HISTORICAL PERSONAGES. 47 and long afterwards, Lorenzo the Magnificent; of the Popes Victor II., Alexander II. and IV., Innocent II., Pascal II. (all of whom were monks of Vallombrosa), Leo IX., who made a journey to Vallombrosa expressly to see San Giovanni, and many another Papal figure. But the most interesting and prominent of all the Papal figures associated with Vallombrosa is that of the famous and haughty Hildebrand, afterwards Gregory VII., who carried the Papacy to its utmost height of domination, triumphed over imperialism, forced Henry to his knees at Canossa, and finally was driven from Rome to end his days at Salerno with the proud and bitter saying, "I have loved justice and hated iniquity, and therefore I die in exile." Here we may see him in imagination traversing the forests alone, and pondering earnestly the future; or accompanied by his devoted patron and friend the Countess Matilda, pausing under the shadows to discuss with her the claims of the Church, and lay out plans for its aggrandisement and purification. Here, according to some historian, it was that he first assumed the monastic robes and took his early vows, before he went to Cluny ; and with these murmurous woods his name and his figure are closely associated, at least by tradition. Various are the accounts as to where he first took orders and made his vows as a monk. The first is that of Ottone Frisonga (1150), Baronius (1048), and Bernried (1120), who assert that it was at Cluny. The second is that of the Bollandists, who say that it was at the monastery of Sta Maria del Monte Aventino at Rome; the third, that it was in Domo S. Petri; the fourth, that it was at the monastery of San Benedetto de Calvello, near Soana; and the last, that it was at the monastery at Vallombrosa. This is directly affirmed, among other writers, by Padre Soldani, himself a learned Vallombrosan monk, in his 'Questioni Vallombrosene ' and his 'Istoria di Passegrano,' and particularly defended and sustained in an elaborate series of letters on the subject, in which the whole question is discussed (Sopra il Monacato e la Parentela di S. Gregory VII.) His view is supported by the Sacra Congregazione de' Riti, which decreed on the 21st of January 1673 that Gregory should be placed in the "Martirologio Romano" for the day of the 25th of May, under the title of Vallombrosan Monk. Soldani also asserts that he was related to San Giovanni Gualberto, which lends probability to his view. Whatever be the real facts, as we wander through the woods of Vallombrosa we may, without fear of critics, give loose to our fancy, and dream at least that we see that noble figure of Gregory walking through its meditative paths. Besides these memories also we may recall San Pietro Igneo, who here underwent the ordeal of fire, and passed unharmed through the flames; and Beato Tesoro Beccaria, the martyr; and San Torello, and San Benedetto Uberto of the royal D blood of the Longobards, and many another priest and monk of note. Here, too, lived the distinguished botanist Buono Faggi, and Father Hugford, the English Benedictine, who, in the last century, revived and improved the art of imitating marble in scagliola, and specimens of whose skill still hang on the walls of the monastery; and (as tradition says) Mattio Bandello, the author of the famous novelle, that rival those of Boccaccio-at least in their looseness, if not in their style; and here, too, wandered often Christofano Landino, who wrote the celebrated comments on Dante, and whose mummied body may still be seen in the church at Borgo-allaCollina, about fourteen miles distant, with this inscription : "Di Dante, di Maron, del Venosino Quei che seppe spilgar gri alti pensieri SPOLIATION BY NAPOLEON. 51 And here Francesco Berni, coming from his native town of Lamporecchio, meditated those humoristic and sarcastic poems that gave his name in Italy to all similar compositions. For eight centuries this monastery flourished, and to a certain extent at least preserved its high reputation for charity and hospitality. But in the beginning of the present century a sad change came over its fortunes. The first bolt of doom fell upon it when Napoleon in 1810 swept away with a rude conquering hand the right of ecclesiastical property, confiscated most of the conventual houses, seized their possessions, and drove the monks forth to seek what refuge they could in the world. Vallombrosa was not excepted from his ban. The monastery and church were despoiled of their treasures. Its large domains were seized, and the monks themselves were forced to abandon the asylum which had been the home of their order for centuries. |