They who have assisted at the office of Tenebrae will not be surprised at the saying of a philosopher, that for the advantage of his soul he would wish, that when he was about to render it up to God, he might hear sung the _Miserere_ of the Pope's chapel. In no other place has this celebrated music succeeded. Baini the director of the Pontifical choir, in a note to his life of Palestrina, observes that Paride de Grassi, Master of ceremonies to Leo X, mentions that on holy wednesday (A.D. 1519), the singers chanted the _Miserere_ in a _new_ and _unaccustomed_ manner, alternately singing the verses in symphony. This seems to be the origin of the far-famed _Miserere_. Various authors, whom Baini enumerates, afterwards composed _Miserere_[52]; but the celebrated composition of Gregorio Allegri a Roman, who entered the Papal college of singers in 1629, was the most successful, and was for some time sung on all the three days of Tenebrae. Then one composed by Alessandro Scarlatti, or that of Felice Anerio, used to be sung on holy thursday: but these were eclipsed by the _Miserere_, composed in 1214 by Tommase Bai a Bolognese, director of the choir of S. Peter's. From that time only Allegri's and Bai's were sung in the Pope's chapel; till Pius VII directed the celebrated Baini to compose a new _Miserere_, which has received well-merited applause. Since the year 1821 all three, viz. Baini's, Bai's, and Allegri's _Misereres_ are sung on the three successive days, and generally in the order in which we have mentioned them: the two latter are sometimes blended together. The first verse is sung in harmony, the second in plain chant, and so successively till the last verse, which alone is sung in harmony by both the choirs, into which the singers are divided; only one choir sings the other verses[53]. [Sidenote: Cardinal penitentiary] [Sidenote: Trinita dei Pellegrini] On Wednesday-afternoon, the Cardinal great Penitentiary goes in state to S. Mary Major's, where the minor Penitentiaries are Dominicans. For an account of this custom see the preceding chapter. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings, Christians may be edified at the Trinita dei Pellegrini[54] by the sight of Cardinals, princes, prelates and others, washing in good earnest, and afterwards kissing the feet of poor pilgrims, while they recite with them the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father, and other beautiful prayers, such as; _Gesu, Giuseppe, Maria,_ _Vi dono il cuore e l' anima mia._ _Gesu, Giuseppe, Maria,_ _Assisteleci nell' ultima agonia, etc._