Then presently the people rose and sang the chorus "Venus
Laughing from the Skies;" but ere the sound had well died away, I awoke,
and all was changed; a light fleecy cloud had filled the whole basin, but
I still thought I heard a sound of music, and a scampering-off of great
crowds from the part where the precipices should be. After that I heard
no more but a little singing from the chalets, and turned homewards. When
I got to the chapel of S. Carlo, I was in the moonlight again, and when
near the hotel, I passed the man at the mouth of the furnace with the
moon still gleaming upon his back, and the fire upon his face, and he was
very grave and quiet.
S. MICHELE AND MONTE PIRCHIRIANO. (EXTRACTS FROM CHAPTERS VII. AND X. OF
ALPS AND SANCTUARIES.)
The history of the sanctuary of S. Michele is briefly as follows:--
At the close of the tenth century, when Otho III. was Emperor of Germany,
a certain Hugh de Montboissier, a noble of Auvergne, commonly called
"Hugh the Unsewn" (_lo sdruscito_), was commanded by the Pope to found a
monastery in expiation of some grave offence. He chose for his site the
summit of the Monte Pirchiriano in the valley of Susa, being attracted
partly by the fame of a church already built there by a recluse of
Ravenna, Giovanni Vincenzo by name, and partly by the striking nature of
the situation.
Pages:
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324