 | Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy |  |
63
THE MONTE SACRO
AT VARALLO
I ask no hundred days exempt from pain,
For I have seen here Christ upon His rood—
I, who 'neath stars of Bethlehem have stood,
Drunk Nazareth's well, by Galilee's blue plain
Of sparkling waters wandered, and was fain
To weep at Olivet, in solemn mood
Have climbed, Varallo, through thy holy wood,
And seen hate's loss and love's eternal gain.
For I have seen here Christ upon His rood—
I, who 'neath stars of Bethlehem have stood,
Drunk Nazareth's well, by Galilee's blue plain
Of sparkling waters wandered, and was fain
To weep at Olivet, in solemn mood
Have climbed, Varallo, through thy holy wood,
And seen hate's loss and love's eternal gain.
What Caimi planned and grave Gaudenzio drew
Shall moulder in each iron-grated cell,
And Borromeo's skull shall grin no more;
But long as Mastelone's waters roar,
The faith that built compassion's citadel
Shall on these heights her eagle's wings renew.
Shall moulder in each iron-grated cell,
And Borromeo's skull shall grin no more;
But long as Mastelone's waters roar,
The faith that built compassion's citadel
Shall on these heights her eagle's wings renew.
—Bernardino Caimi on his return from the Holy Land in 1491 founded the Sacro Monte at Varallo. St. Carlo Borromeo seems to have refounded it in 1678: his skull is pointed at within an iron grating near the Holy Sepulchre. Gaudenzio Ferrari, the famous Val-Sesian painter, born about 1484, appears to have painted with fresco many of the chapels on the Sacro Monte between the years 1524 and 1528.
| Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy | |