habit on the Campo di Siena and assuming that of a
miserable beggar, and giving the same habit to many who with great zeal
were demanding it from him; with the inscription, which said:

ORIGO COLLEGII PAUPERUM, QUI AB JESU COGNOMEN ACCEPERUNT; CUJUS
ORDINIS PRINCEPS FUIT JOANNES COLOMBINUS, DOMO SENENSIS, ANNO
MCCCLI.

And in the other, on the opposite side, were seen other gentlemen,
likewise of Siena, before Guido Pietramalesco, Bishop of Arezzo, to whom
a commission had been given by the Pope that he should inquire into
their lives; and they were all intent on making manifest to him the wish
and desire that they had to create the Order of Monte Oliveto, which was
seen approved by that Bishop, exhorting them to put into execution the
building of that vast and most holy monastery, which they erected
afterwards at Monte Oliveto in the district of Siena, and of which they
were shown to have brought thither a model; with the inscription, which
said:

INSTITUITUR SACER ORDO MONACORUM QUI AB OLIVETO MONTE NOMINATUR,
AUCTORIBUS NOBILIBUS CIVIBUS SENENSIBUS, ANNO MCCCXIX.

On the side towards S. Lorenzo was seen the building of the most famous
Oratory of La Vernia, at the expense in great part of the devout Counts
Guidi, at that time lords of that country, and by the agency of the
glorious S. Francis, who, moved by the solitude of the place, made his
way thither, and was visited there by Our Lord the Crucified Jesus
Christ and marked with the Stigmata; with the inscription that explained
all this, saying:

ASPERRIMUM AGRI NOSTRI MONTEM DIVUS FRANCISCUS ELEGIT, IN QUO
SUMMO ARDORE DOMINI NOSTRI SALUTAREM NECEM CONTEMPLARETUR, ISQUE
NOTIS PLAGARUM IN CORPORE IPSIUS EXPRESSIS DIVINITUS CONSERVATUR.

Even as on the opposite side was seen the Celebration held in Florence
of the Council under Eugenius IV, when the Greek Church, so long at
discord with the Latin, was reunited with her, and the true Faith, it
may be said, was restored to her pristine clearness and purity; which
was likewise made manifest by the inscription, saying:

NUMINE DEI OPTIMI MAX. ET SINGULARI CIVIUM NOSTRORUM RELIGIONIS
STUDIO, ELIGITUR URBS NOSTRA IN QUA GRAECIA, AMPLISSIMUM MEMBRUM A
CHRISTIANA PIETATE DISJUNCTUM, RELIQUO ECCLESIAE CORPORI
CONJUNGERETUR.

OF S. MARIA DEL FIORE.

As for the Cathedral Church, the central Duomo of the city, although it
is in itself stupendous and most o