The Uniate Eastern Churches/Chapter 2

by Adrian Fortescue, edited by George Duncan Smith

CHAPTER II

EXISTING BYZANTINE INSTITUTIONS IN ITALY

We come now to the remains of what was once so great an element in the ecclesiastical life of Southern Italy and Sicily. The Byzantine rite is still used here; there are still Italo-Greeks, though now they are all Albanians. In describing their institutions we must go back, to trace the origin of each in particular.

1. Grottaferrata.

First among all Italo-Greek institutions I place the dear monastery of the Mother of God at Grottaferrata.^[1] It is the oldest Greek centre now existing in Italy; it has a glorious history covering ten centuries; it has always been, it still is, the chief centre of their rite, to which all Italo-Greeks look. To the man who thinks that Popes want to turn everyone into a Latin the best answer is this venerable sanctuary, where under the very walls of Rome, protected, blessed, and favoured by a long series of Popes, Greek monks for over 900 years have never ceased to worship God according to an Eastern rite. How easily during all these centuries, time after time, might Grottaferrata have been turned into a Latin monastery! Who would have noticed or cared? The Pope himself would have cared. It is the Popes who have maintained here, in the heart of the Papal states, a rite foreign to them, yet no less Catholic than their own; so little have they ever thought that all Catholics must be Latins.

About the year 910 Nicholas, said to belong to the family of Malena, was born at Rossanum. He was a Greek of Calabria. He married and had a child, then, both wife and child dying early, he went to be a monk. He entered the monastery of St Nazarios, near Palmi in Calabria, and at his profession took the name Neilos,^[2] in memory of St Neilos of Sinai, who had also become a monk after the death of his wife.^[3] He then moved to several monasteries, and became Hegumenos of St Adrian near San Demetrio Corone. But at that time the Saracens from Sicily were devastating Calabria; so at last, about 981, Neilos with his monks, fleeing from them, went north to the Campagna. They came first to the great Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino. The Abbot of Monte Cassino gave them a dependent house, Vallelucio, then the Greek monks moved again to Serperi, near Gaeta. Then Neilos went to Rome.

There had just been a revolution at Rome and an Antipope. The family of Crescentius had driven out the lawful Pope, Gregory V (996-999), and had set up a Calabrian, John Philagathos (Bishop of Piacenza), as Antipope, with the title John XVI. The Emperor Otto III (993-1002), coming to Rome in 998, had deposed Philagathos and put him in prison.

It was to beg for the life of his countryman that Neilos first came to Rome. He was received with great honour by Otto and Gregory. But, in spite of his efforts, Philagathos was murdered by the people (998). Then Neilos went back to Serperi. He was back in Rome four years later, and then set out for another Greek monastery, St Agatha, south of Tusculum. He was now a very old man. On his way he fell sick on the slopes of the Alban hills. Lying sick here at the place where Cicero had once had a villa and had written his "Quæstiones tusculana," Neilos had a vision, from which he learned that here at last his wandering monks were to find rest. He obtained a grant of the land from the Count of Tusculum, sent for his monks from Serperi, told them that they were to build a monastery here, and died on September 26, 1004.^[4] He was succeeded by his disciple Paul, then came Cyril, then Bartholomew of Rossanum († 1065), who wrote his Life. Meanwhile the monks had begun to build their monastery and church at the place where their founder died. The church was consecrated by Pope John XIX (1024-1033) in 1024. Benedict IX (1033-1048) confirmed the possessions of the monastery, made it exempt from diocesan jurisdiction, and placed it under the immediate protection of the Holy See.

At this time there was the wildest disorder at Rome and continual strife between the party of the Counts of Tusculum, the people, and the Emperor. Benedict IX himself was made Pope by his father, Alberich, Count of Tusculum, at the age of twelve years. Bartholomew of Grottaferrata persuaded him to resign the Papacy; so that he then came as a simple monk to Grottaferrata, ended his days there, and is there buried. From now the monastery plays an important part in the history of the Papal states. Robert Wiscard and his Normans camped under its walls in 1084. Then it acquired vast territories, and so came into conflict with the Count and Bishop of Tusculum. William I of Sicily (the Bad, 1154-1166), making war on Pope Adrian IV (1154-1159), sacked Grottaferrata. Innocent III (1198-1216) and Gregory IX (1227–1241) protected and enriched it; Frederick II (1215-1250) came and sacked it. It was again besieged and sacked during the Western Schism by the soldiers of the Avignon Pope. In the fifteenth century the Orsini and the Caetani made it a fortress, from which they went out to fight. The King of Naples, Ladislaus (1400-1414), occupied it with his soldiers when he invaded the Papal states in 1408. Martin V (1417-1431) made efforts to repair the damages done by so many wars. Pius II (1458–1464) was a constant visitor at Grottaferrata. It was with the idea of restoring its former prosperity that he applied to Grottaferrata the system of giving monasteries in commendam, making Cardinal Bessarion († 1472) its first Commendatory Archimandrite. Bessarion did much for Grottaferrata; he restored the buildings, gave gifts of valuable books and church plate.^[5]

But the system of commendatory abbots is wrong radically. In this case, too, it led to all kinds of abuses; the revenues of the monastery were used by Cardinals who did nothing for it. In 1473 one of these Commendatary Archimandrites, Cardinal Julian della Rovere,^[6] gave orders to Bramante to transform the monastic buildings into a fortress. It is chiefly from this transformation that Grottaferrata has still so much the appearance of an ancient castle, with ramparts, bastions, moat, and portcullis. In 1608 the Commenda was happily abolished, and the community returned to the old principle, under a real acting Archimandrite.

The church has been restored and rebuilt many times. The outside West front is fourteenth-century, with a superb Lombard tower of the twelfth century. But the inside was completely re-formed in the year 1754, with deplorable results. Already in 1665 there had been a far-reaching restoration. In 1754 an altar, quite on the Latin model of that time, had been erected, with an elaborate reredos of marbles. But in 1881, with a better appreciation of the rite, several successful changes were made. The reredos of the altar was turned into an Ikonostasion, with the royal doors where the altar had been, and a good Byzantine altar, with a ciborium, was erected behind it. In spite of later changes much remains to be seen in the church. One of the best-known sights is the series of frescoes illustrating the life of the saint by Domenichino (1610) in the chapel of St Neilos. The West door of the church in carved wood is of the eleventh century, with a mosaic over it. In the middle of the Ikonostasion is a picture of our Lady, originally Latin, said to have been given by Pope Gregory IX (1227-1241). There are many paintings of Byzantine and Basilian saints, dating from the last restoration in 1881. Outside the West front is a fountain, used liturgically, with a good canopy of pointed arches over it, and around this is the "Paradise" of trees, that ought to be at every monastery of the rite.

The monks of Grottaferrata have always had a reputation for their studies. They produced the Typikon which is still the official book for all Italo-Greeks (p. 179). In the twelfth century they formed quite a school of Greek hymn-writers.^[7] In their splendid library they have valuable manuscripts. Now they continue their tradition of learning by publishing a good review^[8] and valuable documents.^[9] In the twelfth century they had a famous hospital and a Xenodochion for pilgrims.

The great reform of the monastery was under Leo XIII (1878–1903). Formerly there had been considerable Latin-Roman infiltrations in the rite used by the monks. We shall come to these later, since they affected all the Italo-Greeks. Here I note the fact that, when we say that Grottaferrata has never been latinized, we mean that it has always kept the Byzantine rite in Greek. But there was much Latin infiltration in that rite. This came about naturally, in an age when no one cared much about ritual purity, from the influence of their Roman neighbours. But it is all done away with now. In August, 1881, Leo XIII ordered the restoration of the Byzantine rite to its pure form. So it is observed here now. I doubt if anywhere else in the world the Byzantine rite is now celebrated with such punctilious exactness. There is no trace of latinization or of "mixed rite." Indeed, the monks are almost nervously anxious to avoid such a suspicion. It would hardly be possible to find an accusation that would offend them more, or be more unjust, than to say that they are not purest of the pure Byzantines, in their rites, habits, rule, and everything. At the same time Leo XIII founded, in the monastery, a college for Italo-Greeks, youths who are to become priests of their rite. These boys serve the church and sing the offices with the monks most beautifully. Any traveller who goes out from Rome on a Sunday morning may assist here at the Byzantine Liturgy, celebrated perfectly and sung exquisitely.^[10] The monks are now Albanians from the Italian colonies. The present Archimandrite is Arsenois II (Pellegrini), the seventy-ninth in direct succession from St Neilos (not counting the bad period of the Commendatory Archimandrites).^[11] In the first period (till the fifteenth century) this monastery was not the most important of its rite in Italy. St Saviour at Messina eclipsed it easily. Then it became the chief. Now it is the only one left. The whole Italo-Greek Basilian Congregation is reduced to this one house.

Grottaferrata, with its wonderful traditions, its strange rite out there in the middle of the Roman Campagna, its splendid library, and the amazing picturesqueness of its old ramparts and towers, among the vineyards and olive orchards, on the slopes of the Alban hills, is one of the most fascinating places in Italy. Greek and Catholic, it should form a bond between the East and the West. It is always a standing witness that to be a Catholic does not mean giving up the venerable rites of the East. In 1904, at the nine-hundredth anniversary of his death, they put a statue of St Neilos in the court before the church. He stands there looking towards Rome across the hot Roman plain; while his successor rules his monks under the authority of the successor of the Pope he came to Rome to see.^[12]

2. The Greek College at Rome.

The second great centre of the Italo-Greeks is the "Pontificium Collegium Græcorum de Vrbe." I doubt if any of the Roman colleges has so interesting or so important a history as this; though it has not always been quite a glorious one. The Greek college was founded in 1577 by Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585). Gregory founded a number of colleges at Rome for different nations. Among others he thought of the Greeks, at that time groaning under the yoke of the Turk, and lost to the Church through their schism. His idea was that Greek boys should be educated here, that they should have the advantage of what was then one of the chief centres of Western civilization, and at the same time be well grounded in the Catholic faith; that they should eventually go back to the Levant as missionaries to their countrymen. The Bull of erection is dated January 13, 1577.^[13] The college was built by the architect James della Porta. It is a handsome building, of the usual type of sixteenth-century Roman work, in the Via Babuino. By the side of the college is the Church of St Athanasius, the "Greek" church in Rome, where the Byzantine rite is celebrated, served by the students of the college. The church was finished in 1581. Certain changes in the buildings have been made at later dates.^[14] Gregory XIII endowed the college generously; he appointed a commission of five Cardinals as its protectors; among these were Sirleto and Santoro. Santoro became the special protector and head of the establishment. He appointed the rectors and looked after its interests for twenty-five years.

One of the chief difficulties of the college has been the constant change of rectors, and even of the manner of its direction. The first rector was a Latin regular of the Crociati order, Nicholas Stridonio; then came secular priests, among them a Scotchman, even laymen. Cardinal Santoro drew up the rule in 1583, and ordered that it should be read aloud in the refectory once a month. In 1591 the direction was given to the Jesuits. Under them it flourished, and the number of students grew steadily. But in 1602, when Santoro died, Cardinal Giustiniani was made Protector. He was a Greek of Chios. He made all kinds of changes in the arrangements of the college, so that the Jesuits quarrelled with him and retired in 1604. There was again a period of continual changes in the direction; the Dominicans held the office for a time, then secular priests and a layman. In 1622 the Jesuits came back. Soon after this Ruthenian students were admitted as well as Greeks, so that, till the reform of Leo XIII, it was the "Collegium Græco-Ruthenum." Then things went badly again. There were constant disorders; the Greeks had the reputation of being the most difficult students to manage in all Rome; by 1693 there were only eighteen students in residence, and there was a question of closing the college. Later Latins from the Greek islands were admitted; so that the college began to change its nature. It was becoming a school for Latin missionaries in the Levant. Italo-Greeks and Albanians were also admitted; the number of Greeks from the East in 1763 was only seven. Under Clement XIV (1769-1774) the Jesuits again retired and secular priests came back. The Revolution put an end to the college altogether for a time. Gregory XVI (1831-1846) reopened it in 1845, admitting fifteen students, eight Ruthenians, four Melkites, and three Italo-Albanians. In 1849 Pius X (1846-1878) founded four burses for Rumanians. In 1886 Leo XIII made Resurrectionists rectors; three years later he gave the college back to the Jesuits.

Then came the last great change. In 1897 Leo XIII first founded a special Ruthenian College, which was endowed by the Emperor of Austria. The Ruthenians of the Greek College went to this. Then the Greek College, now only for Greeks of the Byzantine rite, was entrusted to the Benedictines; they are to accommodate forty students. The students attend lectures at Propaganda; but they have their own courses of Greek, Canon Law, liturgy, and such subjects as interest them particularly.

The Greek College has produced a surprising number of great men. Ever since it was founded many famous people in Greece and all over the Levant owed their education to it. These are by no means all priests. For instance, a number of physicians were educated there, who afterwards became famous in their own country. The college also sent professors of Greek language and letters to Italian universities: Padua, Venice, Pisa, Bologna, Naples. It educated many monks for Grottaferrata and other monasteries. It has fulfilled the object of its foundation by sending countless Catholic missionaries to the East, to Greece, the Greek islands, the Slav countries, and so on.

Among so many famous students we may notice especially Allatius and Arcudius. Leo Allatius (Allacci) is certainly the most distinguished of all, perhaps the most learned Greek since Photius. He was born at Chios in 1586, when it was a Venetian possession. He was always a Catholic. Quite young, he came first to Naples; then, in 1599, he entered the Greek College at Rome. He studied medicine at first, so that among his many accomplishments he was also a skilled physician. But he soon gave up the profession of medicine in order to devote himself to letters. He became scriptor at the Vatican library; from now till his death in 1669 he gradually acquired erudition in all branches of Greek studies, and wrote a vast number of learned dissertations which obtained for him more than a European reputation. There seems no branch of classical scholarship in which Allatius did not distinguish himself. He edits classical authors, writes on Homer's birthplace, on Etruscan antiquities, on every kind of obscure point of Byzantine scholarship, on Byzantine architecture, lives of Popes and famous men; he was a poet, philologist, theologian, ritualist, philosopher, and physician. His works include Biblical criticism, dogmatic and archæological treatises. In short, there are very few questions of Oriental study on which Allatius has not written a work which may still be consulted with profit. Especially on all sides of Byzantine liturgy and theology are his writings invaluable. Altogether fifty-five complete books by him are published; and there are quantities of others, letters and treatises, in manuscript still. Out of so many valuable works I name only his magnum opus: De Ecclesiæ occidentalis atque orientalis perpetua consensione libri tres.^[15] He left his valuable library and all his property to the Greek College. The Greeks of the East have never ceased to profit by his immense erudition. They are justly proud of Allatius as one of their greatest scholars. One thing, however, they can never forgive him, that he was a Catholic.^[16]

Peter Arcudius^[17] (1562-1633), less illustrious than Allatius, was also a famous scholar. He, too, wrote many works of standing importance. Arcudius took his degree in theology at the Greek College before a brilliant audience, which included such men as Santoro, Bellarmin, Baronius. He was ordained priest, was for a time missionary in Ruthenia, then came back to Rome in 1609, was paralyzed, and so remained all the rest of his life at the college, being carried every morning to the library, and then back again to his room in the evening. Arcudius is not a universal genius, like Allatius; but he is a theologian of great learning. Like that of Allatius, his theological work is nearly all in defence of points of the Catholic creed (the Filioque, Purgatory, and so on; especially, of course, the Roman Primacy) against his schismatical countrymen. Arcudius, too, among many works has left one classic, his treatise on the Sacraments.^[18]

Among the students of whom the Greek College is justly proud we may notice also Joseph Velamin Rutski, a Ruthenian, Metropolitan of Little Russia, and a mighty champion of the faith in his time (1637);^[19] Josaphat Azales,^[20] in the time of Paul V (1605-1621), who went to Athos and persuaded the monks there to send a letter of submission to the Pope; further, Demetrios Phalereus Kyriakos,^[21] professor at the Sapienza at Rome and one of the famous Hellenists of the seventeenth century; Neophytos Rhodinos († 1655),^[22] scholar and missionary in Poland, Macedonia, and Greece; John Tzigalas († 1687),^[23] professor at Padua, and many others. Rodotà in his book draws up a list of the distinguished students of the college: missionaries, monks, bishops, theologians, philologists, Hellenists, philosophers, physicians.^[24] To these I must add his own name. Peter Pompilius Rodotà was an Italo-Greek of Calabria, nephew of Felix Samuel Rodotà, the first ordaining Byzantine bishop in Calabria (p. 123). He was a student of the college, then became professor of Greek and scriptor at the Vatican library. By order of Benedict XIV he wrote his monumental history of his rite in Italy.^[25] It was published in three volumes at Rome in 1758-1763. The first volume is about the older Greek element in Italy, the second about the Basilian monks, the third about the Albanians, the Greek College, and other contemporary Greek colonies. This work remains the chief one on the subject. With incomparable patience Rodotà has gathered up all there was to say about the Italo-Greeks down to his time. Other books are needed to continue the story to later times; but it will be long before any other can take the place of this, as the quarry from which all kinds of information is to be gathered. A reference to my notes will show how much I owe to Rodotà. Indeed, without his work all this account of the Italo-Greeks would shrink to a very small compass.

Against so many great names we must reckon a few defections. There have been students of the Greek College who, when they returned to the East, forgot the lessons they had learned there and joined the schismatical majority. The chief of these are Pantaleon Ligarides and Hilarion Tzigalas. Ligarides entered the college in 1623. He took his degree in theology brilliantly in 1636, and was ordained priest at Rome. Propaganda then sent him as a missionary to Zakynthos; thence he passed to Constantinople and eventually to Rumania. Here he began to play a double game. To the Orthodox he represented himself as one of them; while all his life he went on writing to Propaganda for money He met Paisios, Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem (c. 1646-1660), who made him an Orthodox monk, with the name Paisios. So he became Orthodox Metropolitan of Gaza in 1652. But he quarrelled with the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and was by him degraded. Then he went to Russia and helped the famous Patriarch of Moscow, Nikon (1652-1665), in his revision of the Russian service books. But soon he quarrelled with him too. Propaganda had long begun to suspect him, and had ordered him to come back to Rome. But he did not obey this order either; and so he died (1678) rejected by all. Ligarides is an unhappy example of what often happened; trying to please both sides, to pretend to each that he was with them, lying to both, he ended by being denounced by both.^[26]

Tzigalas is also an ambiguous person. Less culpable than Ligarides, he committed one great fault which placed him permanently in a false position. His original name was Jerome; after he had left the college he became a monk in the East and then took the name Hilarion. For a time he was a missionary in Greece under Propaganda and a firm defender of the Catholic faith. Then he became professor at Padua. Eventually he went back to the Levant, and again for a time preached Catholic principles. But it appears that he was hurt at not receiving promotion or as much recognition from Rome as he expected. So he came to Constantinople. Here there was no lack of appreciation of his talents. So he went over to the Orthodox, and allowed the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem to ordain him to the Archiepiscopal See of Cyprus. He is thus counted one of the Orthodox Archbishops of Cyprus (1674-1678). But he remained a Catholic at heart, in spite of his false position. As Archbishop he was considered a bad latinizer by the Orthodox. At the end of his life he seems to have come back to the Church. At any rate, he was accused of betraying the Orthodox Church and was deposed in 1678. He died at Constantinople in 1682. From the great dislike to him shown by the Orthodox we may hope that he died a Catholic, repenting of his schism.^[27] Rodotà calls both Ligarides and Tzigalas "bitter fruits of our college," but thinks that both, in spite of their defection, kept some good and some Catholic principles to the end.^[28]

The Greek College counted among its difficulties the efforts of the Jesuit rectors to persuade students to enter their Society. This has always been the difficulty of the Roman Colleges ruled by Fathers of the Society. It is a real grievance, since the money spent on the education of these boys was certainly not intended to provide a nursery for future Jesuits. So at the Greek College, as at all those in Rome, severe oaths were required of the students, that they would enter no religious order, except that of the Basilians.^[29] In spite of these oaths the Jesuits continually managed to get dispensations for the more promising students; so that a large number of the students enter the Society. In view of the constant complaints of Propaganda on this head, one rather wonders why they were not more firm in refusing to grant the dispensations.

It is strange that at the beginning the students of the Greek College had to conform to the Roman rite. It would seem that everyone would have realized from the beginning the importance of training these boys in their own rite. However, it was not so; indeed, till almost the other day, their position was not so much that of Byzantines with Roman infiltrations, as rather that of Romans with occasional observance of the Byzantine rite. The rectors were always Latins (this was an obvious abuse; it would have been easy to find priests of sound Catholic principles and of the Byzantine rite from the South of Italy); they kept their own rite, said Mass and all their offices in Latin; the students had to hear this Mass and to make their Communion in the form of azyme bread only. At first the Roman rite alone was observed in the college chapel; though in the Church of St Athanasius there were occasional Byzantine functions. The only precaution against this latinization was that the students had to take an oath to keep the Byzantine rite as soon as they returned to their own country.^[30] In 1592 the Jesuit rector made a great pretence of introducing the Byzantine rite "to be observed exactly in all things possible by all the Greek students."^[31] Yet they still had to attend his Latin Mass every morning, and were bound to receive Holy Communion from him at least once a month "in azyme, according to the Latin manner."^[32] This is, of course, the cardinal matter of all. It is absurd to say that a man observes the Byzantine rite when he receives Communion in one species and in azyme.

There were always many Latins at the college, Jesuits and others who, naturally, kept their own rite;^[33] this, too, helped to prevent a whole-hearted use of that of Constantinople. Again, I wonder why they did not employ Italo-Greeks as servants. Then, gradually, there was some feeling about the disadvantage of bringing up these boys in ignorance of the rite they were afterwards to practise all their lives. Urban VIII (1623-1644) made a rule that three times a year, at Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, they were to make their Communion in their own rite.^[34] This really only made things worse liturgically; in opposition to the normal principles of the Holy See (p. 34) it introduced promiscuity of rite. Meanwhile, although they were not allowed to use their rite, these wretched boys had to keep all its fasts, and the Roman ones too. They had not only the enormously sterner Byzantine fasting, with its four Lents and innumerable days of fasting and abstinence;^[35] but when the Romans had a fast, not kept in the East, they had to keep this as well. Thus they had to fast on Saturday; though it had long been a great principle in the East not to do so.^[36] So the students were brought up in the strangest mixture of rites, with the inconveniences of both and the advantages of neither. Small wonder that liturgical study made little progress among them. Small wonder either that their rivals in the East were never tired of mocking them as hybrids, semi-latinized Greeks. During the time of the Jesuit Superiors the students were ordained at the Lateran — that is, according to the Roman rite,^[37] again a bad case of promiscuity of rite. This has now been abolished by the institution of a Byzantine ordaining bishop for them (see p. 177).

With the removal of the Jesuits by Leo XIII in 1897 a better tradition has been established. According to the Pope's express order everything in the college is now done according to the Byzantine rite. It is true that the Benedictine Superiors are also Latin; but the Pope gave them the special faculty of using the Byzantine rite during their domicile there.^[38] Now all services, offices, prayers at the Greek College are exclusively Greek and Byzantine.^[39] They are carried out with great care and exactness; the Benedictines of the college make a great point of exact knowledge of the rite, and the students are taught it carefully. In the great churches of Rome these students have plenty of opportunity of seeing the Roman rite; their lectures at the Propaganda College are in Latin; they talk Latin (with an Italian pronunciation) at least as well as any other Roman students; but they themselves are purely Byzantine. No one can now accuse them of being hybrids of a mixed rite.

The old costume of the Greek College was a purple cassock with a red belt and purple Soprana. This costume, borrowed from them, is still worn by the students of the Greek-Albanian College at Palermo (p. 164). But at Rome they have changed it. It is now a very pretty grey-blue with red belt, perhaps the prettiest costume in Rome. Under the Jesuits they wore Italian birettas and such things in the house, and the usual Italian hat out of doors. The Benedictines have given them a proper black Rason and the Kalymaukion of their rite. Under the Rason they still wear their blue cassocks.

3. The Albanian Colonies in Calabria and Sicily.

All that is now left of the Byzantine rite in Southern Italy is represented by a few villages of Albanians. We have seen that the immigration of Albanians in the fifteenth century meant a great revival of this rite (p. 120). But since then the Albanians, as far as they represent Italo-Greek rites, have greatly diminished in numbers. Many of their descendants have become Italians of the Roman rite; others have adopted the Roman rite, though they still keep their own language. Lastly, in late years, driven by the economic difficulties of Southern Italy, large numbers of them have emigrated to America. There now remain twenty places in Calabria and five in Sicily where the Byzantine rite survives. In Calabria all are included in the four dioceses Anglona and Tursi (united), Cassano al Ionio, San Marco and Bisignano (united), Rossano, in the provinces of Basilicata and Calabria Citeriore. They fall into three groups. In the diocese of Anglona and Tursi are five villages. Castoreggio^[40] has nearly 2,000 Albanians with a church, S Maria ad Nives, and a priest of the Byzantine rite. Farneta^[41] has about 800, San Paolo^[42] 1,800, San Costantino^[43] about the same number. South of these we come to the two more important groups on either side of the valley of the Crati. The Crati^[44] is a river which flows into the Gulf of Taranto just south of the old Greek city Sybaris. The railway follows its course from Bisignano to Sibari. The river forms a fertile and most beautiful valley. North and south of this are lines of hills. To the north is Monte Pollino, to the south Monte Sila. It is on the slopes of these mountains that the Albanian villages are found.

There is first the line along the northern slopes. Lungro is the chief of these. The Albanians settled here in 1500. In 1576 they had twelve priests and six deacons. For their principal church they took an old Basilian monastery church; this is S Nicholas, still the parish church and "matrice" of the place. There are, I think, two others, all Byzantine in rite. The Roman priest who wishes to celebrate at Lungro may do so; but he must use Byzantine vestments, because they have no others. The parish priest, who is a Protopapa,^[45] is fond of telling visitors that, when he was a boy, there were ten priests in the town. Now there are only two. From Lungro especially a great number of Albanians have gone to America. However, it is still the chief Albanian colony of these parts. It has about 6,000 inhabitants; all speak Albanian and keep their rite. The church is the handsomest of its rite in Calabria. It has three cupolas, a nave and transepts, three altars,^[46] and no Ikonastasion.^[47] About 3½ kilometres south-west of Lungro is Acquaformosa^[48] with 2,000 Albanians. There are no Latins. The Albanians came here in 1502, and began to reclaim what was then a quite desolate place. They have a priest and a parish church, St John the Baptist. Five kilos. south-east of Lungro is Firmo,^[49] also all Albanian, with about 2,000 souls, a priest, and the church, B.M.V. Assumpta. Going north of Lungro we come first to San Basile^[50] with nearly 2,000 Albanians; then to Frascineto,^[51] over 2,000 Albanians. Five kilos. to the east is Civita,^[52] 2,500 souls. There are also in this region two small villages, Plataci and Porcile,^[53] of no great importance. All these, I believe, are entirely Albanian and Byzantine. At Cassano al Ionio, the diocesan city, there is no Albanian colony; but Mgr. Pietro Camodeca de' Nobili Coronei, the Vicar General for the Byzantine rite,^[54] resides here near the bishop.

Crossing the valley of the Crati we come to the third group, along the slopes to the south. Here, too, is a line of Albanian villages stretching from west to east between the two diocesan cities, Bisignano and Rossano. First, west of Bisignano, there is a place which has played a great part in the past, San Benedetto Ullano.^[55] Here once stood the seminary for the Calabrian Albanians. In the early eighteenth century it was a disused Benedictine monastery. By the advice of Samuel Rodotà, Clement XII (1730-1740) turned this into an Italo-Albanian seminary in 1732. It was to be called the "Collegio Corsini."^[56] It was also to be the residence of the ordaining Byzantine bishop for Calabria. Samuel Rodotà himself was the first bishop of this line (p. 123) and the first rector of the seminary. In 1791 the college and bishop's residence were transferred to the monastery of St Adrian at San Demetrio Corone. Now there are 2,100 Albanians at San Benedetto Ullano, who use the old church.^[57] Five kilos. north-east of Bisignano we come the village Santa Sofia d'Epiro.^[58] The principal church of this place, built by the Albanians in the sixteenth century, had the title "Hagia Sophia," and the Albanians themselves are constantly called "Epirọti." Hence the name. It has about 1,800 Albanians.

Four kilos. again to the north-east is San Demetrio Corone, the chief Albanian colony of this group. Just outside the town is the college of St Adrian. It was once a Basilian monastery. In 1791 the Italo-Albanian seminary for Calabria was moved here from San Benedetto Ullano. At that time the monastic community was almost extinct. So the Pope, Pius VI (1775-1799), thought the buildings would be more useful in this way. Then for about a century the seminary at Sant' Adriano did useful work in educating Calabrian Albanian boys for the priesthood. The Byzantine ordaining bishop, who was also rector of the college, lived here. But gradually the prosperity of the institution dwindled. The Albanians were turning Latin or emigrating. There were fewer students, the revenue of the college diminished. After the revolution in Naples (1860) the Italian Government appointed a commissioner to look after the affairs of the college. He seems to have been an anti-clerical person, so he confiscated most of what was left of the property. A series of lawsuits and quarrels followed. At last, in 1900, the seminary was closed. Then the Government confiscated the whole place, repaired the buildings, and in 1903 reopened it as a college for the Albanians, but a purely lay one. There are now no clerical students. It contains about 150 boys, all laymen destined for lay professions. Through this college the Italian Government does much work to italianize the Albanians.^[59] The boys go now and then to assist at the Byzantine liturgy in the church; and I suppose no particular hindrance would be made if they wanted to receive a sacrament in it. But it is not a pious institution. Even before the secularization the college was a great centre of liberal ideas. The Albanians in general were enthusiastic for Garibaldi and the revolution. It is said that, even when it was a seminary, there were more pictures of Garibaldi on the walls of the students' rooms than pictures of saints.^[60] In theory this should still be the residence of the Byzantine ordaining bishop for Calabria. His throne may still be seen in the church. But because of difficulties with the governing body of the college, he now lives at Naples (p. 178). However, the town of San Demetrio Corone is still an important Albanian centre. It was originally one of the settlements of the Albanian refugees from Korone in the Peloponnesus, and the church was dedicated to St Demetrius. The village is still entirely Albanian; there are nearly 4,000 of them here.^[61] Macchia^[62] is 2 kilos. north-east of San Demetrio. It has 700 Albanians. San Cosimo,^[63] 3½ kilos. east of Macchia, has about 1,000, Vaccarizzo Albanese,^[64] a kilo. and a half north-east again, has 2,000. San Giorgio Albanese,^[65] 1½ kilos. south-east, has 1,770. These are all the Albanian villages of this group. Five kilos. east of San Giorgio we come to the town of Corigliano Calabro, and then, 10 kilos. south-east, to Rossano. In neither of these are any Albanians left. Of this group San Benedetto and S Sofia are in the diocese of San Marco and Bisignano; the others in Rossano.

Except perhaps Lungro, all the Albanian villages of Calabria give the impression of great poverty. All Calabria is a poor land; want of water, natural barrenness of the soil, and the economic difficulties of South Italy combine to make it so. But even in a poor district these Albanian villages stand out as poorer than any. They are also extremely dirty. Their poverty is reflected in their churches. Except at Lungro, the Byzantine churches seem almost abjectly poor and dirty; some are almost in ruins. I can agree to what Father Vannutelli says about them: "Often they plead as an excuse their poverty and misery. But this is not a sufficient reason; because, if they had a little more zeal, there would be more order and cleanliness. In villages one does not expect that the churches be rich or well provided; but at least let there be that decency which can be found with poverty."^[66]

Nor is there enough care for their rite among the Calabrian Albanians. They are proud of being Albanians, and they despise their Italian neighbours. They are proud of their Byzantine rite as marking their nationality. They are always ready to explain that they are not just ordinary Latins, like the rest of us. But they do not take enough pains to present this venerable rite worthily. I do not mean that their uses are not pure Byzantine. That is true; we shall come back to the fact (p. 179); but as far as that goes, I think there is a good deal to be said for the special peculiarities of the so-called Italo-Greek rites. My point now is rather that, allowing for their local customs and special traditions, they do not, even so, celebrate their services with sufficient reverence. Even for Southern Italy their churches are too dirty and their ceremonies too carelessly done. However, things are now gradually getting better. Influence of the Greek College at Rome and of the admirable college at Palermo, the growing interest in liturgical study on all sides, the special interest so many students have in this remnant of so great a tradition, all these affect the Albanian clergy in Calabria, so that many of them are now anxious to do things better.

Across the water, in Sicily, there is also a group of Albanian colonies. The impression made by these is more favourable in every way. In Sicily we have first Palermo itself, then five villages to the south of the city. The Albanians have a church at Palermo since 1547. Their colony here is not very great nor important in itself; but at Palermo is the seminary where the clergy are educated, and the seat of the ordaining Byzantine bishop for Sicily. The seminary was founded by Father George Guzzetta of the Oratory, who in various ways did so much for the Sicilian Albanians (p. 124). It was opened in 1715. Since 1784 the rector is the ordaining bishop. The college not only supplies the clergy for its rite in Sicily, it is also a centre from which Catholic missionaries set out for Albania. It publishes a little periodical in Albanian Fiála e t'in' Zoti, which appears to mean "The Word of the Lord."^[67] The students come from the Albanian villages, Piana, Mezzoiuso, and the others. They wear what was the old dress of the Greek College at Rome, a purple cassock with red belt and trimmings and a purple soprana. They seem well-kept, intelligent, hard-working and happy. To the stranger they talk quite nice Italian; but they are careful to explain that this is not their own language.

Next to the college is the parish church for all Byzantine Panormitans, dedicated to St Nicholas. It is a little difficult to find the church and college. You must go into the back streets, behind the great Dominican church, till at last you find the tiny "Via dei Greci." The church is not strikingly small or mean; it would make a fair average village church. It is clean and well kept. All the same, when one sees the great number of enormous Latin churches in every street of Palermo, it seems a pity that one of them could not be set aside for a rite that has so many historical associations with Sicily. The church of St Nicholas is served by a parish priest, a curate, and two "coadjutors"; the students of the college attend its services and sing on Sundays. There is a colony of about 2,000 Albanians at Palermo, who frequent this church. The bishops of Palermo and Monreale share the administration of the college; each has burses in it for Albanian students of his diocese.^[68]

Fifteen kilos. almost due south of Palermo is Piana dei Greci,^[69] the chief colony of Sicily. The Albanians came here first in 1488. It has always been one of the most important Albanian settlements in the West, and is still the largest. For a long time the Byzantine ordaining bishop for Sicily resided here. It was at Piana that George Guzzetta founded his Congregation of the Oratory for the Byzantine rite. Here also he founded a Congregation of religious women, the "Sisters of the Holy Family," who had schools "of Mary" for the education of Albanian girls. The Byzantine Oratorians have disappeared (see p. 124); but the Sisters remain. They have at Piana a "College of Mary," where girls are educated in their own rite and language. The whole of Piana talks Albanian; but about a third of the people have passed to the Roman rite. Out of 10,000 inhabitants 7,000 are Byzantine. They have two parishes, altogether five churches, and two country chapels of the Byzantine rite. The chief church, the "matrice" of the place, is St Demetrius of Thessalonica. The Protopapa of this church has jurisdiction over all the Byzantine clergy, except the one of the "Annunziata," who is exempt. There are now ten Byzantine priests at Piana. There is also one Latin parish church; but in all they preach and teach catechism in Albanian. The Byzantine rite is celebrated with great care and even pomp, though naturally with the special features of the Italo-Greeks. They have extra-liturgical devotions and hymns in Albanian. The music they sing is very curious; here best of all you may hear the traditional Italo-Greek chants and popular Albanian hymn-tunes. In short, if the traveller wishes to get an impression of the Italo-Greeks he should undoubtedly go to Piana.^[70]

Six kilos. south-east of Piana is Santa Cristina Gela.^[71] This colony was founded from Piana in 1691. Its present position is ambiguous. All the inhabitants speak only Albanian and are of the Byzantine rite. But since about fifty years ago the parish priest is a Latin; so they have to receive sacraments and attend services in that rite. There is now a movement to restore the Byzantine rite here.

Then, 17 kilos. south-east again, we come to the village with the strange name Mezzoiuso.^[72] The people here are all Albanians by descent; but (as far as I know) not one of them speaks that language; all are now italianized. The greater part have also passed to the Roman rite. Of about 7,000 inhabitants only 2,500 are still Byzantine. But they have five Byzantine churches, served by six priests.^[73] Twenty-nine kilos. south-west is Contessa Entelina, where the Albanians came in 1450. All here speak Albanian. The population is about 3,000, of whom half are still Byzantine. Contessa has three Byzantine churches, and six priests of the rite.^[74]

Lastly, 17 kilos. south-east, is Palazzo Adriano,^[75] where the Albanians came in 1482. It was originally all Byzantine; the Byzantine parish church was the undisputed "Matrice" of the place. Then some of the inhabitants turned Latin; a church of the Roman rite was built, and there began one of those curious long and angry disputes as to which church was the "Matrice." It does not seem of much importance, since in every diocese the only head really is the Ordinary; but in these Albanian colonies there have been fierce disputes as to which church, Latin or Byzantine, should bear this rather senseless title. Now at Palazzo Adriano, as for the matter of that at Mezzoiuso, too, there are two "Matrici." Both churches claim the title, and they still quarrel over it. The Latin parish priest calls himself the "Arciprete," his Byzantine colleague is the "Protopapa"; and each loudly declares that he is the real archpriest of the place. The Bishop of Monreale might do worse than take away the title from both, and stop their quarrelling that way.

At Palazzo Adriano Albanian is still spoken; but it is dying out. The younger generation know only Italian. Of about 5,000 people nearly 4,000 are Byzantine. They have three churches and six priests of their rite. The dioceses to which these places belong interlace curiously. Piana is in Monreale, S Cristina in Palermo, all the others in Monreale. Palazzo Adriano was in Girgenti till 1846; then, by a new arrangement of boundaries, it passed to Monreale. These six places are the only Albanian settlements in Sicily.

At Messina, once so great a centre of the Byzantine rite, there are now hardly more than memories. The great monastery of St Saviour has gone (p. 125); the cathedral keeps only its title "Santa Maria del Grafeo" (p. 110) as evidence that once it was Greek. But there is one Byzantine Uniate priest here with a small chapel. As far as I know, he ministers to the few Uniates who may happen to stay in the city. In Malta, at Valletta, there is one Uniate Byzantine priest, with a small church. Both Messina and Valletta have large and prosperous Orthodox churches for the Greeks there; so have Naples (p. 144) and many cities in Italy. At Malta notably the two priests, Uniate and Orthodox, seem to be on the best possible terms; which is pleasant to note. In spite of the schism, they seem to realize that they have much in common. The Uniate looks upon his Orthodox rival as a good man, unimpeachable in rite, though unhappily materialiter in schism; the Orthodox thinks the Uniate a Greek and a colleague, though he does bend his neck to the horns of Roman pride. They visit each other and talk pleasantly. Each, of course, tries to capture the flock of the other; but I think each has the good sense to see that this is inevitable under the circumstances, and so bears no malice.

Altogether there are 50,000 to 60,000 Albanians in the south, about 37,000 in Calabria, and 20,000 in Sicily.^[76]

 

4. The Greeks of Corsica and Leghorn.

Apart from the Albanians in Southern Italy are these two colonies. Both have a curious history.

When the Turks conquered Greece they found stubborn resistance, especially in the Peloponnesus. Here, along the eastern side of the Gulf of Messenia, is the land Maine,^[77] and in the middle of the long strip of land stands the village Boitylos, formerly Oitylos.^[78] The people of Boitylos made a long and stubborn resistance to their enemies. At last they saw that the struggle was hopeless. Rather than stay under Turkish rule, they decided to wander from their homes to the West, where they could find a Christian and civilized government. They sent to Genua and made an arrangement that they should come and receive the barren district of Paomia in Corsica (at that time Genoese territory).

They came in several groups. The first started in September, 1675, having escaped the vigilance of the Turks, on a French ship.^[79] They were led by the Stephanopulos family and their bishop, Parthenios Kalkandes. The Metropolitan of Maine wanted to come too. But the captain of the ship, seeing his great age, and fearing lest he die on the way, refused to take him. The Mainotai in Corsica still tell the story how the old man stood on the shore weeping as the ship sailed away, and cursing them for refusing to have pity on him. Part of the story is that he then prophesied that they should never stay a century in one place.

They got to Genua and asked to be allowed to stay in the city a few days, to rest after their journey before going on to Corsica. Meanwhile they accepted certain capitulations of the Genoese Government.^[80] As in the case of all these immigrants into Italy, the capitulations contained clauses about religion. They were to keep their rite unchanged; but they were to be Uniates. They must accept a profession of faith and of union with the Holy See, on the same terms as the Albanians in Italy. When their bishop, priests, and monks were dead, the successors were to be ordained by the Pope or his delegate. They were to be subject to the Latin bishop in whose diocese they should be. It would seem as if the Republic meant that Parthenios was to have successors, ordaining bishops for these Greeks. As a matter of fact, he had none. They had many priests, deacons, and monks with them. In March, 1676, they sailed off on a ship of the Republic to Paomia in Corsica. The Government treated them exceedingly well; it gave them grain to sow, cattle, and all things necessary for colonists. Meanwhile other ships brought their relations from Boitylos, till gradually there was a large number of them. I find the names of seven churches and a monastery that they built at Paomia. There seems to have been no difficulty about their ecclesiastical position. No doubt they accepted it without either dislike or enthusiasm. The bishop at least must have understood from the first that it would be impossible to secure the favour and protection of the Genoese Government unless they were Catholics. Probably the simple peasants hardly noticed the difference, as long as their rites were untouched. Modern Orthodox writers are extremely indignant at the force used to bring them under Roman domination.^[81] It was inevitable, according to the ideas of the time. So, quietly, the Mainotai in Corsica all began to believe that the Holy Ghost proceeds from God the Father and from the Son, and they blessed God who had brought them to this peaceful asylum.

However, in time they got into difficulties with their neighbours. Corsicans are not naturally peace-loving people: nor are the fond of strangers. So in the eighteenth century feuds begin between them and the Greeks. The Greeks asked and obtained protection from the Government; but at last things got so bad that they complained that they could not go out for a walk without being stuck by a knife. Of course, if you lived in Corsica in the eighteenth century, you must expect that sort of thing; but the Mainotai do not seem to have understood the Corsican character, and they did not like it. Then, in 1728, the whole island rebelled against the Genoese. The Mainotai, remembering the kindness of the Government, refused to join in the rebellion; so things got worse. Paomia was attacked by the rebels, and many of its Greeks were killed. After a regular siege they fought their way out and sailed off by sea to Ajaccio in 1731. This was the first fulfilment of the Metropolitan's prophecy that they should never stay a century in one place. Only 900 came to Ajaccio. Here they formed themselves into a guard in the service of the Government. Here also they gave up their national Greek dress, and the process of losing their language began.

In 1768 Corsica was ceded to France. The Count de Marbeuf was made governor. He was, all his life, a good friend to the strangers; and he suggested that they should settle at the village of Cargese.^[82] Only a few remained at Ajaccio, where they became Latins and practically Corsicans. The rest, keeping their rite and their language (though this was already dying out) settled at Cargese. Here the quarrels with their neighbours began again. During the French Revolution the Corsicans seized the opportunity to burn down Cargese and kill a lot more of the Mainotai. Under the Directory they were able to return and build their village up again. In 1814 and again in 1830 they had trouble with the neighbours; but these were the last quarrels. Hard-working, temperate, and economical, the Greeks make excellent citizens; so that at last they conquered the respect of everyone. Here at Cargese they still are.

In the early nineteenth century some Latin Corsicans came to settle at the same place; so for their use a Roman church was built, besides the Byzantine one. Unfortunately a number of Greeks turned Latin and now frequent this church.^[83] It seems, too, that the bishops of Ajaccio were only too ready to welcome such change of rite, in spite of the formal decrees of the Holy See.

But the Greeks were forgetting their language. In 1865 the French Government had the happy idea of appointing a professor of Greek for them. Then the Bishop of Ajaccio did what seems to be an unjust thing. He deposed the old Byzantine parish priest and appointed a successor. The people resented this very much, rebelled against the bishop's orders, and sent to the Orthodox of Marseilles for a priest. This argues how little, even after their long residence in Corsica, they appreciated the situation. The Orthodox of Marseilles could do nothing for them; but the Holy Synod of Athens seized the opportunity, and sent them an Archimandrite named Bersi. However, he only stayed three days; so he could not have done much harm. The Greeks of Hellas have several times made attempts to bring their countrymen of Corsica back to Orthodoxy, generally under the pretext of preserving their nationality and teaching them Greek. In 1885 they sent a teacher, Mr. N. B. Phardys (Orthodox, of course) to open a Greek school at Cargese;^[84] but the school was a failure and was closed after a year. Greek (without theological bias) is taught regularly at the Cargese school by a native of the colony, Mr. Ragazzacci-Stephanopuli.

Between 1874 and 1876 a number of the Greeks of Cargese emigrated to Africa, thus again, though only partially, fulfilling the prophecy. They settled in Algeria, at a place called Sidi-Meruan, in the province of Constantine. There are now about 300 of them here; they keep their rite, have a church and a priest. But the use of the Greek language is dying out here too.

At Cargese there are about 1,000 inhabitants, of whom rather more than half are Byzantine. Each group (Roman and Byzantine) has its church and its parish priest. The Byzantine priest is the Archimandrite Cæsar Cotti. In his church is a fine Ikonostasion, given by Cardinal Simeoni, four holy eikons brought from Boitylos in the old days, and the flag under which they sailed when they came to Corsica, argent, a cross throughout gules, made in silk. Fr. Cotti preaches occasionally in Greek; but he admits that the use of that language is dying out.^[85] French is taking its place, as it is taking the place of the Corsican dialect. In general the Greeks of Cargese conform to the uses of the Italo-Greeks. They use the Byzantine service-books published by Propaganda, the bishop confirms (the Bishop of Ajaccio, according to the Roman rite, I regret to say); they have Benediction of the blessed Sacrament (as do many Uniates now; see p. 181), and they sing popular hymns in modern Greek. The patronal feast of their church is St Spiridon, December 12; but they still keep another patronal feast, August 15, the falling asleep of the All-holy Theotokos, which was that of the original church at Boitylos. The people cultivate the land. They produce wine and cereals, and are well-off and prosperous.

But here is a wonderful story. In 1872 Mr. H. F. Tozer was at Cargese. He made some studies of their Greek dialect and noted some of their popular songs. Then, in 1882, he was in the Peloponnesus and went to Boitylos. He found that the people there perfectly remembered the fact that once, long ago, some of their forbears had sailed away to the West. He recited one of these songs from Cargese^[86] to them, and they said: "That is just what our boys still sing in the streets." He found, too, that both had the same peculiarities of dialect.^[87]

The other Italo-Greek community in the north is that of Leghorn. This, too, has a curious history. It began at the end of the sixteenth century. Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1537-1574), seeing the advantages of having the industrious, law-abiding Greek refugees in his state, invited a number of them to come and settle at Leghorn. This was in 1572. They came, not directly from the Levant, but from other Italian cities where they had already settled. The first group was from Ancona. Cosimo granted them extensive privileges, and obtained from the Pope (Pius V, 1566-1572) leave to hand over the old Augustinian church of St James "in Acquaviva." The Greeks rendered good service to the Tuscan state. As successful merchants they increased the general prosperity; as skilful sailors they manned the Tuscan galleys. They were always loyal to the Government; some of them occupied important posts in the army. Soon they had a special quarter of the town, the "Borgo dei Greci," around their church. Then they became too many for the church of St James; so they built the one they still use, S Maria dell' Annunziata. This was finished in 1605 and consecrated by their priest Athanasius, formerly Orthodox Archbishop of Cyprus.^[88] Among the priests of this colony there are many who had been Orthodox bishops, who for some reason quarrelled with their people in the East, came to Italy, were converted, and then accepted this post at Leghorn. The colony never had a bishop, on principle; but the fact that its chaplain was in bishop's orders incidentally gave them for continual periods the advantage of having an ordaining bishop, like the Albanians in the south.

From the time of the quarrel between Melkites and Orthodox in Syria — that is, from the first quarter of the eighteenth century (see pp. 194 seq.) — many Syrian Melkites, speaking Arabic, came to join the colony at Leghorn. So comes a period of disputes, partly between the Greeks and the Melkites, partly between the Uniates and Orthodox. For many Orthodox merchants and refugees had also settled in the town. The Orthodox, having no church of their own, had attended the holy liturgy at the Uniate church. About the year 1757 they made an effort to turn it into an Orthodox one. But the Melkites and the Uniate Greeks joined forces to prevent this. Eventually, in 1757, the Grand Duke allowed the Orthodox to build a church for themselves, on condition that outside, where the door faced the street, there should be no symbol; inside they could put what they liked. It was to be quite distinct from the Uniate church; a list was to be kept of the members of both groups. No one was to be prevented turning Uniate if he wished to do so.^[89] For Italy at that time these terms are not harsh. Then the Melkites began to make difficulties. They wanted a Melkite priest at the Annunziata church, and to have the services in Arabic. As they could not get this, most of them turned Latin. In 1763 Pope Clement XIII (1758-1769) tried to stop this; he issued a decree that all Catholics of the Byzantine rite, including the Melkites, should remain in, or return to, that rite. But the disputes went on. In 1816 the Melkites again petitioned Pius VII (1800-1823) that they might become Latins. This time at first they got the leave they wanted. It is odd, but characteristic of the Levantine Christian, that these people should prefer to become Latins rather than hear the prayers of their own rite said in another language.

Ten years later, in 1826, the Melkites got all they wanted. The Greeks seem to have given way suddenly. The Melkites sent to their Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius V (see p. 204), and he sent them a Melkite priest, a Salvatorian Basilian monk, Michael Bāhūs. The famous Maximos Maẓlūm (p. 210) was then at Rome. From this time the Melkite hierarchy assume the chief part in the direction of the church at Leghorn. As soon as they had succeeded in their object, the Melkites who had become Latins turned again and came back to their own rite. From this time there is always at least a Melkite curate at the church, named by the Melkite Patriarch. Maẓlūm in 1840 came and baptized their bell; the direction of the clergy seems to pass entirely to the Melkites. In 1807 John Doxaras, the chaplain, a Greek, obtained from Rome the privilege of wearing the Byzantine mitre and of being a titular Archimandrite. The chaplains also wear the Epigonation and generally call themselves Chorepiskopoi. All these privileges are now so common in the Melkite church that they mean nothing more than when a priest is a Monsignore with us.

Since 1887 the chaplain is Joseph Shalhūb, a Melkite Salvatorian. But he is the only Melkite in the place. All the others have either turned Latin or have gone away. So we have the odd situation that a Congregation consisting exclusively of Italo-Greeks is served by an Arab Melkite priest. Till 1892 there was a committee of Greeks to arrange the temporal affairs of the church. Then the number of Greeks was so reduced that Italian Latins were admitted to this committee. In 1904 the committee was dissolved by the Government; they have now appointed a commission to consider the formation of a new one. There are about eighty people who attend this church, all Italo-Greeks, by descent Albanians. The services are in Greek, which Fr. Shalhūb knows well; the books registers are also kept in Greek. But the people speak Italian, and the priest is an Arab. The church, according to rule in Italy, depends on the Bishop of Leghorn; the priest is presented by the Melkite Patriarch of Antioch, appointed by the Ordinary.^[90]

 

5. Italo-Greek Canon Law and Rites.

Since the Italo-Greeks are the nearest Uniates to Rome, it is natural that the Holy See should have given to them, if not most, at any rate the first attention. So it happens that many rules, made in the first case for them, have since been applied, sometimes with modifications, to the other Uniates. It follows that much of the Italo-Greek Canon Law has become general Canon Law for all Uniate churches. In other ways they stand apart from all the others. For instance, they are considerably the most influenced by Latin principles. During the centuries in which they have lived in Italy, surrounded by Latins, they have adopted many Roman customs; in some cases the Popes imposed such customs on them, no doubt thinking these to be essentially Catholic. Later bodies of Uniates have escaped this influence. On joining the Church they brought with them their independent customs. Since they joined at a later period, when the study of rites and canons was more advanced, it was then recognized that these customs and ritual observances were in themselves perfectly legitimate. Here I note one or two of the main features of Italo-Greek law

Although we put the Italo-Greeks first among the Uniate Churches, although in the past they have played so important a part in Church history, it is a curious point to note that they are not really a Church at all. For to be a Church — that is, a local Church in the one great Catholic Church, people must at least have bishops with ordinary jurisdiction. Lower than one diocese the concept of a Church cannot go. But the Italo-Greeks have no Ordinaries. We have seen that the last lines of Byzantine bishops in Italy died out — that is, became Roman — before the Albanians arrived (p. 102). The Albanians, scattered about Calabria and Sicily, have never had dioceses of their own. They have been counted, quite correctly, simply as so many Catholics more in each Latin diocese already existing. Indeed, unless they had been all herded together in one district, and all the Latins turned out of it, it would have been impossible to make them into a diocese on the normal lines. It is true that in later times cross-jurisdiction over the same territory has become common; so that now, in the Levant, there are many cases of bishops ruling their subjects, not by geographical area, but according to the rite these subjects use, wherever (within limits) they may dwell. But in the fifteenth century, when the Albanians arrived in Italy, there was thought to be a great principle against this. It was then accepted that there could not be two bishops in one place, according to the axiom of the Fourth Lateran Council.^[91] In short, the only possibility recognized was the geographical diocese; where one bishop ruled in a town there could be no other ordinary episcopal jurisdiction but his. So, at first, as we have seen (p. 122), the Holy See provided for the Albanians by requiring each Latin bishop, in whose diocese they settled, to have a special Vicar General of the Byzantine rite for them. That is still the law; and so far it works well. Mgr. Peter Camodeca de' Nobili Coronei is Vicar General of the Bishop of Cassano al' Ionio for the Albanians (p. 161).

Yet it was impossible that their condition should be satisfactory as long as they had no one in episcopal orders of their rite. They needed someone to ordain their clergy, to bless their chrism, and (since in this point they are latinized) to confirm them. For over two centuries the Italo-Greeks had to get on without such a bishop. During that time all kinds of curious compromises were made. Sometimes a wandering Uniate bishop from the Levant was called in to ordain (sometimes, by mistake, he was not even a Uniate); generally the Latin ordinaries, in spite of the Canons, themselves ordained and confirmed their Byzantine subjects, according to the Roman rite. This is directly opposed to one of the principles of the Holy See — namely, that every man should receive sacraments in his own rite. But there was already a precedent at Rome itself. Here, too, the same difficulty had occurred. Who was to ordain the students of the Greek College? Already, in 1595, Clement VIII (1592-1605) had provided for this by appointing a Byzantine bishop in partibus infidelium to ordain the students, and (so he intended) all Italo-Greeks. This bishop was to have no jurisdiction. But the line does not seem to have lasted. There is considerable obscurity about these Byzantine bishops in Rome, till they were revived in 1629. In 1624 Urban VIII (1623-1644) drew up a new Constitution for the Greek College, in which, among other things, he ordered that there should always be a Byzantine ordaining bishop in it.^[92] In 1629 Gabriel, titular Metropolitan of Mitylene, was appointed to this place. From his time the line continues regularly. The bishop lives at the Greek College, has nothing to do with its management, but ordains the students when he is required to do so. The present bishop is Joseph Schirò, titular of Neocæsarea.^[93]

But this one bishop at Rome was not enough for the Italo-Greeks of the south. In 1717 an Albanian priest, former student of the Greek College, Stephen Rodotà, came to Rome and explained to Pope Clement XI (1700-1721) the needs of his people. The Pope then, after some provisional measures, founded the college at San Benedetto Ullano (p. 161), and in it ordered that there should be an ordaining bishop for the Albanians of Calabria, on the same footing as the one at Rome. Felix Samuel Rodotà was the first rector of the college and the first Calabrian Byzantine ordaining bishop (1732). This line also continues regularly to the present time. At first the bishop resided at the college at San Benedetto; then he migrated with it to San Demetrio Corone (p. 162). Of late years, owing to difficulties with the administration of the college (now secularized), he has a house at Naples. The last bishop was John Barcia, titular of Croia in Albania.^[94] Then in 1784 the Albanians of Sicily asked and obtained of Pius VI (1775-1799) the same privilege. The first bishop of their line was George Stassi (1784-1801), the present one is Paul Schirò, titular of Benda in Albania, ordained in 1904.^[95] He resides at the Greek-Albanian College at Palermo. These three bishops are to be considered as auxiliaries of the Latin Ordinaries. They have no ordinary jurisdiction; but they have a considerable measure of delegate jurisdiction for the churches, clergy, and faithful of their rite. In theory, perhaps, each Ordinary in whose diocese Albanians live should have such an auxiliary; but there are not enough Albanians to make this worth while. So the Byzantine auxiliary in Calabria gets his faculties from the Archbishop of Rossano and the Bishops of Cassano and San Marco; the Sicilian auxiliary from the Archbishops of Palermo and Monreale.

Dating, perhaps, partly even from the time of the Norman conquest, the Italo-Greeks had evolved certain peculiarities of rite which lead some people to speak of a special "Italo-Greek" rite.^[96] It hardly amounts to that. But there was (to some extent there still is) considerable latinization among them. In connection with this there is a point to notice. Of late years, with the spread of liturgical study, there is a movement among the Byzantines of Italy in favour of purity of rite. This means conforming to the pure Greek Typika. Grottaferrata, now full of enthusiasts for the Byzantine rite, sets the standard of this movement; from Grottaferrata it is spreading to the Albanian colonies of Calabria and Sicily; so that now it is looked upon almost as a disgrace to practise any Latin infiltration at all. The student might think that the pure rite he will see at Grottaferrata itself, and in a lesser degree at Piana and other places, is the old tradition, that the Latin influence that he will notice in some of the churches is a later corruption. Really the opposite is true. This pure use is the latest development of all; those despised latinizations have many centuries of use behind them. And so, if one cares for local customs in rite too, one may perhaps ask whether this zeal for theoretic purity is entirely an advantage. It is rather like the zeal for doing everything exactly as is done at Rome among Latins of different countries. I should rather be inclined to say that local variety in a rite also has its interest, that it is most natural that during the long centuries of Roman neighbourhood the Italo-Greeks have gradually acquired some latinization, that liturgically this is harmless and historically it is interesting, that it is, on the whole, rather a pity to destroy so old a tradition. If specific identity is so important, why not recognize a special Italo-Greek use, and maintain that according to its own tradition?

In general the Italo-Greeks use the Byzantine rite in Greek. The great authority for them is the Typikon of Grottaferrata^[97] used as the basis of the books printed at Propaganda. They use these books, of which the first was the Liturgikon,^[98] printed at Rome in 1738 by order of Benedict XIV and Clement XII. The first Roman edition of the complete Euchologion was issued in 1754. Benedict XIV accompanied it with the Bull Ex quo primum.^[99] There is, then, nothing much to say about the rite of the Italo-Greeks in general. It is simply the Byzantine rite, with the inevitable notes of Catholic use.^[100] The peculiarities of the Italo-Greeks are, in outline, these. Rodotà calls them peculiarities of the Basilian monks in Italy.^[101] But that, I think, is only because at his time the Byzantine rite in Italy was maintained chiefly by the monks. The other churches seem to have had the same points. What they come to is that there are Roman infiltrations, some of great, some of hardly any, importance. The chief point of all was the use of azyme bread for the holy Eucharist; next to this, in importance, are feasts taken from the Roman Calendar and the use of Latin vestments.

We have noted that some at least of these Italo-Greek peculiarities go far back into the Middle Ages. After the Norman conquest it was almost inevitable that there should be Latin influence among the Greeks in Italy. There is, for instance, a curious combination of the Byzantine Proanaphora with a translation into Greek of the Roman Canon, called the Liturgy of St Peter, dating from the ninth or tenth century.^[102] It is commonly said that the chief Romanizing points, azyme bread and Roman vestments, were introduced by Cardinal Bessarion at Grottaferrata, and then spread among all the Italo-Greeks. This, however, is a mistake.^[103] Rodotà says roundly: "The Basilians of our time celebrate the holy Mysteries in the Greek language with Latin ceremonies."^[104] That is a great exaggeration. The prayers and the chief ceremonies were always Byzantine. As Latin elements we have first the use of azyme bread. This is certainly a very grave matter, by far the gravest of all. Nothing could be more opposed to Byzantine use. Another important latinization is the adoption of feasts from the Roman Calendar. Ever since Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585) reformed it in 1582 the Italo-Greeks have followed this Gregorian Calendar. Indeed, at first they were the only Uniates on whom it was imposed by authority; the others have adopted it later, some only the other day (see p. 221). However, this is but a small point. There is nothing essential to any rite in such a matter as the Julian or Gregorian calculation of the year; it is obviously most desirable that all Catholics should, for instance, keep Easter on the same day. The whole Byzantine cycle of feasts and fasts could remain unchanged, though calculated in the Gregorian manner.

Much more vital is that the Italo-Greeks keep a number of Roman feasts. The chief of these are St Joseph on March 19, All Saints on November 1, All Souls on November 2,^[105] Corpus Christi; they also have our Lady of the Rosary (τοῦ Ῥοδαρίον ἤτοι τοῦ Ῥοσαρίον) on the first Sunday of October, St Michael in Monte Gargano on May 8,^[106] the Sacred Heart (Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi) and some Western Saints, whose names look odd in Greek letters.^[107] Less important was the use of Roman vestments. Further, they say the Filioque (καὶ ἐκ τοῦ Ὑιοῦ) in the Nicene Creed;^[108] the priest at baptism does not confirm the child; but it is confirmed later by a bishop. There is no Ikonostasion in most of their churches;^[109] they have side-altars, solid statues, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, and other popular devotions borrowed from us. The monks used to shave the beard, did not always abstain from flesh-meat, cut their hair short, and wore a Latin form of habit.^[110] Most of the priests have short hair and Latin cassocks. In some churches a few Latin prayers were interpolated in the liturgy.^[111] The use of a "low" liturgy (like low Mass) can hardly be called latinization, since it is a development in most Eastern rites.^[112] That is about all.

I have already noted that there is now a great movement against these latinizations. It began under Leo XIII, as part of his tendency in favour of Eastern rites, with the hope of bringing the schismatics back to reunion. So on April 12, 1881, the Congregation for Eastern Rites published a decree, of which the first article was that "In the monastery of Grottaferrata, all variations of any kind and customs to the contrary being abolished, the Greek rite be observed restored integrally in the divine offices and other sacred functions." So Grottaferrata set about the reform; on the Koimesis of our Lady of that year (August 15) the holy liturgy was celebrated with leavened bread, the proper Byzantine vestments, without elevation after the Consecration, in short, with all desirable correctness.^[113] We have seen that they have now made an Ikonostasion in their church.^[114] The monks all wear the beard and long hair; their Rasa are quite correct — in short, everything now is scrupulously Byzantine. The movement has spread throughout the Italo-Greek churches. It is now a reproach, which they resent greatly, to say that they are not pure Byzantine. I do not think that any church now uses azyme bread or Roman vestments. The Kalymaukion has come back to the Greek College at Rome, and, at least for State occasions, among the Albanian clergy. Their dress out of doors is still rather Roman or Italian; but they wear beards. Where there are no Ikonostasia they declare that they are going to have them, as soon as they can afford it.^[115] In short, the movement has set so firmly in the other direction that there is very little that is peculiarly Italo-Greek and not pure Byzantine among them now.^[116]

Summary.

In this chapter we have considered what remains of the Byzantine rite in Italy. Except for the colony in Corsica it is represented now only by the Albanian refugees of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (though there were Greeks among them too). The most important Byzantine institution in the country is the venerable monastery of Grottaferrata, founded by St Neilos the Younger at the beginning of the eleventh century. Grottaferrata has always kept its rule and its rite, though both at one time suffered from Roman infiltrations. Now it is again purest of the pure Byzantine. The other great centre is the Greek College at Rome, founded by Gregory XIII in the sixteenth century. Then there are the Albanian villages in Calabria and Sicily, containing altogether about 50,000 Italo-Greeks. At Cargese in Corsica is a colony of Greeks, numbering about 600; these have a further colony in Algeria. At Leghorn is a parish containing about eighty Italo-Greeks, with a Melkite priest. None of these people have diocesan bishops of their own. They are subject to the Latin Ordinaries; but they have three ordaining bishops, auxiliaries of the Ordinaries, at Rome, in Calabria, and Sicily. In the past, since the early Middle Ages, their rites were considerably latinized. They used azyme bread for the holy Eucharist, Roman vestments, and many Roman feasts in their Calendar. Nor were their churches arranged according to Byzantine principles. Now there is a great movement in favour of a return to pure Byzantine use. I might have added before that they are all excellent Catholics. They think it better to be Byzantine than Roman; but they think it atrocious to be a schismatic. It would be a great pity if what is left of so ancient a tradition as the Byzantine rite in Italy were ever to disappear. The Roman rite, extended over vast continents in unquestioned predominance, cannot fear the rivalry of this little remnant; no Latin could possibly be jealous of any other rite. May the Byzantine rite remain ever in this ancient home, and may it flourish always as the memory of so great a past.

1. Ἡ ἱερὰ Μονὴ τῆς Θεοτόκου ἡ ἐν Κρυπτοφέῤῥῃ, La Badia di Grottaferrata. Grottaferrata (Latin: Crypta Ferrata) is an old name of the place, probably older than the time of St Neilos. The local tradition is that there was an ancient picture and shrine of our Lady here in a grotto or crypt behind an iron grating (ferrata). The Roman place Lucus ferentinæ was here, between Tusculum (Frascati) and Castrimœnium (Marino). The country round was Tusculanum.
2. Nilus, Nilo. It seems unreasonable to call a tenth-century Greek by a modern Italian name; nor, since he was a Greek, does there seem any reason to call him by a Latin name, when writing English.
3. St Neilos of Sinai († 430) a follower of St John Chrysostom, monk at Sinai and writer (his works, many of which, however, are spurious, are in P.G., lxxix) is Neilos the Elder. Our Neilos, of Rossanum, is the Younger (Νεῖλος ὁ Νεώτερος).
4. I have given some account of the life of St Neilos the Younger and of Grottaferrata in "Orthodox Eastern Church," pp. 168-170. The Life of the saint by his disciple and successor, St Bartholomew of Rossanum, is a characteristic example of Greek hagiography of that period, interesting, edifying, and full of incidental information about the Italo-Greek monasteries of Calabria. Unfortunately want of space makes it impossible to quote more of it here. It is printed in P.G., cxx, 16-165; in an Italian version by A. Rocchi, "Vita di San Nilo Abate" (Rome, 1904). St Bartholomew's own Life was written by Luke I, the seventh Archimandrite (c. 1085); it is in P.G., cxxvii, 476-497.
5. For Bessarion's relations with Grottaferrata see R. Rocholl, "Bessarion, Studie zur Gesch. der Renaissance" (Leipzig, 1904), pp. 79-85.
6. Afterwards Pope Julius II (1503-1513).
7. Krumbacher, "Byzantinische Litteratur" (2nd edition, Munich, 1897), p. 678.
8. "Roma e l'Oriente, Rivista Criptoferratense per l'Unione delle chiese," published at Grottaferrata, monthly since November, 1910.
9. "Studi liturgici," since 1912. They have a printing press, "Tipografia italo-orientale: S Nilo."
10. In noting this I hope to be excused for adding a personal remark. Years ago, when I was a student at Rome, it was at Grottaferrata that I first learned to be interested in the Byzantine liturgy. It was from a Grottaferrata monk that I learned to speak Greek. After nineteen years, on Sunday, February 9, 1913, I stood again in that church and heard the heavenly music of the Trisagion, the Cherubikon, Εἴς ἅγιος, εἴς κύριος, Ἰησοῦς χριστὸς εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ Πατρός, before the Ikonostasion. So I thought of the days when I had stood there, a boy in my purple cassock, and I thanked God for all Grottaferrata had given me.
11. There were altogether fifteen Commendatorii. The list is given in A. Rocchi, "La Badia di Grottaferrata" (Rome, 1904), p. 37, n. 1; the real Archimandrites, ibid., pp. 31-32.
12. The chief work about Grottaferrata is A. Rocchi, "De Cœnobio Cryptoferratensi eiusque bibliotheca et codicibus præsertim græcis commentarii," Tusculi (Frascati), 1893. More popular are A. Rocchi, "La Badia di Grottaferrata" (2nd edition, Rome, 1904); F. Pometti, "Nel Centenario della fondazione della Badia di Grotta ferrata" (Bergamo, 1903); A. Pellegrini, Ἡ ἑλληνικὴ μονὴ τῆς Κρυρτοθέρης (Syra, 1904); C. Mencacci, "Cenni storici della Badia di S Maria di Grottaferrata" (Rome, 1875).
13. Bull. Rom., ed. cit., tom. iv, part iii, p. 328.
14. For these see P. de Meester, O.S.B., "Le Collège pontifical grec de Rome" (Rome, 1910), pp. 9-14.
15. Köln, 4, 1648. The professed object of this work is to prove that both Churches always held the same faith. Incidentally it contains a mass of information about Greek theologians, their theories, movements in the Orthodox Church, and so on. He always gives long quotations.
16. A Life of Allatius, with a complete list of his published works, will be found in Cabrol and Leclercq's "Dictionnaire d'Archéologie chrétienne et de Liturgie," tom. i (1), Paris, 1907, cols. 1220-1226 (by L. Petit, Aug. Ass., now Latin Archbishop of Athens). See also Rodotà, "Del Rito greco," iii, 169-171; de Meester, "Le Collège pont. grec.," 54-56.
17. Ἀρκούδιος.
18. "Libri VII de Concordia Ecclesiæ occid. et orient. in septem sacramentorum administratione," Paris, fol. 1626. For his Life see Rodotà, op. cit., iii, 164-165; De Meester, op. cit., 52-54.
19. Rodotà, iii, 192-198; De Meester, 43-44.
20. Rodotà, iii, 183-184; De Meester, 45-46.
21. De Meester, 51.
22. Rodotà, iii, 184-188; De Meester, 59-60.
23. Τζιγάλας or Κιγάλας, Cigala in Italian; E. Legrand, "Bibliothèque hellènique du XVIIᵉ siècle" (Paris, 1885), iii, 315-318.
24. "Del Rito greco," iii, cap. vii, §§ iv-v, pp. 161-216.
25. "Dell' origine, progresso, e stato presente del rito greco in Italia osservato dai Greci, Monaci basiliani, e Albanesi; Libri tre scritti da Pietro Pompilio Rodotà professore di lingua greca nella biblioteca vaticana."
26. Rodotà, op. cit., ii, 208-209; De Meester, 65-66.
27. Rodotà, op. cit., iii, 209-210; De Meester, 67; J. Hackett, "A History of the Orth. Church of Cyprus" (Methuen, 1901), pp. 214-215; quotation from his contemporary, Paul Ricaut, about him, p. 681.
28. Op. cit., iii, 210.
29. So Urban VIII (1623-1644), Alexander VII (1655-1667), etc. Rodotà, iii, 156; De Meester, 31.
30. De Meester, 30-31; Rodotà, iii, 156.
31. Diary of the college published by C. Karalevsky, "Documenti inediti per servire alla storia delle chiese italo-greche" (Rome, 1911), fasc. i, p. 27.
32. Ibid., p. 30.
33. Ibid., p. 28.
34. De Meester, 31-32.
35. College diary, op. cit., p. 27.
36. Ibid., p. 29; De Meester, 32-33.
37. College diary, op. cit., p. 35.
38. De Meester, 37.
39. In 1908 the Rector, Dom Athanasius Gaisser, obtained from the Holy Office in 1908 leave to transfer the Roman abstinence on Saturday to Wednesday; so that the students should not incur the old Byzantine reproach of fasting on Saturday (De Meester, op. cit., 34).
40. Rodotà, "del Rito greco," iii, 62; Charon, "Le quinzième Centenaire de S Jean Chrysostome " (Rome, 1909), p. 262, n. 2.
41. Rodotà, op. cit., ibid.; Charon, op. cit. ibid.
42. Charon, ibid.
43. Rodotà, iii, 61; Charon, ibid.
44. The Greek Κρᾶθις.
45. Incidentally I may mention at once that nearly all the Albanian parish priests in Italy are Protopapi, wear rings, and have various privileges of which each is very proud, which seem to mark each as a distinguished prelate, till one finds that all the others have the same. Throughout Italy the multiplication of ecclesiastical titles has destroyed any meaning they once had, nowhere more than among the Albanians.
46. This is one of the un-Byzantine features common here. A Byzantine church should have only one altar.
47. For Lungro see Rodota, "del Rito greco," iii, 79-88; V. Vannutelli, O.P., "Le Colonie italo-greche" (Rome, 1890), 147-152.
48. Rodotà, iii, 88-89; R. Netzhammer, O.S.B., "Unter den Albanesen Kalabriens," in the Studien u. Mitteilungen aus dem Ben.- u. Cist.-orden, 1906, p. 100.
49. Rodotà, iii, 89-91.
50. Ibid., 91.
51. Ibid.
52. Ibid., 92.
53. Ibid.
54. His portrait may be seen in Charon, "Le quinzième Centenaire," p. 260.
55. Also called "San Benedetto d'Ullano," Latin "S Benedicti Vllano" or "in Vllano." There was an old village, Vllanum, destroyed by the Saracens in the ninth century (Rodotà, iii, 70). The form in the text seems the usual one now.
56. Clement XII was Lawrence Corsini.
57. Rodotà, iii, 68-78; Moroni, "Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica," vol. xxxii (Venice, 1845), 152-153; Vannutelli, op. cit., 153-154.
58. Rodotà, iii, 68; Vannutelli, 145.
59. On the whole the Italian Government is very kind to its Albanians. It has great hopes of getting Dalmatia and Epirus as an Italian colony, and it looks to the Albanians of Italy to influence their countrymen across the Adriatic. So it protects their missions to Albania. There is now a chair of Albanian at the University of Naples. On the other hand, the clergy complain that the Government is trying to italianize the people and make them anti-clerical. And the Albanians, who are inordinately proud of their own race, dislike and affect to despise their Italian neighbours. The first thing they tell you in every Albanian village is, "We are not Italians; we are Albanians."
60. Vannutelli, op. cit., 129; Netzhammer, loc. cit., p. 92. When they do go to church, they scribble things in pencil on the walls during the Liturgy.
61. For S Demetrio Corone see Rodotà, op. cit., iii, 110; Vannutelli, pp. 143-145; Netzhammer, pp. 90-92.
62. Rodota, iii, 101; Vannutelli, 123-125.
63. Rodotà, iii, 101; Vannutelli, 122-123.
64. Rodota, iii, 101-102; Vannutelli, 117-121.
65. Rodotà, iii, 102.
66. Op. cit., p. 144.
67. Weekly; in Italy fr. 2.50, abroad fr. 3.00. See "Roma e l'Oriente," iv (1912), pp. 249-255.
68. For Palermo and the college see Rodotà, op. cit., iii, 120-122; Moroni, "Diz. di Erud.," xxxii, 153; I. de Iohanne, "de diu. Sicul. officiis," p. 83; Vannutelli, op. cit., 43-48; "Roma e l'Oriente," iii, 270.
69. It was formerly called Piana degli Albanesi.
70. For Piana see Rodotà, iii, 117-120; Vannutelli, 91-98; "Roma e l'Oriente,” iii, 265; Moroni, "Diz. di Erud.," loc. cit.
71. "Roma e l'Or.," iii, 267; Vannutelli (p. 98) is mistaken in saying that at S Cristina all are now Latins.
72. It has had various strange forms of its name in the past, Muniussum, Miziliusum, Minziliusum, etc. Now it is Mezzoiuso, or Mezzoiusso, in Latin Medium iussum, or Oppidum Dimidii Iussi. The usual explanation is "medium ius," meaning that rights or property was divided, or that it stood half-way between two boundaries I am rather inclined to see in it an Arabic word, possibly a participle of the tenth form.
73. Mezzoiuso used to pride itself on its pure Byzantine rite, as opposed to the "mixed" Italo-Greeks. I do not know how far this was justified. Andrew Reres founded a monastery here, and endowed it (1609) on condition that it remained always Byzantine. Then it came into the Basilian Congregation (p. 132); his heirs disputed its right to keep the property, on the plea that it had turned "Italo-Greek." There was a lawsuit which lasted four years, from 1694 to 1698. Finally the monks of Mezzoiuso were compelled to keep the strict rule, as in the East. The story is told at length by Rodotà, "del Rito greco," i, pp. 204-214. For Mezzoiuso see Rodotà, iii, 122-126; Vannutelli, op. cit., 56-71; Moroni, "Diz. di Erud.," xxxii, 152-153; "Roma e l'Oriente," iii, 267; especially Onofrio Buccola, "La Colonia greco-albanese di Mezzoiuso," Palermo, 1909, and "Nuove Ricerche sulla fondazione della Col. gr.-alb. di Mezzoiuso" (ibid., 1912). In the seventeenth century the monks of Mezzoiuso were zealous missionaries in Albania ("Roma e l'Or.," v, 97-112; 159-166; vi, 209-231).
74. Spiridon lo Jacono, "Memoria sull' origine e fondazione della comune di Contessa," Palermo, 1851; Rodotà, op. cit., iii, 114-115; Vannutelli, pp. 83-91; "Roma e l'Oriente," ii, 269-270.
75. This is not the site of a palace of the Emperor Adrian, but of a castle built by a rich Albanian who had the same euphonious and respectable name. Crispi, "Memoria sulla origine e fundazione di Palazzo Adriano," Palermo, 1827; Rodotà, iii, 106-114; Vannutelli, 71-83; "Roma e l'Or.," iii, 268-269.
76. This is Charon's estimate ("Le XVᵉ Centenaire," p. 262). I find no attempt at a total estimate in Rodotà. Moroni ("Diz. di Erudizione," xxxii, 149) says that about 100,000 came in the sixteenth century, that emigration and latinization has (1845) reduced that number to half. S. Vailhé ("Dict. de Théologie cath." iii, 1368) estimates the number as about 50,000; Netzhammer ("Unter den Albanesen Kalabriens," loc. cit. p. 100) says there are 35,000 in Calabria. "Roma e l'Oriente," vii, 278, says 80,000 altogether. O. Werner ("Orbis terrarum catholicus," Freiburg, 1890, p. 36), 41,556 (in 1858), C. Streit ("Atlas hierarchicus," Paderborn, 1913, p. 122), 49,000.
77. Μαινή.
78. Οἴτυλος—Βοίτυλος, pronounced Vítilos, then (as they often cut off the last letter) Vítilo. Tozer (Journ. Hell. St., iii, 354) calls it Vitylo — rather a compromise. If you are going to transliterate β phonetically into v, you may as well do the whole thing and make v into i. The reasonable principle seems to be to transliterate the written word, letter for letter, and to let the reader take his chance of pronouncing it right. We do not spell French or German names in a way that would be phonetic to an Englishman.
79. The Sauveur, Captain Daniel. The text of the contract between the Captain and the leaders of the emigrants is given in P. Stéphanopoli (op. cit. below, p. 173, n. 2), pp. 23-25. It is dated September 20, 1675. Here also (pp. 26-29) is a list of them. According to Parthenios Kalkandes they were 570, all told (ibid., p. 34).
80. There were altogether three capitulations, dated 1663, 1671, 1676 (text in Stéphanopoli, pp. 52-54).
81. E.g., Vlasto in his article (p. 173, n. 2), p. 223.
82. Also called Carghese.
83. One of them, Elias Papadacci, was ordained in the Roman rite, became Latin parish priest in 1817, and persuaded many to change their rite (Stéphanopoli, op. cit., p. 133).
84. Vlasto gives an enthusiastic account of this school (loc. cit., pp. 223-226).
85. However, Vlasto prints some interesting Greek dialect songs they still sing (loc. cit., pp. 219-221); but, just like a modern Greek, he says he takes no interest in the δημοτική, and does not understand it properly.

86. "Κρέμασε ταὶς πλεξίδες σου ὄξου στὸ παναθύρι
    νὰ κάμω σκάλα ν'ἀνεβῶ νὰ σὲ φιλῶ στὰ χείλη."

    ("Hang down your braids outside the window, for a ladder for me to climb, that I may kiss your lips.")

87. E.g., Κ=tch. Ἐκεῖ, pron. Etche, etc. H. F. Tozer, "Vitylo and Cargese," in the Journal of Hellenic Studies, iii (1882), pp. 354-360. For the story of the colony at Cargese see P. Stéphanopoli, "Histoire des Grecs en Corse," Paris, 1900; E. A. Vlasto, "Relation d'un Voyage en Corse," in the "Annuaire pour l'encouragement des études grecques en France," xxi, Paris, 1887, pp. 207-226; Th. Xanthopoulos, "La Colonie grecque-cath. de Cargèse," Échos d'Orient, v, 1901, pp. 33-39; Ν. Β. Ρhardys, Υλη καὶ σκαρίφημα ἱστορίας τῆς ἐν Κορσικῇ ἑλλνικῆς ἀποικίας, Athens, 1888.
88. For Athanasius' history and deposition at Cyprus see J. Hacket, "A History of the Orth. Church of Cyprus (Methuen, 1901), pp. 200-202.
89. The document is in Rodotà, "del Rito greco," iii, 230.
90. See Giuseppe Scialhub (=Yūsuf Šalhūb), "La chiesa greco-unita di Livorno, memorie storiche edite nel terzo centenario civile di Livorno e dell' inaugurazione della chiesa greco-unita," Leghorn, 1906, where a list of the rectors will be found; Rodota, "del Rito greco," iii, 229-230; C. Charon, "L'Église grecque cath. de Livourne" in the Echos d'Orient, xi (1908), pp. 227-237.
91. See p. 123, n. 2.
92. Const., Uniuersalis Eccl., November 23, 1624. Bull. Rom., tom. v, part v, p. 277, No. lxxxviii. "Curet Protector ... ut Græcus aliquis ..." (p. 280).
93. Rodotà, iii, 218-220 gives an account of these bishops down to his time. The complete list is in Charon, "Le XVᵉ Centenaire," p. 48.
94. See the complete list in Charon, op. cit., p. 261. Mgr. Barcia died in 1914; his successor has not been appointed.
95. Ibid.
96. Rodotà, for instance, uses this expression always.
97. Compiled by St Bartholomew, the fourth Archimandrite († c. 1050), revised by Blasius II, twenty-fifth Archimandrite, in 1300.
98. The book containing the celebrant's part of the liturgies, really an extract from the "Euchologion." In 1683 Card. Nerli, Protector of the O. S. Bas., edited a book of the liturgy for them, on the lines of the Roman missal.
99. "Bullarium Ben. XIV" (ed. Prati), iii, pars ii, pp. 299-329 (March 1, 1756).
100. The Pope's name in the intercessions, etc.
101. Rodotà, "del Rito greco," ii, cap. xii, pp. 224-233.
102. Printed in C. A. Swainson, "The Greek Liturgies" (Cambridge, 1884), pp. 191-203; see F. E. Brightman, "Eastern Liturgies" (Oxford, 1896), p. xci.
103. The use of azyme bread seems to have begun, almost insensibly, from the frequent inter-communion between Italo-Greeks and their Roman neighbours. The XIVth Roman Ordo (by Card. James Gaetano, fourteenth century) describes the communion of an Abbot from the Pope's hand, when he is blessed by the Pope. It is, of course, Roman, in one kind and with azyme (§ 57, P.L., lxxviii, 1173, B); no exception is made, though at that time Archimandrites of Grottaferrata were frequently blessed by the Pope himself. At least, then, they must have made their Communion in the Roman form. Eugene IV (1431-1447), by Bessarion's advice, allowed the Italo-Greeks to consecrate bread, leavened, but made in small, thin, round cakes, looking like the Roman azyme altar-breads. At first many opposed this. Then, when the custom had obtained, the further change to azyme must have followed easily. Side by side with this change went that into Communion under one kind alone. Rodotà (ii, 229) quotes a letter to the Inquisition by a Byzantine Protopapa in the province of Otranto (1603), which shows that it had then been made there. A detailed discussion of the whole question, with many curious details, will be found in Rodotà, "del Rito greco," ii, pp. 226-231; see also "Roma e l'Oriente," vii (1914), p. 341.
104. "del Rito greco," ii, p. 225.
105. But they also keep these days according to the Byzantine Calendar, St Joseph (with our Lady) on December 26, All Saints the first Sunday after Pentecost (our Trinity feast), All Souls the Saturday before Sexagesima.
106. This is natural, since M. Gargano is in what was once their country.
107. Ε.g., December 3, Ἡ μνήμη τοῦ ἁγίου ἰσαποστόλου φραγγίσκου Ζαβερίου τοῦ ὁμολογητοῦ. For the Italo-Greek Calendar see Nilles, "Kalendarium manuale," ii, 547-551.
108. It is not said at the Greek church at Rome.
109. There are Ikonostasia now only at Grottaferrata, Cargese, Leghorn, Palermo. Mgr. John Barcia (p. 178) left money in his will for one at Palazzo Adriano. This is being made.
110. At the Council of Florence (1439) the silly Italians made fun of the dress of the Eastern monks (see the letter of Lapo Castelliunculo, quoted in Rodotà, ii, 232-233, note 6).
111. Thus at Grottaferrata before the reform of 1881 they read the epistle and gospel in Latin after they had done so in Greek. Before the Apostolos (epistle) the celebrant said Dominus uobiscum and the Roman collect of the day, in Latin. An elevation after the words of institution was common in most Italo-Greek churches. I believe that all this is now abolished.
112. In 1755 Benedict XIV allowed a shortened form of the liturgy and divine office for the O.S. Bas, for private use only. He expressly excepted the monks of Mezzoiuso, who were always supposed to be rigidly Eastern (see p. 167, n. 1). The Bull is Quem religionis ("Bullarium Ben. XIV," ed. Prati, 1847, iii, pars ii, pp. 273-275). The diocesan clergy tried in vain to share this privilege. Rodotà (ii, 226, note) makes mock of the situation — that the monks had a special privilege to say fewer prayers than the secular clergy. Now all Uniates have shortened private liturgies, and say only part of their office when it is not said in choir.
113. A. Rocchi, "La Badia di Grottaferrata" (Rome, 1904), pp. 74-75.
114. Above, p. 149.
115. So they say at Piana de' Greci. An example of their feelings may be seen in "Roma e l'Oriente" vii (1914), 224-231, where the clergy of Piana are accused of doing certain unbyzantine things in Holy Week; and their angry denial, pp. 353-364. See also iii (1911-1912), 344, "Risveglio fra il clero greco (di Sicilia)."
116. The Italo-Greeks have their own church music, derived ultimately from Constantinople. It is enharmonic, obeys the rules of the Byzantine modes, and forms a very interesting parallel to the development in the Levant. There is a dissertation on it, with examples and parallel Eastern forms, by Dom Hugh Gaisser, O.S.B., "I canti ecclesiastici italo-greci" (estratto dalla Rassegna gregoriana, sett.-ott., 1905), Rome, Desclée, Lefebvre, 1905. They also sing curious Albanian popular hymns, of which a specimen may be seen in "Roma e l'Oriente," iii (1911-1912), 271.