Roman Diary

268 Pages·1610·8 MB·English

Collection Oblate Writings 17
Saint EUGENE de MAZENOD
ROME DIARY
(1825-1826, 1845, 1854)
Translated by
Ronald Zimmer, O.M.I.
Oblate General Archives
Via Aurelia, 290
Rome, 2001
Printed by
MARIAN PRESS LTD.
BATTLEFORD, SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA
Table of Contents
pp.
General Introduction ...................................................................... 9
A Diary of the Stay in Rome in 1825-1826 ............................ 13
Introduction.................................................................................. 13
Text................................................................................................ 29
B Diary of the Trip to Rome in July-August 1845 .............. 157
Introduction.................................................................................. 157
Text............................................................................................... 163
C Diary of Stay in Rome on the Occasion of the Definition
of the Immaculate Conception in 1854 .............................. 179
Introduction.................................................................................. 179
Text................................................................................................ 189
Illustrations
1 - St. Peter’s Basilica and Square ............................................... 7
2 - Basilica of St. Mary Major ...................................................... 26
3 - Basilica of the Holy Apostles ................................................. 27
4 - Church of Santa Maria in Campitelli . . . ............................... 68
5 - The Corso.................................................................................... 69
6 - Campo Vaccino (Roman Forum)e.......................................... 88
7 - Church of Saints John and Paul............................................... 89
8 - Square of the Rotunda and the Pantheon.............................. 154
9- Piazza Navona and the Church of St. Agnes ....................... 155
10 - Church and Convent of Trinita del Monti ............................ 176
11 - Quirinal Palace ........................................................................... 177
12 - The Angel Castle......................................................................... 246
13 - The Coliseum and the Arch of Constantine.......................... 247
These reproductions are found in works of Giuseppe Vasi: Vedute di
Roma nel ‘700: chiese, conventi, ville, giardini; Idem: Vedute di Roma
nel ‘700: porte, piazze, palazzi, basiliche, pontv, and of Luigi Rossini,
Vedute di Roma nel ‘800. Dino Audino editore Collana: Vedute d’Italia,
vol, 6, 7, 8. No page numbers or date.
Index of Names ............................................................................... 249
Index of Subject Matter 263

R O M A N D I A R Y
INTRODUCTION
As we continue publishing the parts of Eugene de MazenocTs diary
that have been preserved, we have gathered into a single volume the
pages which concern his trips to Rome. He went there six times. First in
1825-1826 in order to obtain approval of the Rules and Congregation.
He left Aix on October 30, 1825 and took the land route through Frejus,
Nice, Turin and Genoa. He arrived in Rome on November 26 and left
again on May 4, 1826. He went through Loretto on the Adriatic, to
Bologna, Milan, Turin, Mont-Cenis, Chambery, Grenoble, Gap and Aix.
He arrived back in Marseilles on about July 7, 1826.
He made the second trip in 1832 at the time of his promotion to the
episcopate. He left Marseilles near the end of July, passed through Aix
where he named Father Courtes Vicar General of the Congregation,
stopped at Gap and at Notre Dame du Laus on July 30 and August 1,
then by the overland route he headed for Rome where he arrived shortly
after August 15. Father Tempier, who was waiting for him, left a few
clays later. Ordained Bishop on Sunday, October 14, he left the city on
November 4. He left Civitavecchia aboard the Henry IV on the 6th.
From Livorno to Genoa he travelled on the Colombo and on the Sully
from Genoa to Marseilles where he arrived on November 16.
The French Government protested to the Holy See about his eleva­
tion to the episocopate since it was without its authorization. Pope
Gregory XVI urgently recalled to himself the Bishop of Icosia who left
immediately in the first days of August, 1833. He went first by land route
with the mail coach from Marseilles to Nice, and by private carriage
from Nice to Genoa. He continued by boat from Genoa to Livorno, then
from Livorno to Civitavecchia where he arrived in the late afternoon of
August 15. He was still fasting but was too late to be able to celebrate
Mass. He stayed at Rome from August 16 to the beginning of December.
He returned by boat from Civitavecchia to Marseilles with a stopover at
Genoa. He went first to Aix and returned to the Bishop’s house at
Marseilles only on December 11, 1833.
The fourth trip, in 1845, was to bless the marriage of his only niece,
Cesarie de Boisgelin, to the Marquis Charles de Damas, residing at
Albano near Rome. Accompanied by Canon Jacques Jeancard, he trav­
eled there by sea from July 11 to 14, and returned from August 8 to 11
or 12.
In 1851, Bishop de Mazenocl made a fifth trip, with Father Tempier,
to obtain approval of the additions to the Rules made at the General
Chapter of 1850. They traveled by boat. They left on January 21 and
returned to Marseilles at the beginning of April. Pope Pius IX conferred
the privilege of the Sacred Pallium on the Bishop of Marseilles, a dis­
tinction reserved for Metropolitan Bishops (brief of April 1, 1851).
During this trip, the Founder and Father Tempier spent “five days ” at
Naples and surrounding area (Rey II, 484) but didn’t have time to go to
Palermo1.
The sixth and final trip to Rome took place from October 23, 1854
to January 4, 1855, to take part in the ceremonies for the definition of
the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Bishop de Mazenod and
Canon Jacques Jeancard made the outgoing voyage on the Requin, from
Toulouse to Civitavecchia, October 25 to 27. After leaving Rome on
December 31, the travelers boarded a government boat at Civitavecchia
1 Bishop de Mazenod’s letter to Bertrand Talbot, adopted son of Lord Shrewsbury,
May-June, 1851 (Oblate Writings, Vol. 3, p. 71): “I would well have wished to go and sur­
prise you in Sicily at the castle I saw being built and wherein dwelt a worthy person of
your name who loved me as a son, for then I was as young as you are today. It was the
Countess of Vintimille, mother-in-law of the Prince of Belmonte-Vintimiglia, who built
the house of Arencilla in which you are staying. This Countess of Vintimille was born
Talbot-Tyrconnel. But I had only five days to spend in Naples, so I was only able to greet
you from a distance...”