Passing over the ancient Ponte Cestio, we enter the Trastevere, or city “across the Tiber,” where, according to an old tradition, St. Peter exercised the sacred ministry on his first arrival in Rome.
It is the portion of Rome which, till 1886, was most unaltered from mediaeval times. The inhabitants on this side of the river differ in many respects from those on the other side. They pride themselves upon being born Trasteverini, profess to be the direct descendants of the ancient Romans, seldom intermarry with their neighbours, and speak a dialect peculiarly their own. With many faults, they are devoted Catholics and loyal to the Holy See. Unfortunately, various Protestant sects and Socialist clubs are doing their utmost to sap the faith of this simple people, and much harm is being done.
Right opposite us, as we leave the bridge and cross the Via Lungara, is the little Church of S. Benedetto in Piscinula, built on the site of the house where St. Benedict lived as a boy, while pursuing his studies in Rome before his retreat to Subiaco. Formerly the church had an atrium or open court, but this has been demolished since 1870. The vaulted chapel is still shown where the boy saint used to pray, and the room
where he studied. During some alterations in 1863, the fresco of our Lady and the Divine Child, before which the Saint often knelt, was discovered and transferred to S. Ambrogio. The church has a beautiful mosaic pavement, and over the high altar is an ancient portrait of the Saint, thought to be authentic.
The great founder of Western monasticism was born at Norica, in Umbria, about A.D. 480, of a distinguished family, his father’s name being Eutropius. Sent by his parents to Rome to study in the public schools, his innocence took alarm at the behaviour of his companions, and at the age of thirteen he fled from the world, not to be entangled in its snares. He became the founder of a great monastic Order, which, in a single century, covered Europe from Rome to Britain and from the Danube to the plains of Castile with religious houses, and which, in its long history of fourteen centuries, has filled the Church’s calendar with saints.
From the river bank on the Trastevere side, looking towards the Aventine, of which we here have a splendid view, the fragment of a bridge will be noticed in the river a little below the island. This is the Ponte Rotto, or all that remains of the Pons AEmilius, built originally in the year 181 B.C. to replace the ancient Sublician bridge. Owing to its slanting position across the river and to the side pressure of the floods
against its piers, it has been carried away at least four times, in A.D. 180,1230, 1557, and 1598. After this fourth disaster it was never repaired. There is but one arch left now in midstream, the other two on the right having been destroyed in 1887.
Opposite this bridge, on the Trastevere side, a narrow street, Via dei Vascellari, leads to S. Cecilia.
