2"<» S. VII. June 11. '59.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



479 



(stranger than all) one of Fenelon's devotional 

 works. William John Fitz-Patrick. 



[These works will be found entered in Index Librorum 

 Prohibitoruin sanctissimi Domini nostri Pii Sexti Pontificis 

 Maximi Jussu edifus. Komae, 1786.] 



3ftPiJl«S. 



CHRISTIAN CHILDREN CRUCIFIED BY JEWS. 



(2»'» S. vi. 473, 474. ; vii. 37. 261. 386.) 



With regard to the alleged cruelty of the Jews 

 towards Christian children, I send a cutting from 

 The Times of April 29, 1859. The writer passes on 

 to another interesting subject, viz. the Intolerant 

 censorship exercised on English monumental in- 

 scriptions, &c., in the Papal States. Our churches 

 and churchyards at home, by the way, would be 

 much improved by a strict, yet judicious, censor- 

 ship both of monuments and inscriptions. 



EiRIONNACH. 

 "•THE PAPAL STATES. 



" (From our own Correspondent.) 



"Rome, April 23. 

 " I am told that Sixtus IV. and a late Pope also, 

 issued Bulls in which the Jews were charged with killing 

 a Christian, or a youth, at Passover, and draining his 

 blood in order to use it in their religious rites. Tliere 

 have been ages so dark that no amount of ignorance or 

 prejudice astonishes us, but that the same ignorance 

 should be foimd centuries later in the heart of civilisation 

 is very melancholy and discouraging, and is a sad reflec- 

 tion on the government to whose training the destinies 

 of the people have been confided. It«was on Friday, the 

 15th inst., that three Christian children were missing 

 from the neighbourhood of the Ghetto. It was natural 

 that the mother should be distracted, and so, as she was 

 advised, she consulted a magnetiSer, or rather a 'me- 

 dium.' The information which she received was as fol- 

 lows: — One child had been murdered, the other two 

 were concealed in the Ghetto. The report gained ground, 

 and a very threatening demonstration was made in the 

 precincts of the Jews' quarter. Meantime a suspicion of 

 what had taken place was mentioned to Count Dandino, 

 President of the Rione, and son of the Assessor-General 

 of the Police. The Count, without taking any informa- 

 tions or adopting any precautionary measures, sent a 

 company of gendarmes immediately to the spot to search 

 out traces of the crime. I believe that an effort Avas 

 made to enter and examine the synagogue, and that it 

 would have been done but for the strong remonstrances 

 of the Jews ; their schools, however, were searched and 

 some private houses, and I am credibly informed that the 

 persons of some children were examined in order to 

 verify whether they were Christians or not. The indig- 

 nation of the Jews was as great as was the agitation of 

 the Christians, and great apprehensions were entertained 

 that some dreadful excesses might have been committed. 

 A deputation of the former, therefore, waited on Mon- 

 signor Jlanteucci, the Governor of Rome, and stated their 

 case. He knew nothing of it, and added that Count 

 Dandino had acted on his own responsibility. His de- 

 puty, or vicar, knew nothing of it either ; but counter- 

 orders were immediately sent down, and a body of Cara- 

 bineers also, to defend the Jews. It appears, however, 

 that full confidence was not placed in this body, so that, 



whether in consequence of an application or not I cannot 

 tell, a party of French Carabineers was sent down as well ; 

 and General Goyon, it is added, would have ordered down 

 some regular troops, but the Jews themselves were in- 

 disposed to exaggerate the affair. Considerable excite- 

 ment and apprehension existed up to Thursday morning 

 last, ' We are always in a state of apprehension,' said 

 some of them to me. ' The poorer members of our body 

 can scarcely ever walk through the streets without being 

 insulted with opprobrious names, and even with blows.' 

 The feeling was so great in consequence of this absurd 

 report, that the blood of Christian children had been 

 drained in order to make unleavened bread, that for some 

 days a buyer of old clothes durst not make his appear- 

 ance in the streets. The sequel of the affair is, that the 

 children, who had lost their way, were found in a vine- 

 yard. It is singular, if true, that a similar agitation had 

 been created in Sinigaglia on the same day. In this case 

 Count Dandino acted in a most imprudent manner; and 

 he should be a warning against that system of favourit- 

 ism which raises men to power who have nothing to re- 

 commend them but connexion. Monsignor Manteucci 

 acted most promptly, and the Jews speak of his conduct 

 with all praise ; the French authorities, too, are entitled 

 to much approbation. So much for the tolerance of the 

 Papal Government towards the Jews ! How is it towards 

 Protestants, and British Protestants? One or two cases 

 in illustration of it, which have recently occurred, I must 

 bring before you. An English gentleman died in this city 

 in the month of January, and an English lady in the 

 month of March. Their respective friends, full of grief for 

 the loss they had sustained, and anxious to erect some 

 memorial to them, ordered marble slabs, and drew up the 

 inscriptions. They were as follows (omitting names) : — 



" ' Those, also, who sleep in Jesus will God bring with 

 him.' 



" Such was the inscription ordered in the one instance. 

 In the other it was — 



" ' She was ever dear to her surviving brother and 

 sister, and beloved by her friends. To be with Christ, 

 which is far better.' 



" According to the existing law, the sculptor, before 

 commencing his work, sent copies of the inscriptions to 

 the IMunicipality, and by it they were prohibited. Had 

 permission been granted, they would have been referred 

 to the Maestri del Sacro Palazzo, who are Padre But- 

 taoni, the head of the Dominicans, and his companion. 

 Padre d'Arco ; and their decision would have been final, 

 for they are officers, I believe, of the ' Santo Uffizio,' that 

 great Court of the Inquisition which keeps its eye on 

 everything that savours of heresy. In two words, how- 

 ever, the inscriptions noted above were rejected. We 

 English are not permitted by the Papal Government to 

 express a hope in Christ or in a future state. For a long 

 time the cross was not permitted on our graves, and, 

 while in England Roman Catholics are allowed to raise 

 their splendid churches and worship unmolested, a fact 

 at which every enlightened mind must rejoice, we arc 

 driven to worship outside the gates of the city of Rome, 

 in a barnlike sort of building, and, like the poet's dog, 

 dying in Rome we are denied in heaven the soul we held 

 on earth. Is this a position worthy a great nation whose 

 possessions extend throughout the civilised globe ? And 

 is it to support such a state of things that English diplo- 

 macy in Italy has of late years inclined to Austria rather 

 than towards progress? His Royal Highness the Prince 

 of Wales has given the liberal sum of 100?. towards the 

 expenses of supporting our church here. It is mortifj'ing, 

 however, to think that the future Sovereign of the largest 

 empire in the world has been compelled to worship in a 



