Leseprobe

46 died of the plague from an overall population of half a million. The mortality rate, dramatic as it may seem, was probably underestimated; nevertheless, however, it would be fair to say that the Holy City was left comparatively unscathed. The procedures that were implemented imme- diately and with great rigour – and which subsequently bore tangible results – hardly differed from those introduced following the Great Plague that had aff licted Italy in the mid-14 th cen- tury. As the country had been struck by the disease on numerous occasions since then, these procedures were successively fine-tuned over time and now amounted to an established set of emergency protocols. Lazarettos were set up, with anyone aff licted immediately hospitalized – if necessary even by force. The city gates were bolted and barred. Nobody coming from any country affected by the plague was admitted into the city. The doctors wore glasses, gloves, and masks. Houses and entire districts were placed under quarantine. All materials that had come into contact with infected persons were disinfected (with vinegar and by fumigation). This is just an abbreviated list of the many precautions taken to keep the epidemic under control. 4 In this context, it is interesting to note the course of action Pope Alexander VII took and the powerful role he played, something which must be regarded as quite exceptional for the time. In previous plague years, many of his predecessors had f led to their country estates or withdrew to the protection of the innermost apartments of the Apostolic Palace. 5 Hardly anyone followed the example set in the year 590 by Pope Gregory I, whose conduct in times of plague must be considered – at least from a symbolic point of view – as almost paradigmatic. The Salus Populi Romani icon (figs. 31 – 32), which Pope Francis presented during his extra­ ordinary Urbi et Orbi blessing in March 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, played a significant role in this. 6 It is said that this icon of the Virgin Mary (which apocryphal sources claim was painted by Luke the Apostle) was carried by Gregorius, who had just been named Pope Gregory I (r. 590 – 604) in the litanaiae majores , the major penitential procession with the Litany of Saints held on Saint Mark’s Day (25 April), during the outbreak of the plague in Rome in 590. 7 Gregory’s predecessor, Pope Pelagius II, had died of the plague a short time before. Gregory felt that the suffering caused by plague and war was a call to penitence. His contem- porary, Gregory of Tours (538 – c. 594) has him say: “The punishments of God, dearest brothers, which we should have feared before they came over us, must cause us even more concern seeing that they are now here, and we are experiencing them ourselves. Our suffering should open the gateway to conversion […]. See, the people will be struck by the sword of heavenly anger and, one after the other, carried away by a sudden death […].” 8 The procession led by Gregory made its way, radially, from the seven Roman churches to the church of Santa Maria Maggiore and from there followed the Marian icon to Saint Peter’s Basilica. It is said that when the procession reached Hadrian’s Mausoleum (today’s Castel Sant’Angelo), the Archangel Michael appeared in the sky above the monument and – as later depicted by Giovanni di Paolo in the 15 th century (fig. 33) – returned his sword, symbol of divine wrath, to its sheath: “He wiped his bloody sword and then thrust it back into its sheath. At this Gregory realized that the dying would come to an end; and that is what happened. The castle was henceforth named Castel Sant’Angelo.” 9 Of course, many other popes paid close attention to making a contribution to managing the crisis in time of pestilence. It is said that during the plague epidemic of 1472, Pope Sixtus IV repaired to the church of Santa Maria del Popolo to beseech God to clean the air of foul vapours and restore the ill to good health. 10 In the plague year of 1485, Pope Innocence VIII ordered the same Marian icon to be taken from Sant’Agostino and held aloft in a procession that meandered through all of the rioni and culminated at Saint Peter’s. 11 The only procession Fig. 31 Byzantine, Marian icon: Salus Populi Romani , without date (5th – 13th century), Cappella Paolina, Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome Fig. 32  Altar of the Salus Populi Romani , 1613, Cappella Paolina, Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome