sided
over by Father Secchi, the world-celebrated astronomer. But these are
matters sufficiently treated of by the guide-books, and may be left
to them. Of the story of the enormous building they have less to tell,
though there is much of curious interest to be told. But neither is
that my object on the present occasion. My purpose is to speak of the
strangely-changed fortunes and destinies of the old historic pile, and
of what it now is and is to be. But little in Rome, as we all
know, has remained unchanged in these strange latter days. But few
things--at least few material things--have experienced such a change
as the Collegio Romano. The "Collegio Romano" was in fact nothing
more than the principal convent of the Jesuits. The establishment was
founded immediately after the institution of the order, and mainly by
the care and energy of Saint Francisco Borgia, the third general
of the order. The present building, however, was raised in the
pontificate of Gregory XIII. by the Florentine architect Ammanati,
the first stone having been laid in 1582. It is an enormous mass of
building--enormous even among the huge structures for which Rome above
all other cities is remarkable--situated near the church of the Gesu
and not far from the Piazza di Venezia. There is nothing remarkable in
its outward appearance save the vast size, the object of the builders
having evidently been only to adapt it in a business-like way to
the purposes to which it was destined. These included not only the
provision of a residence for the fathers of the order resident
in Rome, and for the all-but all-powerful general of the terrible
order--the "Black Pope," as the Romans were wont to call him--but also
all the _locale_ necessary for a very large educational establishment,
whence the building took its name.

The Jesuits, like all other members of the almost innumerable monastic
establishments in Rome, have, as we all know, been turned out of their
homes, their property has been--or rather is being--sold, and the
convents have become national property. Many of these are vast
buildings, but no one of them is to be compared with the great Jesuit
convent, which was the central home and head-quarters of the "Company
of Jesus." And a memorable day it was in Rome, and a very singular
sight, when, the dreaded fathers of the terrible "Company" having
taken their departure, the few remaining goods and chattels in the
convent were sold by public auction. Few