column erected in the Piazza di Spagna to the dogma of the
Immaculate Conception, appear to be the only material products of the
Pontificate of Pius the Ninth. For some reason or other, which I am not
learned enough in theological lore to determine, the feast of St Francis
de Sales was celebrated as a sort of inauguration festival by the pupils
of the new college. The Pope honoured the ceremony with his presence;
and, for a wonder, a very full account of the proceedings was published
in the _Giornale di Roma_; the quotations I make are literal translations
from the official reports.

"The day," so writes the _Giornale_, "was in very truth a blessed and a
fortunate one, not only for the pupils themselves, who yearned for an
opportunity of bearing solemn witness to their gratitude and devotion
towards their best and highest father and most munificent benefactor, but
also for all those who have it upon their hearts to share in those great
works which form the most striking proof of the perpetual growth and
spread of our most sacred religion."

Apparently the number of the latter class is not extensive, as the visit
of the Pope attracted but little crowd, and the lines of French soldiers
who were drawn up on his way to salute him as he passed, were certainly
not collected in the first instance by a spirit of religious zeal. The
_Giornale_, however, views everything with the eyes of faith, not of
"pure reason." Mass was performed at the Holy Church of Humility, and
"from early dawn, as soon as the news of the holy father's visit was
circulated, an immense crowd assembled there which filled not only the
church, but the adjoining rooms and corridors. The crowd was composed of
the flower of Roman rank and beauty, and the _elite_ of the strangers
residing in Rome, both French, English, and American, who desired the
blessing of assisting at the bloodless sacrifice celebrated by the Vicar
of Christ, and who longed to receive from his hands the angels' food." I
am sorry truth compels me to state, that the whole of this immense crowd
consisted of some two hundred people in all, and that the only
illustrious personages of special note amongst the crowd not being
priests, were General Goyon, the American Minister and Consul, and the
Senator of Rome. The Pope arrived at eight o'clock, and then proceeded
to celebrate the communion, assisted by Monsignors Bacon, bishop of
Portland, U.S., and Goro, bishop of Liverpool. "The rapt