Decline of Romanism in Rome.
The following item of interest, clipped from the Church Union, indicates the waning condition of papacy at its foundation: Gavazzi is giving lectures in Rome in refutation of the pope’s late encyclical. This is indeed bearding the lion in his den. Only a few years ago his life would have paid the forfeit of such a venture. One requires to live in this once stronghold of the church to realize the great change that has befallen the once mighty papal power. The monasteries and convents, those monuments and aforetime instruments of its despotism, are being turned into more useful purposes than living tombs for God’s creatures. The kitchens belonging to the monks of the ex-convents of the Carmina, at Rome, consisting of fifty spacious apartments, are undergoing transformation into soup kitchens for the poor and needy. His Majesty, Victor Emanuel, is contributing largely to their support. The presence of four Jesuit priests in Florence the other day necessitated a guard of soldiers to prevent the citizens from doing them bodily harm. Even His Holiness, in these his last days of action, seems to be with his own hand striving to efface its visible strength and glory. He has sent forth an order to have all the relics in the churches transported to the Vatican. This order implies not only the relics, but also the silver and gold cases in which they are contained. Some of the latter are very precious, even from an artistic point of view. The heads of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, which were preserved on the high altar of St. John, in the Lateran, were among the first of the relics to be removed.