Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/616

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CHALCEDON


554


CHALCEDON


front of the seat eighteen small panels of ivory have been used, on which the labours of Hercules, also fabu- lous animals, have been engraved; in like manner it was common at this period to ornament the covers of books and reliquaries with ivory panels or carved stones representing mythological scenes. The back is divided by small columns and arches into four fields and finishes at the top in a tympanum which has for ornamentation a large round opening between two smaller ones. The tympanum is surrounded on all sides by strips of ivory engraved in arabesques. At the centre of the horizontal strip a picture of an emperor (not seen in the illustration) is carved in the ivory; it is held to be a portrait of Charles the Bald. The arabesque of acanthus leaves filled with fantastic representations of animals, and the rough execution of the work, would make the period of this emperor (SS4) a probable date. What still remains of the old cathedra scarcely permits an opinion as to the original form. In any case it was a heavy chair made of plain, straight pieces of wood, so that it cannot be considered a sella curulis of Pudens, as earlier tradition held it to be. If the four rings on the two sides belong to the original chair (Ennodius of Pavia about the sixth cen- tury used the term sedes gestatoria as an expression universally understood in reference to this chair), then it was probably an ordinary carrying-chair, such as was commonly used in ancient Rome.

While the two chairs were the visible memorials of the earliest origins of Peter's Apostolic work at Rome, the recollection of his first arrival in the city is still preserved in the litanies majores (greater litanies) on 25 April. On this day is also celebrated the feast of St. Mark, whom St. Peter had sent to Alexandria in Egypt. Antioch and Alexandria, the two most im- portant patriarchates of the East, were, in common with Rome, founded by Peter. Gregory the Great refers as follows to this spiritual relationship with the Roman Patriarchate of the West, in a letter to the Patriarch Eulogius (P. L., LXXVII, 899): "Quum multi sint Apostoli, pro ipso autem principatu sola Apostolorum principis sedes in auctoritate convaluit, quae in tribus locis unius est. Ipse enim sublimavit sedem, in qua etiam quiescere et praesertim vitam finire dignatus est. Ipse decoravit sedem, in qua Evangelistam (Marcum) discipulum misit. Ipse firmavit sedem, in qua septem annis, quamvis disces- surus, sedit. Quum ergo unius atque una sit sedes, cui ex auctoritate divina tres nunc episcopi president, quidquid ego de vobis boni audio, hoc mihi imputo" (Though there are many Apostles, pre-eminence of authority belongs permanently to none other than the Chair of the Prince of the Apostles, which Chair, though established in three places remains neverthe- less that of one and the same [Apostle]. He lifted it to the highest dignity in the place [Rome] where he deigned to fix his residence and end His life. He hon- oured it in the city [Alexandria] to which he sent his disciple, the Evangelist Mark. He strengthened it in the city [Antioch] where, though destined to depart, he sat for seven years. Since therefore the Chair in which now by divine authority three bishops preside is the identical chair of the self-same [Peter], I take to myself whatever good I hear concerning you).

Wc conclude, therefore, that there is no reason for doubting t he genuineness of the relic preserved at the

Vatican, an. I known as the Cathedra Petri. Accord- ing in Eiiscbius, Jerusalem preserved the cathedra of St. .lames (Hist. I'.crl. , VI 1 . jdx), Alexandria that of St. Mark (G. Secchi, La cattedra alessandrina di San Marco, Venice, 1853). Tertullian, in the above- quoted passage, refers to the value placed by the

Ipostolic Churches on the possession of the chairs of their founders (apud quas ipsa' adhuc cathedra apos- tolorum suis locis prasident), and in enumerating

tl. ; ii he puts Rome first. Moreover, the other wri- ters above quoted, and whose testimony reaches back


to the second century, all postulate the presence in Rome of an actual Cathedra Petri. See also Peter, Saint; Primacy.

The most exhaustive study of these subjects is that of De Rossi, in Bullettino di arrheolooia cristiana (Rome, 1867), 33, sqq. — Cf. Stevenson, in Kraus, Realencyklopddie d. christ- lichen Allerlhumer (Freiburg im Br.. I8S61. II. 156-61; San- guinetti. De Sede romana head Petri, etc.. commentarius histo- rico-criticus (Rome, 1867); Rampolla, De Cathedra romand beati Petri (Rome, 1868); North cote-Beownlow, in Roma Sotterranea, I. 494; Barnes. St. Peter in Rome and his Tomb on the Vatican. Hill (London, 1900). 35. 55. 79-82; Smith and Cheetham (non-Catholic I. Dictionary of Christian Antiquities (Hartford, 1880), II, 1625-27.— Among the older works con- sult, Phcebeus, De identitate Cathedra? Petri Romano- lil-ri 11 (Rome. 1666); ed. Pieralisi (Rome. 18S6); Torrigio, Grotte Vaticane (Rome, 16391; Cancellieri, De Secrctariis basilica Vatican* (Rome, 1788); Acta SS., June, V, 425-75; also Foggini, De romano beati Petri ilinere (Florence, 1741; and Mamachi's similar work, Rome, 1S72). Cf. Zaccaria, De sancti Petri apost. princ. primatu (Rome, 1776).

For the feast of the Chair see Kellner, Die Fesle Cathedra Petri und des antiochenischen Episkopats dieses Apostels, in Zeitschrift f. kath. Thcoloqie (1889), XIII. 566-76; Mardcchi, Le memorie dei SS. Apostoli Pictro e Paolo nella citta di Rnma (ibid., 18941; Morin, Un sermon ancien pour la ft'te de la Chaire de St-Pierre. in Revue benid., 1896, XIII, 343-46. Cf. Bene- dict XIV, Su le feste della Cattedra di San Pietro, due disser- tazioni inedite (Rome, 1S28). ANTON DE WAAL.

Chalcedon, a titular see of Asia Minor. The city was founded 676 B. c. by the Megarians on the Bi- thynian coast, opposite the place where a little later Byzantium rose. It was captured by the Persian general Otanes after the expedition of Darius against the Scythians. Allied alternately with Athens and Sparta, it became eventually a part of Bithynia, and in 74 b. c. passed over to the Romans, who lost it temporarily to Mithradates. In the imperial period it was a free city, but was dismantled by Valens (364-78). The Persians held it from 616 to 626. Chalcedon was the birthplace of the phi- losopher Xenocrates, a disciple of Plato, and of the sculptor Beotes. The virgin St. Euphemia and her companions suffered martyrdom there, probably under Galerius (305-11). It is in her magnificent church that the Fourth General Council against Eutyches, known as the Council of Chalcedon (451), was held. This church was situated on the top of the hill at Haidar- Pasha (Haider Pasha) ; it was de- stroyed by Suleiman to build his mosque in Con- stantinople. Among other martyrs who suffered at Chalcedon mention may be made of the Persian St. Sabel and his companions. Chalcedon was an episcopal see at an early date; after the great council it became a metropolis, but without suffragans. There is a list of its bishops in Lequien (I, 599). completed by Anthimus Alexoudes in "Anatolikos Aster" (XXX, 108). revised for the early period bv Pargoire in "Echos d'Orient" (III, S5, 204; IV, 21, 104). Among others are St. Adrian, a martyr; St. John; Sts. Cosmas and Nicetas, during the Iconoclastic period; Maris, the Arian; Heraclianus. who wrote against the Maniehseans and the Monophysites; Leo, persecuted by Alexius Comnenus. The titular Latin see is suffragan of Nicomedia. Lequien (III, 1019) mentions eight Latin bishops, from 1345 to 1 143; Eubel (I, 190; II. 141) has ten names, from 1293 to 1525. Five other titular bishops of the sixteenth eenturv are mentioned in the "Revue benetiictine" (1904, 114 45, 155-56).

Chalcedon is to-dav Kadi-Keui (Kadikoi). It lias about 30.000 inhabitants; 15,000 Greeks, 5000 Armenians (500 Catholics). 2000 Latins, 6000 Mussulmans. 2000 Jews 200 Protestants. The Latin parish is conducted by the Assumptionists; they have also a seminary for Catholic Greeks, with a Greek chapel, and a high school for Orient al st udies, which publishes a review, the "Echos d'Orient". The Christian Brothers have there a large college with commercial and elementary courses. The D3mes de Sion have a school for girls; the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of Lourdes a convent ;