RUSSIA AND ITALY-1894 455 



not at all mean better accommodations or lower fares than 

 when such works are under individual control. The 

 prices for travel, as well as for sleeping-berths, were 

 much higher on these lines, owned by the government, 

 than on any of our main trunk-lines in America, which 

 are controlled by private corporations, and the accom 

 modations were never of a high order, and sometimes 

 intolerable. 



During this stay in Russia my sympathies were en 

 listed for Finland; but on this subject I have spoken fully 

 elsewhere. 1 



Having resigned my position at St. Petersburg in Oc 

 tober of 1894, the first use I made of my liberty was to 

 go with my family to Italy for the winter; and several 

 months were passed at Florence, where I revised and 

 finished the book which had been preparing during twenty 

 years. Then came a rapid run to Eome and through 

 southern Italy, my old haunts at Castellammare, Sorren 

 to, and Amalfi being revisited, and sundry new excursions 

 made. Among these last was one to Palermo, where I 

 visited the Church of St. Josaphat. This edifice greatly 

 interested me as a Christian church erected in honor of 

 a Christian saint who was none other than Buddha. The 

 manner in which the founder of that great world-religion 

 which preceded our own was converted into a Christian 

 saint and solemnly proclaimed as such by a long series 

 of popes, from Sixtus V to Pius IX, inclusive, by virtue 

 of their infallibility in all matters relating to faith and 

 morals, is one of the most curious and instructive things 

 in all history. 2 



At first I had some difficulty in finding this church ; but, 

 finally, having made the acquaintance of an eminent 

 scholar, the Commendatore Marzo, canon of the Cappella 

 Palatina and director of the National Library at Palermo, 

 he kindly took me to the place. Over the entrance were 



1 See Chapter XXXIV. 



2 A full account of this conversion of Buddha (Bodisat) into St. Josaphat 

 is given, with authorities, etc., in my &quot;History of the Warfare of Science 

 with Theology/ Vol. II, pp. 381 et seq. 



