Chandlery, Peter Joseph; Gerard, John: Pilgrim-walks in Rome: a guide to the holy places in the city and its vicinity (New York: Fordham University Press, 1908)

THE- BASILICA OF S. ALESSANDRO 269
marbles. A baptistery was also found together with the font
belonging to it. The bodies of these holy martyrs were
removed to S. Sabina on the Aventine in the fifth century by
Celestine I. On their festival, May 3, Mass is occasionally
said here in the old basilica by one of the Cardinals, and there
is generally a large attendance.1 The scene is worthy of an
artist’s brush, the altar with its awning in the roofless basilica,
the Cardinal and assistant clergy grouped round the altar, the
nave filled with worshippers, the desolate Campagna in the
foreground and the blue Sabine mountains in the distance.
1 This service is not held every year. Information may be had at
the house of the Collegia dei coltori dei Martin, in the Via dei Crociferir
near the Fontana di Trevi.