APPROACH TO TRISULTI.

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"Wild-looking herds, sandal-men of the mountains, with lance-like staves, had encamped with their mountain goats on the edge of the well, and gave life to the magnificent scene, while sturdy boys amused themselves with rolling down stones. They fell with a hollow crash into the forest, and frightened from their nests the grey doves, which flew from the trees with the speed of lightning, and dashed to and fro in despair. Although these goatherds told me that a tiger lived in the mysterious well, yet at the same time they confessed that they sometimes let down goats by ropes. These animals find there water and herbs in abundance, and remain in the forest for months, until they are brought up well fed, for the men go down by ropes to bring them up again."—Lateinische Sommer.

Beyond Santulla the scenery became even more savage. The path wound through a chaos of great rocks and descended into a deep gorge, whence it mounted again to the final isolated plateau of Trisulti, close under the snows, where the approach to a great religious house was as usual indicated by a cross perched in the most advantageous position. Here nothing could exceed the wildness of the scene, as we looked backwards while resting on the platform of the cross upon the rugged billows of arid rock, melting into blue distances, but all without life. Beyond, however, it was different. We entered a wood of old oaks carpeted with lilies, and their boughs, which had never known the axe, green with the ferns which had taken root upon them. A wide path, beautifully kept, led through the wood to Alpine pastures, sheeted with mountain flowers, gentians, ranunculus, squills, and auriculas. Only the booming of its bell through the solemn solitudes, told that we were near the monastery, till we came close upon it, and then a vast mass of buildings, overtopped by a church, revealed itself on the last edge of the rocky plateau.

Ladies are not allowed to enter Trisulti without a special permission from the Pope. It has hitherto been one of the

few great monasteries which have not been entirely plundered by the Sardinian government, and forty monks remain here, leading a most useful and beneficent life, honoured by

Trisulti.

all the country round, the friends and helpers of the poor of the mountain villages in sickness or in sorrow.

We had scarcely reached the monastery when sounds of Litanies resounded through the woods, and between the distant oak-stems appeared the head of a procession of pilgrims which was just arriving from Naples. All were in holiday costume, and carried baskets. The priest who led them knelt, when he came in sight of Trisulti, at an outside chapel, and, two and two, all the multitude knelt behind him, and as he recited the Litany of the saints, their "Ora pro nobis " echoed through the mountains. Afterwards food was sent out from the convent, which they ate seated in groups upon the grass, and then continued their way to the shrine at Genazzano, singing in cadences as they moved.

A noble-looking monk in white robes, with a long white beard, Padre Gabrielli, acted as guide through the convent, which is exceedingly clean and well kept. Fountains sparkle in every court, and the roads within the walls, for it is like a little city, are covered with fine white sand. We were received at the head of a staircase by the Superior, who looked like a saint in a niche, with the face sculptured in wax, so perfectly white was it, and so absorbed and serene. He desired that we should have dinner provided and every comfort. While it was preparing we saw the rest of the

convent.

"There are few curiosities in the monastery, for unfortunately every thing ancient has disappeared under later restorations, so I did not find much to gratify my curiosity. However the situation in the mountains, the life of the monks in their lonely republic, and the history of this strange order, gave abundant matter for observation. One of those characters produced by the epoch of the crusades among which Francis and Dominic were soon after so remarkable, was St. Bruno, who, shocked at the excesses of Abp. Manasses of Rheims, founded the Carthusian rule towards the end of the 11th century. This order, which unites social monachism with the anchorite life, and exacts abstinence with the utmost rigour, received its name from the place where it took its rise, la Chartreuse near Grenoble. Its statutes (Consuetudines Cartusianæ) date from the year 1134, its confirmation by the Pope was obtained in 1170. In a time when the minds of men were brought into a mystic ecstasy by the struggle with the Mahometan East, the war of the church with the heresy of the Albigenses, and finally with the state, a new reformed order would have a rapid success. The Carthusians soon spread, and the extreme peculiarities of their rule contributed thereto not a little. As early as 1208 these fathers settled in Trisulti, which place was given to them by Innocent III. Here they found a ruined monastery, which had formerly belonged to the Benedictines, and here they erected upon the ruins the original Carthusian monastery in 1211. They say a castle, Trisalto, gave the name to that spot, which is generally explained a tribus saltibus, of three wood-covered hills."-Gregorovius.

The little houses of the monks surround a cloister which

VOL. II.

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is now a radiant garden. Through it we were taken to the church, which was built in 1211 by Innocent III., but restored in 1768. It is covered internally with marbles, jaspers, and alabasters, in the style of the Certosa of Pavia. In the Sacristy is an admirable picture by the Cavaliere d'Arpino, and on either side of the church are two large pictures by the modern artist Balbi of Alatri, one representing Moses striking the rock, the other the same miracle as performed by S. Bruno. Over the high-altar is a fresco of the sending forth of the first Carthusian monks to colonize Trisulti.

Just within the gate of the monastery is a little garden enclosed by walls, and ornamented with box clipped into most fantastic shapes. The terrace beyond it leads to the Spezeria, also decorated by Balbi, where many herbal medicines, and excellent liqueurs and perfumes are made by the monks. The country people come hither constantly and from a great distance for medicine and advice, and receive it without any payment.

"I had greater pleasure in going through the various rooms of the monastery than in looking at the modern pictures, to which one at last becomes indifferent. The Refectory is a large room, suitably ornamented with a painting of the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Here the brethren all assemble on feast days at a common repast, but on other days, solitary meals in the cells are ordered by the Rules. I was shown the clean kitchen and the bakehouse, where they make good bread of finer and coarser qualities, not only to supply the food of the monks, but also of the numerous servants. A pond, from which flows a canal, supplies a mill in the neighbouring yard. But the object the most worthy of notice, and which was shown to me with just pride, is the Dispensary; and I entered it with a feeling of deeper devotion than I had felt on entering the church. The combination of medicinal cures with the care of the soul, is a natural and very ancient task of these monastic institutions in lonely places: the monks who study medicine exercise an activity which is truly praiseworthy and efficacious. The nature of these

mountains invites them to uninterrupted study of the medicinal herbs which grow here in great quantities; and what more pleasing occupation can there be than botanizing in these mountains among rocks and rivers, collecting these wonder-working balsamic plants, or preparing them medicinally. . . . . At midnight the bell rings for matins, and the Excitator goes from cell to cell to rouse the monks. They pray in the four first penitential psalms; then they go into the church, where for three hours they chant matins. Having returned to their cells they continue their prayers, and then a short interval of sleep is again permitted." -Gregorovius.

A little path which turns off to the left outside the gateway of Trisulti gives the best view of the monastic buildings, and continues through the forest to the Gothic chapel and cell of S. Domenico Loricato, who first collected a number of hermits around him on this spot, and built a chapel which he dedicated to S. Bartholomew. A spring which rises near S. Domenico supplies the fountains of the convent, and popular tradition declares that it comes by channels from the Lago di Celano, and that it used occasionally to bring up fragments of fishing-nets from thence.

Having feasted on the convent fare we returned to Collepardo to visit its famous grottos. We left our horses at the top of the rock, whence a stony path winds down by zigzags into the abyss of the Cosa. Here the scenery is magnificent, the gorge is very narrow, only wide enough to contain the stream and the path by its side, and on the left rises a tremendous precipice, in the face of which yawns the mouth of the cavern. We had taken the precaution of asking for what is called an "illumination" on our way to Trisulti-and had ordered one of five francs, knowing by experience that the light which is enough to show, but not to annihilate the effect of darkness, is far the most effective. When we arrived, all was ready, and a troop of boys, and of