of S. Maria della Colonna, a heavy stone had
fallen from the window above, and scattered the congregation. The vote
of the sacred college was a foregone conclusion. The sentence of death
was passed upon the last remains of old S. Peter's; a committee of
eight cardinals was appointed to preside over the new building, and
nine architects were invited to compete for the design. These were
Giovanni and Domenico Fontana, Flaminio Ponzio, Carlo Maderno,
Geronimo Rainaldi, Nicola Braconi da Como, Ottavio Turiano, Giovanni
Antonio Dosio, and Ludovico Cigoli. The competition was won by Carlo
Maderno, much to the regret of the Pope, who was manifestly in favor
of his own architect, Flaminio Ponzio. The execution of the work was
marked by an extraordinary accident. On Friday, August 27, 1610, a
cloud-burst swept the city with such violence that the volume of water
which accumulated on the terrace above the basilica, finding no outlet
but the winding staircases which pierced the thickness of the walls,
rushed down into the nave in roaring torrents and inundated it to a
depth of several inches. The Confession and tomb of the apostle were
saved only by the strength of the bronze door.

It is very interesting to follow the progress of the work in
Grimaldi's diary, to witness with him the opening and destruction of
every tomb worthy of note, and to make the inventory of its contents.
The monuments were mostly pagan sarcophagi, or bath basins, cut in
precious marbles; the bodies of Popes were wrapped in rich robes, and
wore the "ring of the fisherman" on the forefinger. Innocent VIII.,
Giovanni Battista Cibo (1484-1492), was folded in an embroidered
Persian cloth; Marcellus II., Cervini (1555), wore a golden mitre;
Hadrian IV., Breakspeare (1154-1159), is described as an undersized
man, wearing slippers of Turkish make, and a ring with a large
emerald. Callixtus III. and Alexander VI., both of the Borgia family,
have been twice disturbed in their common grave: the first time by
Sixtus V., when he removed the obelisk from the spina of the circus to
the piazza; the second by Paul V. on Saturday, January 30, 1610, when
their bodies were removed to the Spanish church of Montserrat, with
the help of the marquis of Billena, ambassador of Philip III., and of
cardinal Capata.

Grimaldi asserts that Michelangelo's plan of a Greek cross had not
only been designed on paper, but actually begun. When Pope Borghese
and Carlo Maderno determined upo