Letter XXIV. To Messer Vittorio dell’Ancisa, Florence

He assures him that he will recommend him to the Lord and begs him to do the same for him in return.

Very reverend, and honoured Brother in the Lord, — The circumstance that has induced you to write to me concerning the arrival of the Signori Gambini and Salviati has been the source of much pleasure to me, as well on account of what you tell me of yourself, and of the service you are doing for our Lord God and the souls belonging to your church, as from your news of those Signori, who gave me much consolation and edification, for I discovered in them much goodness of heart, accompanied with other qualities befitting Christian gentlemen.

I will not cease, since such is your wish, to recommend you to our Lord God, and to beseech Him to give you each day more strength and virtue, to enable you to bear the burdens which He is pleased to allow to be laid on your shoulders ; and this I earnestly desire, both for the sake of your country, towards whose spiritual benefit every exertion of yours is turned, and for the satisfaction of the most illustrious Lord Cardinal, who stands greatly in need of ministers in so extensive a charge, and also for the honour of His

Divine Majesty, who, I trust, will cause His grace to abound upon you. I in my turn beseech you tx) do the same for me, feeling as I do so much the greater need of prayers, as my death draws nigh, and I know not that I have done any good ; begging you to avail yourself of my services whenever I can be of use to you, I salute you with Christian and loving affection. — Your brother in the Lord, Philip Neri.

Rome, April 7, 1595.¹

Footnotes

1. Vittorio dell' Accisa was bom at Florence in 1537, and died in 1598. He was chaplain of the Cathedral, and went to Rome for the Jubilee of 1575. There he sought oat St. Philip, who esteemed him so highly that he set him to hear confessions in his own confessional at S. Girolamo della Carit2k Having obtained the ancient hospital of SS. Philip and James, he founded in it in 1587, by the advice of St. Philip, a monastery of cloistered nuns, to whom our Saint gave the name of the StabUite di Mener Antonio, Among the contributors to this great work we find the name of Bastiano Trievi, a member of the family into which St. Philip's sister Caterina had married. The nuns afterwards moved to the Monastery di MorUiedli outside the gte S. Frediano. In the church of the first monastery of the Stabilite in the Via della Scala is the following inscription : — See DOMENICO Mabia Manni, of the Florence Academy, Bagionamefvto terzo tuUa Vita di S. Philip Neri. ↩