Miscellaneous Prose eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 79 pages of information about Miscellaneous Prose.

Miscellaneous Prose eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 79 pages of information about Miscellaneous Prose.
Bovino; the Duke d’Ozia d’Angri, who had emigrated in 1860, and returned to Naples six months ago; Marquis Rivadebro Serra; Marquis Pisicelli, whose family had left Naples in 1860 out of devotion to Francis II.; two Carraciolos, of the historical family from which sprung the unfortunate Neapolitan admiral of this name, whose head Lord Nelson would have done better not to have sacrificed to the cruelty of Queen Caroline; Prince Carini, the representative of an illustrious family of Sicily, a nephew of the Marquis del Vasto; and Pescara, a descendant of that great general of Charles V., to whom the proud Francis I. of France was obliged to surrender and give up his sword at the battle of Pavia.  Besides these Neapolitan noblemen who have enlisted of late as privates, the Italian army now encamped on the banks of the Po and of the Mincio may boast of two Colonnas, a prince of Somma, two Barons Renzi, an Acquaviva, of the Duke of Atri, two Capece, two Princes Buttera, etc.  To return to the mission of Colonel Bariola and the Duke of Sant’ Arpino, I will add some details which were told me this morning by a gentleman who left Cremona yesterday evening, and who had them from a reliable source.  The messenger of General Lamarmora had been directed to proceed from Cremona to the small village of Le Grazie, which, on the line of the Mincio, marks the Austrian and Italian frontier.

On the right bank of the Lake of Mantua, in the year 1340, stood a small chapel containing a miraculous painting of the Madonna, called by the people of the locality ‘Santa Maria delle Grazie.’  The boatmen and fishermen of the Mincio, who had been, as they said, often saved from certain death by the Madonna—­as famous in those days as the modern Lady of Rimini, celebrated for the startling feat of winking her eyes—­ determined to erect for her a more worthy abode.

Hence arose the Santuario delle Grazie.  Here, as at Loretto and other holy localities of Italy, a fair is held, in which, amongst a great number of worldly things, rosaries, holy images, and other miraculous objects are sold, and astounding boons are said to be secured at the most trifling expense.  The Santuario della Madonna delle Grazie enjoying a far-spread reputation, the dumb, deaf, blind, and halt-in short, people afflicted with all sorts of infirmities—­flock thither during the fair, and are not wanting even on the other days of the year.  The church of Le Grazie is one of the most curious of Italy.  Not that there is anything remarkable in its architecture, for it is an Italian Gothic structure of the simplest style.  But the ornamental part of the interior is most peculiar.  The walls of the building are covered with a double row of wax statues, of life size, representing a host of warriors, cardinals, bishops, kings, and popes, who—­as the story runs—­pretended to have received some wonderful grace during their earthly existence.  Amongst the grand array of illustrious personages, there are

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
Miscellaneous Prose from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.