If my
view is correct, we have here an illustration of a fact which is
continually observable--namely, that all things which come to much,
whether they be books, buildings, pictures, music, or living
beings, are suggested by others of their own kind. It is; always
the most successful, like Handel and Shakespeare, who owe most to
their forerunners, in spite of the modifications with which their
works descend.
Giovanni Vincenzo had built his church about the year 987. It is
maintained by some that he had been Bishop of Ravenna, but Claretta
gives sufficient reason for thinking otherwise. In the "Cronaca
Clusina" it is said that he had for some years previously lived as
a recluse on the Monte Caprasio, to the north of the present Monte
Pirchiriano; but that one night he had a vision, in which he saw
the summit of Monte Pirchiriano enveloped in heaven-descended
flames, and on this founded a church there, and dedicated it to St.
Michael. This is the origin of the name Pirchiriano, which means
[Greek text], or the Lord's fire.
The fame of the heavenly flames and the piety of pilgrims brought
in enough money to complete the building--which, to judge from the
remains of it embodied in the later work, must have been small, but
still a church, and more than a mere chapel or oratory. It was, as
I have already suggested, probably imposing enough to fire the
imagination of Hugh de Montboissier, and make him feel the
capabilities of the situation, which a mere ordinary wayside chapel
might perhaps have failed to do.
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