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¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 March Rome 693
¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 conspicuously a white shirt “life size”, and below it a colossal red rooster. And something unusual, they have several gentlemanly looking attendants in neat uniform, watchmen-
¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 1 Coming out at the back door by the two story frescoed portico, we cross the paved Piazza to a small building to see the holy stairs (Sante Scala) on which Christ was shown to the people, in mocking by Pilate. (?)
¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0 Running the gauntlet between a files of beggars we enter a short but wide vestibule, or a long narrow room. On the opposite long side are five pairs of stairways going straight up beside each other. Separated by brick walls. On the central set a lot of common looking people were working their way slowly upon their knees. I counted thirteen on the steps at once when I first arrived and they continued to arrive-
¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 No one is allowed to touch the foot or shoe to hose holy steps- There are twenty seven steps.
¶ 6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 0 The original steps of marble, somewhat worn, are covered with wood. Arched ceiling, and frescoes pannels on the side walls-
¶ 7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 0 At the head of the stairs is a little chapel, alter, crucifixion, and other catholic fixings- The rest of my family ascended by the common stairways to the promenade above while I stopped to make by sketch with spectators and tourists all around me.
¶ 8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 0 Each devotee stops to say a prayer on each step. Two or three steps from the bottom there is a platform five or six feet wide where each one stops to kiss a certain spot in the centre-
¶ 9 Leave a comment on paragraph 9 0 I don’t suppose half of those devotees know the story even- And less of the truth-
¶ 10 Leave a comment on paragraph 10 0 [ -Sante Scala-]
This question mark is inserted by Wade. He wondered, I bet, as I am, how the stairs got transported from Jerusalem to Rome although they are supposed to have been brought back by Emperor Constantine’s mother St. Helena in the 4th century.