Hugh de Montboissier, when returning from Rome to France
with Isengarde his wife, would, as a matter of course, pass through the
valley of Susa. The two--perhaps when stopping to dine at S.
Ambrogio--would look up and observe the church founded by Giovannia
Vincenzo: they had got to build a monastery somewhere; it would very
likely, therefore, occur to them that they could not perpetuate their
names better than by choosing this site, which was on a much-travelled
road, and on which a fine building would show to advantage. If my view
is correct, we have here an illustration of a fact which is continually
observable--namely, that all things which come to much, whether they be
books, buildings, pictures, music, or living beings, are begotten of
others of their own kind. It is always the most successful, like Handel
and Shakespeare, who owe most to their forerunners, in spite of the
modifications with which their works descend.
Giovanni Vincenzo had built his church about the year 987. It is
maintained by some that he had been bishop of Ravenna, but Clareta gives
sufficient reason for thinking otherwise. In the "Cronaca Clusina" it is
said that he had for some years previously lived as a recluse on the
Monte Caprasio, to the north of the present Monte Pirchiriano; but that
one night he had a vision, in which he saw the summit of Monte
Pirchiriano enveloped in heaven-descended flames, and on this founded a
church there, and dedicated it to S.
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