CHAIR
552
CHAIR
logium Hieronymianum" gives a second feast of the
Chair of St. Peter for 22 February, but all the manu-
scripts assign it to Antioch, not to Rome. Thus the
oldest manuscript, that of Berne, says: "VIII kal.
mar. cathedrae sci petri apostoli qua sedit apud ant i-
ochiam". The Weissenburg manuscript says: "Natl
[natale] sci petri apostoli cathedrae qua sedit apud antiocia." However, the words qua sedit apud antiockiam arc seen at once to be a later addition. Both feasts are Roman; indeed, that of 22 February was originally the more important. This is clear from the Calendar of Philocalus drawn up in the year 354, and going back to the year 311; it makes no mention of the January feast but speaks thus of 22 February: "VIII Kl. Martias: natale Petri do cathe- dra" (eighth day before the Calends of March, the birthday [i. e. feast] of the Chair of Peter). It was not until after the insertion of Antioch in the copies nf the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum" that the feast "t February nave way in importance to that of
January. The Roman Church, therefore, at an early
date celebrated a firs! and a second assumption of
the episcopal office in Rome by St. Peter. This
double celebratioD was also held in two places, in the
Vatican Basilica and in a cemetery (cwmetcriiim) on
the Via Salaria. At both places a chair (cathedra)
was venerated which the Apostle had used as presid-
ing officer of the assembly of the faithful. The first
of these chairs stood in the Vatican Basilica, in the
baptismal chapel built by Pope Damasus; the neo-
phytes in albis (white baptismal robes) were led from
the baptistery to the pope seated on this aneienl
cathedra, and received from him tin' consignatio,'\. e.
the Sacrament of Confirmation. Reference is made
to this custom in an inscription of Damasus which contains the line: "una Petri sedes. iiinini verumque
lavacrum" (one Chair of Peter, one true font of bap-
- : m St. Ennodius of Pavia id. 521 i speaks" of it
I ibellus pro Synodo", near the end): "Ecce nunc ail gestatoriam sellam apostolic® confessionis tnittunl hmina candidates; ei uberibus gaudio exactore fietibus collata Dei beneficio dona geminan- tur" i B.l ml. 1 now the neophytes go from the dripping
tho hold to the portable chair of the Apostolic con- fession; amid abundant tears called forth by joy the gifts of Divine grace ate doubled i. While therefore in the apse oi the Vatican Basilica there stood a
cathedra on which the pope sat amid the Roman
clergy during the pontifical Mass, there was also in
the same building a second cathedra from which the
pope administered to the newly baptized the Sacra-
ment of Confirmation. The Chair of St. Peter in the
apse was made of marble and was built into the wall,
that of the baptistery was movable and could be car-
ried. Ennodius calls the latter a gestaioria sedes;
throughout the Middle Ages it was always brought
on 22 February from the above-mentioned consigna-
torium or place of confirmation to the high altar.
That day the pope did not use the marble cathedra at
the back of the apse but sat on this movable cathedra,
which was, consequently, made of wood. The impor-
tance of this feast was heightened by the fact that 22
February was considered the anniversary of tic day
when Peter bore witness, by the Sea of" Tiberias, to
the Divinity of Christ and was again appointed by
Christ to be the Rock of His Church. According to
very ancient Western liturgies, 22 February was the
day "quo electus est 1. Petrus papa" (on which Peter
was first chosen pope). The Mass of this feast calls
it at the beginning: "solemnitatis praedicandae dies
prsecipue nobilis in quo .... beatus Bar-Jona voce Re-
demptoris fide devota pralatus est et per hanc Petri
petram basis ecclesia? fixus est", i. e. this day is called
especially praiseworthy because on it the blessed
Bar-Jona, by reason of his devout faith, was raised
to pre-eminence by the words of the Redeemer, and
through this rock of Peter was established the foun-
dation of the Church. And the Oratio (collect) says:
"Deus, qui hodierna. die beatum Petrum post te de-
disti caput ecclesia?, cum te ille vere confessus sit"
(0 God, who didst this day give us as head of the
Church, after Thyself, the Blessed Peter, etc.).
The second of the aforementioned chairs is referred to about 600 by an Abbot Johannes. He had been commissioned by Pope Gregory the Great to collect in special little phials oil from the lamps which burned at the graves of the Roman martyrs (see Catacombs; .Martyr) for the Lombard queen, Theodolinda. Ac- cording to the manuscript list of these oils preserved in the cathedral treasury of Mcnza, Italy, one of these vessels had on it the statement: "oleo de sede ubi prius sedit sanetus Petrus" (oils from the chair where St. Peter first sat). Other ancient authorities describe the site as "ubi Petrus baptizabat" (where Peter baptized), or "ad fontes sancti Petri; ad Nymphas sancti Petri" (at the fountain of Saint Peter). Formerly this site was pointed out in the cameterium majvs (principal cemetery) on the Via Nomentana; it is now certain that it was on the Via Salaria. and was connected with the carmeterium, or cemetery, of Priscilla and the villa of tin' Acilii (Acilii Glabriones), situated above this catacomb. The foun- dation of this villa, showing masonry of a very early date (opus reticvlatum), still exists. Both villa and cemetery, in one of whose burial chambers are several epitaphs of members of the family, or gens, of the Acilii. belong to the Apostolic Period. It is most probable that Priscilla, who gave her name as foun- dress to the eat a Comb, w as the wife of Acilius Glabrio, executed under Domitian. There is hardly any doubt that the site, "ubi prius sedit sanetus Petrus, ubi Petrus baptizabat " (where Saint Peter first sat, where
Peter baptized), should be sought, not in an under- i cubiculum (chamber) in tin- catacombs, but in an oratory above ground. At least nothing has been found in 'the oldest part of the cemetery Ot Priscilla now fully excavated, referring to a cathedra, or chair. The feast of the Cathedra Petri was therefore cele- brated on the Via Salaria on 18 January: in the Vati- can Basilica it was observed on 22 February. It is
- l.v to beh 'vi that aft rtii triumph of Christ units
rival could be celebrated with greater pomp in the magnificent basilica erected by Cotistantine the Great over the confessio, or grave of Peter, than in a
