their popular amusements, almost frantic
in their political conduct of affairs. The luxury, for which Dante
blamed them, the levity De Comines noticed in their government,
found counter-poise in more than usual piety and fervour. S.
Bernardino, the great preacher and peacemaker of the Middle Ages; S.
Catherine, the worthiest of all women to be canonised; the blessed
Colombini, who founded the Order of the Gesuati or Brothers of the
Poor in Christ; the blessed Bernardo, who founded that of Monte
Oliveto; were all Sienese. Few cities have given four such saints to
modern Christendom. The biography of one of these may serve as
prelude to an account of the Sienese monastery of Oliveto Maggiore.

The family of Tolomei was among the noblest of the Sienese
aristocracy. On May 10, 1272, Mino Tolomei and his wife Fulvia, of
the Tancredi, had a son whom they christened Giovanni, but who, when
he entered the religious life, assumed the name of Bernard, in
memory of the great Abbot of Clairvaux. Of this child, Fulvia is
said to have dreamed, long before his birth, that he assumed the
form of a white swan, and sang melodiously, and settled in the
boughs of an olive-tree, whence afterwards he winged his way to
heaven amid a flock of swans as dazzling white as he. The boy was
educated in the Dominican Cloister at Siena, under the care of his
uncle Cristoforo Tolomei. There, and afterwards in the fraternity of
S. Ansano, he felt that impulse towards a life of piety, which after
a short but brilliant episode of secular ambition, was destined to
return with overwhelming force upon his nature. He was a youth of
promise, and at the age of sixteen he obtained the doctorate in
philosophy and both laws, civil and canonical. The Tolomei upon this
occasion adorned their palaces and threw them open to the people of
Siena. The Republic hailed with acclamation the early honours of a
noble, born to be one of their chief leaders. Soon after this event
Mino obtained for his son from the Emperor the title of Caesarian
Knight; and when the diploma arrived, new festivities proclaimed the
fortunate youth to his fellow-citizens. Bernardo cased his limbs in
steel, and rode in procession with ladies and young nobles through
the streets. The ceremonies of a knight's reception in Siena at that
period were magnificent. From contemporary chronicles and from the
sonnets written by Folgore da San Gemignano for a similar occasion,
we gather that the whole resour