DOI Kapitel:
Chapter III: Past and Present - Santa Lucia, etc.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.59000#0123
Naples
have changed not a whit. Still does the blood of
S. Gennaro, S. Stefano, S. Giovanno Battista, S. Panta-
leone, and S. Patricia liquefy yearly as in the sixteenth
century, while that of Carafa, Founder of Holy Works,
and of Don Placido Baccher in the Gesu Vecchio remain
ever liquid. The old orders of the Misericordia are
seen continually in the streets, from the aristocratic
order of S. Ferdinando, which in snowy garments
follows the coffins of the upper class, to the humbler
societies who officiate for the poor. But, talking of
funerals, I doubt whether the large affiches bearing the
name of the deceased, which for a certain sum may be
hung above the doors of the church, were customary
a century ago. Surely the mediaeval spirit would
have been shocked at the sight of flaring advert-
isements pasted upon the pillars of many of the
churches ?
Naples is a city of historic and pauperising charities.
“ Il n’y a qu’a Naples, la charite est dans le sang ”;
and vast sums are spent in helping those who will not
help themselves. But these charities lie far from the
new quarter we have visited. The oldest of all, but
one, is that of the Annunciation, of which the tourist
probably knows little, save that a certain hole in the
wall through which abandoned children used to be
thrust is now closed. But a visit to the building,
though not exactly cheerful, is interesting. Among the
inmates may be seen the last sufferer of that closed-
up hole, a girl who remembers being thrust through
into the revolving case at the age of seven. The
56
have changed not a whit. Still does the blood of
S. Gennaro, S. Stefano, S. Giovanno Battista, S. Panta-
leone, and S. Patricia liquefy yearly as in the sixteenth
century, while that of Carafa, Founder of Holy Works,
and of Don Placido Baccher in the Gesu Vecchio remain
ever liquid. The old orders of the Misericordia are
seen continually in the streets, from the aristocratic
order of S. Ferdinando, which in snowy garments
follows the coffins of the upper class, to the humbler
societies who officiate for the poor. But, talking of
funerals, I doubt whether the large affiches bearing the
name of the deceased, which for a certain sum may be
hung above the doors of the church, were customary
a century ago. Surely the mediaeval spirit would
have been shocked at the sight of flaring advert-
isements pasted upon the pillars of many of the
churches ?
Naples is a city of historic and pauperising charities.
“ Il n’y a qu’a Naples, la charite est dans le sang ”;
and vast sums are spent in helping those who will not
help themselves. But these charities lie far from the
new quarter we have visited. The oldest of all, but
one, is that of the Annunciation, of which the tourist
probably knows little, save that a certain hole in the
wall through which abandoned children used to be
thrust is now closed. But a visit to the building,
though not exactly cheerful, is interesting. Among the
inmates may be seen the last sufferer of that closed-
up hole, a girl who remembers being thrust through
into the revolving case at the age of seven. The
56