Idols and Miracles by Madame Sofia Bompiani

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 30, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 29.

Idols and Miracles.

By Madame Sofia Bompiani

"WHERE," asked Redshid Pasha on his visit to the Pantheon, "are the statues of the heathen gods?" "Of course they were removed when the temple was Christianized," was the natural answer. He replied, "I would have left them standing to show how the true God had triumphed over them in their own house."

This extract from a book written by Cardinal Wiseman is a specimen of the way in which the Roman Church feigns innocence of idol worship. The statues of all the pagan gods and of Venus, with the marvelous pearl of Cleopatra in her ears, no longer fill their ancient marble niches in the Pantheon; triumphant Mars is jostled from his pedestal, the trident of Neptune is broken, and proud Minerva is abased, but Rome is full of idols yet. Wherever one head was cut off, the hydra sprouted a hundred new ones not more noble nor more beautiful than the old.

Not without good reason have the teachers of this people suppressed in their oral instruction the second commandment: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;" for they know that almost every one of the 365 or more churches in Rome would be shamed by their teaching. Shrine rivals shrine; one idol vanquishes another, and is in turn subdued by a third; the favorite statue or picture winning for the friars or priests who own it uncounted wealth.

This was the case with the celebrated statue of the Madonna with the child in her arms, on the altar near the tomb of Raphael in the Pantheon. This statue wears a gemmed crown decreed to it by the Chapter of Saint Peter's, to which is intrusted the care of awarding honors and decorations to the various statues of the Madonna. Sometimes, but rarely, the child in her arms receives a crown also, but a similar honor is never awarded to a statue or picture of Christ.

This Madonna was the favorite miracle-working statue of the people of Rome until a rival caused it to be almost forgotten. It still wears the gemmed crown, and a dim light is burning before the altar, but the votive offerings are few, and the constant crowd of worshipers has been transferred to the neighboring church of Saint Agostino. There the statue by Sansovini of the Madonna seated with the child in her arms, glitters with necklaces, that reach to the waist, and bracelets that almost cover the arms; the walls on each side are hung with silver hearts and small paintings of doubtful art representing accidents from which the devout have been saved by the wonder-working statue. Once a whole army of assassins' daggers decorated the wall near a dozen large lamps, hung in a semicircle before it, threw a bright light continually upon the gems and the flowers.

Rarely is the open space before the Madonna without a crowd of devout kneeling worshipers. I have seen an old man rise with pain, leave the solemn group, lean on his cane and slowly mount the steps of the pedestal, upon which is inscribed: "Our Holiness Pius VII. concedes perpetually one hundred days of indulgence to all those who once a day shall devoutly kiss (or touch) the foot of this holy image, reciting a hail Mary, for the needs of the holy church." The old man, with bowed head and trembling hand, awed by the lights and flowers and gems, kissed the foot of the holy image, gained his one hundred days of indulgence, and no doubt returned the day after to secure more immunity from the pains of purgatory.

"The poor and holy virgin of Nazareth," says David Silvagni, in his remarkable work, "The Court and Society of Rome from 1769 to 1869," "is now no longer seen humbly dressed like the Madonna of Beato Angelico, of Raphael and of Sassoferrato, but covered with brocades, wide laces and royal mantles, like a queen in a theater." More deference is paid to the gem-crusted, ugly modern image of the Bambino Gesù, kept by the friars of the church of Ara Coeli, than to any other image of Christ in Rome. It is supposed to work miracles, and the gems are offerings from the sick whom it has healed. It is taken in a splendid carriage with servants in livery—often lent for the purpose by Prince Torlonia—to the sick person, and if, when laid upon the body, it remains red in the face, a cure will be effected. If it becomes pallid the sick person will inevitably die.

The bronze statue of St. Peter is worshiped devoutly by the peasants and lower class of the population, who kneel long on the marble floor before it and then reverently approach to kiss the worn toe that records the millions of kisses it has received. This is a dignified idol and does not condescend either to be carried about, to roll its eyes, shed tears, or give other signs of benevolence. It allows itself, however, on the festival of Saint Peter to be dressed in the brocade mantle of the pope, and to wear his triple crown and pastoral ring upon the uplifted finger.—Madame Sofia Bompiani, in N. Y. Observer.