cast myself at thy feet to bathe them with my tears, to plea for me; and through thy infinite goodness, I may receive the effects of thy infinite mercies. 02. ARCH CONFRATERNITY OF S. GIOVANNI DECOLLATO MAGUIRE. JOHN FRANCIS MAGUIRE, a distinguished Irish member of the British Parliament, and editor of the "Cork Examiner." Within the last few years, Mr. Maguire has attained considerable distinction as a true patriot, an orator, and a man of letters. His work on "Rome, its Ruler, and its Institutions," is a valuable addition to Catholic literature, and is the best defence of the Roman government that has yet appeared. 1. MORICHINI gives an interesting account of this confraternity, whose mission is one of singular charity,-to bring comfort and consolation to the last moments of the condemned. It appears that on the 8th day of May, 1488, some good Florentines, then in Rome, considering that those who died by the hand of justice had no one to visit and comfort them in their last hours, instituted a confraternity which was at first called Della Misericordia, and afterwards by its present name, from the church of their patron. Pope Innocent VIII. granted. the society a place under the Campidolio, in which they erected a church to St. John the Baptist; and here they were allowed to bury the remains of those who had been executed. Their objects were sympathized with, and their efforts assisted, by successive Pontiffs. Tuscans only, or their descendants to the third generation are received into the society. 2. On the day previous to the execution of a criminal, they invite, by public placard, prayers for his happy passage to the other life. In the night of that day, the brothers, some half dozen in number, including priests, assemble in the church of S. Giovanni di Fiorentini, not far from the New Prisons. Here they recite prayers, imploring the Divine assistance in the melancholy office which they are about to perform. They then proceed to the prisons, walking, two by two, in silence, some of the brothers bearing lanterns in their hands. On entering the chamber called conforteria, they assume the sack and cord, in which they appear to the prisoner as well as to the public. They divide between them the pious labors. Two perform the office of consolers; one acts as the sagrestano; and another makes a record of all that happens from the moment of the intimation of the sentence to that of the execution. These dismal annals are carefully preserved. 3. At midnight, the guardians of the prison go to the cell of the condemned, and lead him, by a staircase, to the chapel of the conforteria. At the foot of the stairs, the condemned is met by the notary, who formally intimates to him the sen tence of death. The unhappy man is then delivered up to the two "comforters," who embrace him, and, with the crucifix and the image of the Sorrowful Mother presented to him, offer all the consolation which religion and charity can suggest in that terrible moment. The others assist in alleviating his misery, and, without being importunate, endeavor to dispose him to confess, and receive the Holy Communion. 4. Should he be ignorant of the truths of Christianity, they instruct him in them in a simple manner. If the condemned manifest a disposition to impenitence, they not only themselves use every effort which the circumstances of his case render necessary, but call in the aid of other clergymen. The other members of the confraternity employ the hours preceding the execution in the recital of appropriate prayers, and confess and communicate at a mass celebrated two hours before dawn. 5. Clad in the sacco, they proceed, two by two, to the prison, the procession being headed by a cross-bearer with a great cross, and a torch-bearer at each side, carrying a torch of yellow wax. The procession having arrived at the prison, the condemned descends the steps; the first object which meets his gaze being an image of the Blessed Virgin, before which he kneels, and, proceeding on, does the same before the crucifix, which is near the gate that he now leaves forever. Here he ascends the car which awaits him, accompanied by the "comforters," who console and assist him to the last; and the procession moves on to the place of execution, the members of the confraternity going in advance. 6. Arrived at the fatal spot, the condemned descends from the car, and is led into a chamber of an adjoining building, which is hung with black, where the last acts of devotion are performed, or, if he be impenitent, where the last efforts are made to move him to a better spirit. The hour being come, the executioner bandages his eyes, and places him upon the block; and thus, while supported by his confortori, and repeating the sacred name and invoking the mercy of Jesus, the axe descends upon the criminal, and human justice is satisfied. The brothers then take charge of the body, lay it on a bier, and, carrying it to their church, decently inter it. Finally, they conclude their pious work by prayer. 103. THE CONFRATERNITY "DELLA MORTE." MAGUIRE. 1. FREQUENTLY, towards night, does the stranger in Rome near in the streets the sad chant of the Miserere; and on approaching the place whence the solemn sounds proceed, he beholds a long procession of figures clad entirely in black, and headed by a cross-bearer; many of the figures bearing large waxen torches, which fling a wild glare upon the bier, on which is borne the body of the deceased. It is the Confraternity della Morte, dedicated to the pious office of providing burial for the poor. It was first instituted in 1551, and finally established by Pius IV. in 1560. 2. It is composed mostly of citizens of good position, some of whom are of high rank. The members are distinguished by a habit of black, and a hood of the same color, with apertures for the eyes. When they hear of a death, they meet, and having put on their habits, go out in pairs; and when they arrive at the house where the body lies, they place it on a bier, and take it to a church, singing the Miserere as the mournful procession winds through the streets. 3. Even should they be apprised of a death which had oc curred twenty, or even thirty, miles distant from Rome, no matter what may be the time or the season, the burial of their poor fellow-creature is at once attended by this excellent society. In the Pontificate of Clement VIII., a terrible inundation was caused by the rise of the Tiber-a calamity ever to be dreaded, and ever attended with the greatest misery and danger to the poor-and the brethren were seen employed, as far as Ostia and Fiumicino, in extricating dead bodies from the water. 4. Another confraternity-della Perseveranza-which is omposed of pious men, visit and relieve poor strangers who are domiciled in inns and lodging-houses, and minister to their different wants. This confraternity was established under Alexander VII., in 1663; and besides its duty of ministering to the necessities of the living, it also provides decent sepulture for the dead-poor strangers being in both cases the objects of their special care. 5. A fatal accident, which occurred near Tivoli, in September, 1856, afforded a melancholy occasion for the exercise of the charity of one of those institutions, and severely tested the humanity and courage of its brotherhood. An Irish clergyman, whose name it is not necessary to mention, was unfortunately drowned while bathing in the sulphur lake below Tivoli. After three days, the body was recovered; but it was found to be in an advanced state of decomposition, in a great measure owing to the highly impregnated character of the water. 6. The members of the confraternity della Morte, established in the church of the Carita, in Tivoli, laid the body in a coffin, which they had provided for the purpose; and thougb the day was intensely hot, and the odor from the body was in the highest degree offensive, they bore it, for a distance of five miles, to the cathedral, where, after the last offices of religion being paid to it, it was buried in the grave set apart for the deceased canons of the church. 7. Here were a number of men, the majority of them artisans, encountering this fearful danger, and undergoing this I perilous toil, beneath the raging heat of an Italian sun; not only without hope of fee or reward, but freely sacrificing their day's employment to the performance of a pious work. The number of the brethren to whom this duty was allotted was twenty-four; and they relieved each other by turns-those not engaged in bearing the body chanting sacred hymns, the dirge like tones of which fall upon the ear of the stranger with such solemn effect. 104. LAMENT OF MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS. BURNS. ROBERT BURNS was born in Scotland in 1758; died in 1796. In poeti genius he has been surpassed by few in any age. Born of the people, he sang of the people, and his songs are the genuine expression of So tish feeling; hence it is that his name is identified with the Scottish ne'ion 1. Now nature hangs her mantle green On every blooming tree, And spreads her sheets o' daisies white Now Phoebus cheers the crystal streams, But naught can glad the weary wight 8 Now lav'rocks wake the merry morn, The merle, in his noontide bower, 8 Now blooms the lily by the bank, Maun lie in prison strong. |