Quite some time back I blogged about being in Milan, and about Newman's remarks on the cathedral. Just lately I happened on this description of the city, by one of the products of Oratorian education:
What a magnificent city is Milan! The great houses are all of stone, and stand regular and in order, along wide straight streets. There are swift cars, drawn by electricity, for such as can afford them. Men are brisk and alert even in the summer heats, and there are shops of a very good kind, though a trifle showy. There are many newspapers to help the Milanese to be better men and to cultivate charity and humility; there are banks full of paper money; there are soldiers, good pavements, and all that man requires to fulfil him, soul and body; cafés, arcades, mutoscopes, and every sign of the perfect state. And the whole centres in a splendid open square, in the midst of which is the cathedral, which is justly the most renowned in the world.
And to celebrate the occasion (a day late, but better late than never), my favourite hymn (the one I sometimes sing when the hymn provided in the Shorter Morning and Evening Prayer is unknown to me - which, for morning prayer at least, is most of the time).
The lyrics were produced a hundred years ago, as an English translation of an ancient Irish hymn attributed to Dallan Forgaill. The tune is "Slane", which gives the pretext for posting it: Slane Hill is where St Patrick reputedly lit a fire to celebrate the Easter vigil, in defiance of the pagan custom which dictated that, it also being the night of a pagan festival, no fire be kindled until the king had been seen to light his on nearby Tara Hill.
The final verse of the hymn suddenly brings to mind the envoi to Hilaire Belloc'sBallade of Illegal Ornaments:
The controversy was ended by His Lordship, who wrote to the Incumbent ordering him to remove from the Church all Illegal Ornaments at once, and especially a Female Figure with a Child.
I When that the Eternal deigned to look On us poor folk to make us free He chose a Maiden, whom He took From Nazareth in Galilee; Since when the Islands of the Sea, The Field, the City, and the Wild Proclaim aloud triumphantly A Female Figure with a Child.
II These Mysteries profoundly shook The Reverend Doctor Leigh, D.D., Who therefore stuck into a Nook (Or Niche) of his Incumbency An Image filled with majesty To represent the Undefiled, The Universal Mother — She — A Female Figure with a Child.
III His Bishop, having read a book Which proved as plain as plain could be That all the Mutts had been mistook Who talked about a Trinity Wrote off at once to Doctor Leigh In manner very far from mild, And said: "Remove them instantly! A Female Figure with a Child!"
