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PREFACE.

953 K528 ugo

UGO BASSI.

"FRA UGO BASSI, Servant of our Lord,
One of the Order of Saint Barnabas,
The Sons of Consolation,-late of Rome:
Born in Bologna, and brought back of God
There for His sake to die when all was done."
The Disciples.

"The Sermon in the Hospital" is written by an enthusiastic admirer of Ugo Bassi. This marvelous sermon was heard by her as preached in his regular course of duty, and is here put into verse.

This Ugo Bassi, the son of a Bolognese father and a mother of Greek extraction, was born in the first year of this present century. He showed great precocity in his youth. In October, 1818, he began his novitiate in the Order of St. Barnabas, taking then the name Ugo, in place of his baptismal name Giovanni, immediately after he removed to Rome. In 1833 he entered upon his public ministry. And while his sermons were marked with no very great originality of treatment or finish of style, the effect of them was immense. People who heard him threw down their garments for him to walk over. He went to Sicily, where he was enthusiastically welcomed. After his departure the cholera broke out at Palermo, and he decided immediately to return. was welcomed back by the people with extravagant demonstrations of delight. He walked straight to the cholera hospital and there remained while the scourge lasted.

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In 1848, while preaching a course of Lent Sermons at Ancona, Gavazzi passed through the town accompanied by a party of crociati. Bassi joined the volunteers and preached the new crusade with such marvelous effect that the Gazzetta Ufficiale of the next day spoke of it as "beyond all possibility of believing." On the 12th of May, at Treviso, Bassi received three wounds in a desperate sortie outside the gates of S. Tommaso; but he refused to have his wounds dressed until he had given the last consolations of the Church to Gen. Guidotte, who was carried dying out of the action. So soon as a tedious convalescence would permit he went among the soldiers at Chioggia and Fort Malghera, encouraging the well and comforting the sick and wounded, whether friends or enemies. When Pope Pius lost all nerve and fled, on February 9, 1849, the Constituent Assembly proclaimed a Republic. Bassi hastened to Rome, and in March joined Garibaldi at Rieti, and remained among his followers and admirers until his death. So high was his regard for him that he wrote to his mother, "This is the hero my soul has ever sought for." He preached to the legion repeatedly in church, and in the open air; and on one occasion with such effect that the officers and people bore him in triumph on their shoulders. Bassi was made a prisoner by the Austrians, after Garibaldi's army was disbanded, and on August 8th, 1849, a few days after, he was shot. He was buried within a few paces of the spot on which he fell at his death. An interesting account of his life and labors can be found in the British Quarterly Review of January, 1881, written by Evelyn Carrington.

NEW YORK, Feb. 13th, A.D. 1885.

UGO BASSI'S

SERMON IN THE HOSPITAL.

Now I heard

Fra Ugo Bassi preach. For though in Rome
He held no public ministry this year,

On Sundays in the hospital he took

His turn in preaching, at the service held
Where five long chambers, lined with suffering folk,
Converged, and in the midst an altar stood,

By which on feast-days stood the priest, and spoke,
And I remember how, one day in March,
When all the air was thrilling with the spring,
And even the sick people in their beds

Felt, though they could not see it, he stood there
Looking down all the lines of weary life,

Still for a little under the sweet voice,
And spoke this sermon to them, tenderly,

As it was written down by one who heard :

"I am the True Vine," said our Lord, “ and Ye, My Brethren, are the Branches;" and that Vine

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