I too am a painter."

Among the noble works of Domenichino, we find no less than six pictures, wherein Cecilia occupies the principal place. Besides these, we must also mention the frescoes he painted at Rome in St. Cecilia's chapel in the Church of St. Louis des Franeais. They embrace the entire life of the saint. The angel conversing with Valerian and Cecilia ; the Virgin distributing her fortune to the poor after Valerian's martyrdom ; Almachius seated on his tribunal, and the calm and imposing attitude of Cecilia, refusing to offer incense to the idols ; finally and pre-eminently, the immortal scene of Urban's interview with the expiring virgin ; the bathroom inundated with generous blood which the faithful eagerly collect, the poor assisting at the last moments of their faithful benefactress, the Pontiff's ineffable emotion at the sight of so sublime a sacrifice ; the martyr's legacy to the Father of the faithful. The blending of all these incidents portrays the Acts of Saint Cecilia far more vividly than the most eloquent words could do. We will conclude with a mention of Lionello Spada, who died in the seventeenth century, twenty years before Domenichino. In his admirable painting, preserved .at St. Michael del Bosco, at Bologna, he has represented Saint Cecilia in the midst of the heated vapor of her caldarium. He is, we believe, the first artist who ever attempted this subject, and it must be confessed that he has both conceived and executed it in an admirable mariner. Artists of the French school have, in these latter days, represented our Saint in a manner unworthy her dignity.

Every one is well acquainted with the picture painted by Mignard, for Louis XIV., in which he represented the virgin appareled like a coquette. A renowned artist of our own day, has degraded Saint Cecilia to the level of a lady in her boudoir. May Catholic art soon resume her empire in our dear France, and may her artists ere long present us with a Cecilia worthy of the name ! Music claims the Eoman Virgin as its special patroness ; she is the Queen of Christian Harmony. Her name is blended with all the triumphs of music in the sixteenth century. Musical Societies were placed under her protection, and her Festival was celebrated by melodies composed in her honor. How often has a mass in honor of St. Cecilia, or a hymn in her praise, been the first composition of some talented musician ! How many artists of superior or secondary merit, have considered their compositions worthless until they had dedicated a hymn to the Virgin whose protection they craved ! Even at the present day, the feast of St. Cecilia is celebrated wherever music creates the slightest interest.

In the annual concerts, which bring to the foot of the altar so many men, who, during the rest of the year, are wholly absorbed in worldly occupations, masterpieces may be rare, the execution defective, the motives for the assembly indifferent, if not worse ;

but it is delightful to find the most seductive of arts acknowledging each year that the superior sentiment of harmony emanates from purity of mind and heart, personified in Cecilia. It is then that more than one soul, animated with heavenly thoughts, aspires after more harmonious and durable concerts than those of this world of sorrows, where the chords of the lyre, having been broken by sin, can only be joined for a moment ; and can never resound with a full and perfect accord, except when employed to honor God, in concert with the angels. An English poet has most happily expressed this thought in a canticle which he composed for the Feast of St. Cecilia.

Our joys below it can improve,

And antedate the bliss above.

This the divine Cecilia found,

And to her Maker's praise confin'd the souud.

When the full organ joins the tuneful choir,

Th' immortal pow'rs incline their ear ; Borne on the swelling notes our souls aspire, While solemn airs improve the sacred fire :

And Angels lean from heav'n to hear. Of Orpheus now no more let poets tell,

To bright Cecilia greater pow'r is giv'n ; His numbers rais'd a shade from hell,

Her's lift the soul to heav'n.

Pope : Ode for music, on S. Cecilia's day.