Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/89

 1868.] Easter-JSight in Home. 69 EASTER-NIGHT IN ROME. By Charles L. PiiiLLirs. [Our readers will be pleased with the following very graphic article, from " The Catholic Standard," of May 9th, 1868, by a travelled and cultured young Philadelphia^, whom we are happy to number amongst our friends :] THE glorious solemnities which mark the celebration of Easter-Sunday within the walls of the Eternal City had all been duly performed. The dome of the Pontifical Basilica had ceased to re- verberate those notes of indescribable sweetness, which arise at the moment of the elevation from the silver trumpets of the choir ; the tens of thousands who congregate at this beautiful season from every quarter of the globe, to witness the splendid and wonderful ceremonies of the Church, had one by 'one dispersed to their temporary abodes, confused by the grandeur of all they had witnessed ; the many gallant soldiers who in the morning had knelt in the piazza of St. Peter's, with presented arras, to receive the benediction of the Pope, had slowly retired in military order to their various posts ; the echoes of the guns, whose salvos, thundering from the castle of St. Angelo, announce to the Campagna that the successor of the Apostles has be- stowed his blessing on Rome and the world, had grown fainter and fainter as they diffused the glorious news, until at last they had expired amidst the hills of Tivoli. The joyous clamor of the bells had gradually died away upon the ear ; the tokens of festivity had ceased ; night had fallen over the churches and palaces, and all was silent within the boundaries of Pome. The careless stranger, as he wandered through the streets, might have imag- ined from the stillness of the evening hour, that the ancient city around him, satisfied with the excitement of the day, was soon to yield itself to undisturbed repose, in order that the coming morn might find it once more prepared for the busy realities of life. Such a con- clusion would, however, have proved erroneous. A spectacle of surpassing magnificence was yet in store for its inhabitants. Before the night had advanced very far upon its course, hundreds of car- riages might be seen directing their way towards the enormous piazza, which forms the approach to the Church of St. Peter. Here they assumed a position which would enable their inmates to command a view of the Church and its immediate surroundings. It was about eight o'clock when my com- panion and myself arrived upon the spot and took our places amidst the crowd of vehicles, which momentarily grew thicker and thicker. I observed that the most perfect order prevailed among the masses around me, as though they were breathlessly awaiting the con- summation of some startling event. Little, however, could be seen to excite either surprise or curiosity, excepting the shadowy outlines of that majestic edifice, before whose solemn portals was now assembled a mighty concourse of human beings, convened from every clime, and professing every variety of belief. But the sight of this venerable pile, arising in colossal majesty amidst the darkness of the night, was more than enough to fix my attention, and absorb my faculties. As I scanned its vast extent, and noticed the effect of its wonderful architecture, I could not re- frain from thinking how fitly it repre- sented the dignity and preponderance of the Christian religion. Peerless be- yond comparison, and destined to with- stand for countless generations the wasting effects of time, it almost ap-