The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 16, 1900, Page 17

HERE Is fn Rome and tn Italy an Tuld way, and there is also a ne~ way, The old way is followed by the great majority of the nation, and the new way by only a few. Yet the old Is grow- ing heavy and dull with age. while the new’ gives promise of growth an strength. No sign of this coming c is so clear to the wise observer as the dif- ferent ways of celebrating Christmas. The old way uses Images; the new one does not. And the presepio and the Christmas tree are emblematic®f the two systems of religion which now, after the lapse of cen- turies, meet in the so-called Eternal City. The presepio is a reproduction of the stable of Bethlehem where Jesus Christ was born. There In a rocky cavern are vax images. often as Jarge as life, of the Virgin Mother and the Child, of Joseph, the shepherds and the magli, while other images of placid cows and wise donkeys, the natural inhabltants of the stable, fill up the scene. The Christmas tree has no images. not even the German Christ-child on the top; but its grcen, aromatic branches are laden with vellow ¢ 1ges, with sflver balls and s of gilt paper, with light- ed candles, red, white and green, the col- ors of Italy, and with flakés of mimic The Sunday schools of the evan- charches in Rome generally have tree. not only beautiful to but laden with gifts that make the hearts of the little ones sing for joy. Near- 1y all of the Roman Catholic churches have a presepio, but the most splendid is that of the Church of Ara Colli, on the historic Campidoglio. There the Madon- na holds in her lap the wondrous bambino Gesu, a dark complexioned wooden doll dressed in gold and silver tissue stuff and covered from head to foot with precious stones. It is beileved by the populace to possess miraculous healing power, and is often carried in a grand carrlage to the sick. The presepio is on the left of the en- trance after you climb the long, long stone staircase t leads up the hill; on the right at Christmas time iz seen a j form where children recite hymns and other poems to the great delight of the'r respective mothers, aunts, sisters and grandmothers. Wherever in the smaller chyrches there is a modest presepio the mothers gather and urge their little ones to recite their hymons of praise to the Madonna and the child. But to the divine child alone are the hymns and songs addressed which are repeated by the children around the Christmas tree. Some time In Christmas weck, not al- ways on Christmas eve, these vislons of light and beauty entrance the children in the Waldensian, the Methodist, the Bap- tist and the other Italian evangelical churches. And not only the children but the mothers and fathers come to cele- brate the “Peace on earth, good will to men.” Love and joy touch the hearts of young and old. Then is sung the beauti- ful hymn written by Alessandro Mar- gonl, set to a melody even more beautiful than the words, sung by the martyrs and confessors of the persecuted churches since the year 15%— - Ecco ¢l e nato il Parvolo Ci fu largito 11 Figlio. In such grand poetry as this, & hymn of five verses of seven lines each, both Ro- man Catholics and evangelical Christians ean join at Christmas time. Christmas eve is a family festival where old and young of three or féur genera- tions meet at a supper of fish, eels, nuts, cakes and fruit or vegetables. No meat is permitted, as this is what 1s called eat- ing magro, but it is none the less a full meal. It is followed next day by the sumptuous dinner, graced necessarily by & fat capon and ended by pan glallo, a sort of coarse nut and fruit cake. Roman chil- dren receive no gifts on Christmas day- They have no legendary Santa Claus with snow-covered caps and furs and bells who comes down the chimney to fill thef: stockings with long desired gifts. Their ideal 1s La Befano, an ugly but very ‘benevolent old woman who brings them dolls, trumpets, little watches, sweets and marbles on the night before Epiphany. As the wise men of the East brought gold, frankincense and myrrh as gifts to the Madonna and the Child, the komans consider that Epiphany 1s the time to give gifts, Instead of Christmas. This is a materialistic view of the beauti- ful custom, very different from that of the Protestant church, which selects Christmas day for its observance. Gifts to each other are tokens of joy for the inestimable gift which God In his ten- der love toward mankind gave that day in Bethlehem. The people who serve you at home, the baker, the milkman, the grocer, the was woman, the carpet-beaters, the postman, etc., are willing to receive thelr mancis, a small gift in money, on Christmas day. They expect It then, and figuratively one holds a regular levee, purse in hand, un- til the procession s ended. Very often there Is an Interchange of gifts and pleasant words. The baker sends you a cake of pan gallo; the grocer nuts and Malaga ralsins; the wine mer- chant a bottle of rare old wine, and they THE SUNDAY CALL. ¢ . know they lose nothing by the remem- brance. s Befvices are held at midnight in all tha Roman Catholic churchés on. Christmas eve. The most élaborite of these: cere- monies is held of course in the Basilica of Santa Marla Magsiore, where the Santa Culla or Holy Cradle in which our Sav- four was carriéd into Egypt i3 allowed to be seen Ly the devout. It is generally kept in a magnificent rellquary six feet high, adorned with bas-reliefs and sta- tuettes in silver in the first chapel on the left of the church. This fs the chapel which contains the statues of the migh* and terrible Popes Pius V and Sixtus V This is the Annio Santo, the holy vear of the jubilee, whifh has nét been observed since A. D. 1825. The cesign Is to keep It either once in fifty or In twenty-five vedrs. But as neither 180 nor 1875 were fortunate years for the papacy the jubilee was omitted. Seventy-five vears had pasted and the ceremony could not longer be delayed, although the Pontiff is still a “‘prisoner” and Rgme is not vet restored to him. But the great age of Leo XITT has given him unusuei prestige and the leniency of the Itallan Government prom- ised safety and protection to pilgrims it the# came to Rome. So they have been coming all the vear, excent in the heat of sumther, from all parts of the Roman Catholic world, a crowd of Servians and Bulgarlans, Geérmans, French, English and Americans. They have visited each of the four apcient bLasilicas five times and have tréecelved pardon for all their sins. The Porte Sante or holy doors 'n each of these churches, which wera opened with great care on the 24th ot December, 189, will be closed with equal care on the *th of December this year at noon. Then the vestibule of St. Peter's Chureh' will be filled with seats, some of them decked with red velvet and gilt ftinge for sovereigns or royal personages, and a splendid throhe for the Pope will be erected. He will then, If his frall, aged body lasts untfl that day, tise from (hae throne and wearing the triple crown and trailing behind him a sllvér tissue train three yards 10ng. begii the closing of the holy dobt with a gold trowel, as he opened it 1ast vear with a gold hammer. The bricks that are to close it for another twenty-five. fifty. seventy-five years, or who knows how” much lohger, are all ready. each on# contribited by a noble family and beating its crest. Johnson's Dlctionary defines the Christ mas séAdon as '‘the twelve davs succeed- ing the festival of the nativity. It we so conslder {t thix Is a ithe of many func- tion# in the church and clty of. Rome There are not dnly thie. spiendld ones on the gréat festival, bui those of the thres classés of martyrs during the week, the ‘martyrs In will'and In déed typified by Saint Stephen; the martyra. in-will but not in. fact typified by Saint John the Evahgelist, ‘and the martyrs in fact bui not In will typifled by the Holy Innocents. These humerous festivals, followed by that of the Néw: Yeéar and a few days later by the Epiphdny, arfest labor and make these twelve daya ohe fong restinz time. Tamiliés meet together the last night of the $pat to take a friendly glast of wine atd wish each other Buon Anno, Happy. New Year. as the dlock strikes 12. ——— Craries F. Holler, in talkinig about ani. mal phosphoréscence, dhvs: “ft 1§ possi- ble to read by the Ight 0f the humble earthworm. ' One of ths most brilllant plays of 4nimal. phosphorescence I have observed came from such a source. Its discovery was accidental. In passing through an orAnge grove one rainy night, in Bouthétn Callfornia, I kicked aside a large clump of earth. when. to all intents and plirposes, a mass of white moliten metal went fiylng Ih every directlon, ni- fording an . uniisual dlsplay.’ “The cause af the lkht wak a single, poscifly two, éhrthworms, not over two inches in length. The luminous matter WAR exuding from them and had perme- ated the surtounding #oll, rendering it phosphorescent. The light-emittihg mu- couts cdme off on my hands, and the light lasted several decorids, gradually fading away. “Possibly the most remarkable light ever uked for putposes of reading is the beautiful pyrosoiha, a columnar, jeliy- lilie creature, oné of the free swimming tunicates. They dre usually from one to two feet Ih length and three or four inches actoss, open at one end. The columh {8 an aggtegation of animals, each of which takes in water and expe's it by an orifice In thé Interlor; and this volume of watet, rushing from the open end, pfopels the animal along. Tts lumin- osity i1s wonderful, its name, fire body, well chosen. é ““To {llustrate iis intensity a Portugueze med captaln séetted-six of the animals, which he placed {n glask jars suspended from the ceiling of his cabin. By their owh light he wrote a description of thelr beatitles. ) “Bennett, the . English naturalist, placed a deep-sea shark, of the genus 1sistius, in a Jar in his cabin and coull dly read by its light, describing the ppeatance of the fish as iruly.ghast- \ly."—Sclentific American.