A Walk Around Rome: Gelato and Petrarch

Walk with me a while. Gelato cones in hand, we will walk up to the Papal Basilica of Saint John Lateran and talk about the continued importance of the Mirabilia and its christianization of Ancient Rome. As we leave the gelato stand, I would like to introduce you to one of the weakest points of Papal history: the Babylonian captivity. Between the years 1309-1377, the Papacy resided in Avignon, France, after it fell under the influence of the French kings, and the “majority of French cardinals” serving in the Papal Curia. Law and order departed the city with the popes, and Rome slipped into chaos. Over the 68 year history of the Avignon papacy, this move was protested by the leading religious and cultural figures of the day. Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Bridget of Sweden, and their spiritual contemporaries begged the Papacy to return to Rome, the spiritual center of the Church. They referenced the Council of Ephesus, which in 481 declared the primacy of the Holy See, as well as the ongoing threat of schisms. Only a unified Church, true to her Roman origins, could defeat the constant threat of schisms. Meanwhile, Francesco Petrarch, the humanist father, presented a compelling cultural case for the return of the Papacy to its spiritual home. Querying:“For today who are more ignorant about Roman affairs than the Romans?” Petrarch presented his own version of a “walk-around” guide to Rome, in an attempt to exhibit the beauty and cultural importance of a city where “at each step there was present something which would excite our tongue and mind.” As you eat your gelato on the climb to Monti, I would like to continue arguing that Petrarch’s walk around the city is heavily influenced by the Mirabilia’s literary attempts at “baptizing” pagan antiquity, or seeing the art and architecture of the pagan world as a precursor to Christian sensibilities. Of course we can stop for a cappuccino at that shop! Ready? Let us race to the church of St. Anthony in Laterano over there!

As I was saying, Petrarch copied the general style of the Mirabilia Urbis Romae.. Petrarch was thirty-five years old when he first set foot in Rome, but he grew up in the Avignon court, surrounded by a Papal court familiar with the city of Rome. Combined with his “historical and philological studies and [his editing of] the parts of Livy’s history that were known,”his situation resembled that of an exile, deeply immersed in both the cultural and religious heritage of a homeland. Furthermore, I have no doubt that his insatiable desire to visit the Eternal City led him to read the Mirabilia. The combination of pagan and Christian monuments in his letters from Rerum Familiarum Libri, along with the perambulatory style of his guide, strongly suggests his familiarity with the Mirabilia Urbis Romae.

As a gifted wordsmith, Petrarch utilized the Mirabilia’s amalgamation of pagan and Christian history to further his desire for the revitalization of Rome. He began his treatise with an argument for the study of Classical arts. He wrote “We must not restrain ourselves from diligently cultivating other teachings which are not contrary to it [Christianity],” because all things good and wise reflect the glory of God. Like the Mirabilia, Petrarch argued that the greatness of ancient Rome is not antithetical to the heritage of Christianity. Rather, it shows us that mankind, without a knowledge of God, is still able to participate in His creative design.

Conveniently, Petrarch’s exaltation of ancient Rome advanced his political hopes for the Papacy to return to Rome. “He begged the Pope, Benedict XII, to return from Avignon and to help Rome to be recognized once more as the caput mundi,” the head of the world, as it was during the days of the Roman Empire. The arguments for the acceptance of Classicism in the Mirabilia and Petrarch’s Rerum Familiarum Libri supported the political arguments for the return of the Papacy. These textual embraces of Classicalism asserted that Rome had a vocational calling to be the center of the Christian world.

While the struggles of Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Bridget of Sweden, and the literary and political efforts of Petrarch brought about the return of the Roman Papacy, the move prompted a politicized schism. The French retained an anti-pope at Avignon, while “the new pope, who took the title Urban VI,” asserted the papacy in Rome.

Like gelato, the greatest triumphs in life are often sticky. Wipe your hands off and let us check out Santa Maria Maggiore. Last one up the steps is a rotten egg!

Bibliography: 1. Hibbert, Christopher. Rome: The Biography of a City. London: Penguin, 2001. 2. "Council of Ephesus." CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Council of Ephesus. Accessed May 2017. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05491a.htm. 3. Petrarch, Francesco . Rerum Familiarum Libri I-VIII. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1975. 4. Ibid. 5. Anonymous. Brief Chronology of the Life of Francis Petrarch. 6. Petrarch, Francesco . Rerum Familiarum Libri I-VIII. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1975. 7. Hibbert, Christopher. Rome: The Biography of a City. London: Penguin, 2001. 8. Ibid.