lusion of their works in the
father's book, and shows that Doralice was the wife of Palestrina's son
Angelo.

It being established, then, that Palestrina was married but once, and it
being assumed that he was happily married, it is strange to see how this
happy marriage came near proving fatal to him. Palestrina, who was, like
Michelangelo, intimate with various Popes, dedicated in 1554 his first
printed book of masses to Pope Julius III. As a reward, the careless
pontiff made him one of the singers of his Sistine Chapel, omitting the
usual severe examination, and overlooking as a small matter the fact
that Palestrina was so far from being a priest that he was very much
married and very much the father, and furthermore had no voice. But
Palestrina resigned his post as maestro at Saint Peter's and entered
the chapel. The Pope died shortly afterward and was succeeded by a
cardinal who was a patron of Palestrina's and continued his favour as
Pope Marcellus II. Three weeks later this Pope also died, and was
followed by Paul IV.

Unfortunately for Palestrina, the new Pope was a strict constructionist,
and he found it "indecent that there should be married men
(_ammogliati_) interfering in holy offices." In spite of the action of
the two previous pontificates, he determined to expel the three
Benedicks who had entered the choir, Leonardo Bare, Domenico Ferrabosco,
and Palestrina, "uomini ammogliati, e chi con grandissimo scandalo, ed
in vilipendio del divin culto, contro le disposizioni dei sagri canoni,
e contro le costituzioni e le consuetudini della cappella apostolica
cantano i medesimi tre ammogliati imitamente ai capellani cantori." He
then declares that, after mature deliberation, "cassiamo, discacciamo, e
togliamo" from the list of chappellary singers these three, and that
they ought to be "cassati, discacciati, e tolti dalla cappella," and
that after the present order they "cassino, discaccino, e tolgano." And
excommunication was threatened if any more married men (_uxorati_) were
received in the chapel.

This was on the 30th of July, 1555, just six months after Palestrina had
resigned his important post at Saint Peter's. He was a young man with a
family, and apparently keenly sensitive, for when this sonorous
thunderbolt was launched at his head, he immediately fell ill of a fever
and came nigh to death. But he recovered, and two months later found
another post as canon of the Lateran, of which by the 1st of Octo