Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/282

292 of the Christian life, which arose in beauty upon the ravaged, desolated field of heathen Rome, and which will still remain as beautiful monuments of Christian art and science, even if it should no longer be the Pontifical capital. I advise you, my R——, to see, in the church of San Pietro de Vincoli, the Moses of Michael Angelo, a remarkable figure, strong and full of deep earnestness, a figure worthy both of the Prophet and the Artist. Moses has descended from Sinai, filled with the divine energy of the presence and word of God, and beholds the children of Israel dancing around the golden calf which they had made during his absence. He sits down, astonished and angry, and plucks at his beard. All this appears to me expressed in the figure.

In the beautiful church Maria Sopra Minerva, half in the Gothic style, you should see, near the altar, an excellent Christ, also by Michael Angelo, and the beautiful recumbent figure of Catharine of Sienna, with its expression of eternal peace. See also in the church of St. Cecilia, in Trastevere, the statue of the youthful martyr, lying as her body was found in the oldest catacomb, as also the chamber, a bath-room, still ornamented with valuable mosaics, in which she suffered martyrdom. To this church belongs a convent containing upwards of sixty nuns; they live under strict rule and occupy themselves with music and the preparation of priests' and church ornaments. I heard them sing an erudite and elaborate mass with perfect accuracy but—without soul.

In the little hidden church of Maria della Pace, you must see the Sibyls of Raphael, one of the most