CHAIR
553
CHAIR
chapel far distant from the city on the Via Salaria.
Yet the latter could rightly boast in its favour that it
was there Saint Peter first exercised at Rome the
episcopal office ("ubi prius sodit sanctus Petrus", as
Abbot Johannes wrote, or "qua primo Home petrus
apostolus sedit", as we read in the "Martyrologium
Hieronymianum " at IS January). This double festi-
val of the Chair of St. Peter is generally attributed to
a long absence of the Apostle from Home. As, how-
ever, the spot, "ubi s. Petrus baptizabat, ubi prius
sedit " was distant from the city, it is natural t<> think
that the second feast of the cathedra is connected with
the opening of a chapel for Christian worship in the
city itself.
II. The Chair Itself. — The Goths, who conquered and pillaged Rome in -410. advanced towards the city by the Via Salaria and the Via Nomentana; the same roads were traversed in the sixth and seventh centu- ries by later German invaders of Roman territory. Not only the churches, therefore, but even the ceme- teries on these thoroughfares were easily given to plunder and devastation. We have seen, moreover, that as late as (ion a lain]) was burning on the site "ubi prius sedit sanctus Petrus". If the original chair of the Apostle had still been there at that time, would it have been saved from destruction in the pillage that did not spare the sarcophagi in the catacombs? The words of the Abbot Johannes, "oleo de sede. ubi prius
sedit sanctus Petrus", seem to leave scarcely a doubt as to this. The fact, evidenced by the martyrologies (see above), that by the ninth century one of the two feasts of the Roman cathedra had drifted away to Antioch, shows that the cathedra of the Via Salaria must have perished as early as the sixth or seventh century.
We come now to the question, where stood origi- nally the chair shown and venerated in the Vatican Basilica during the fourth century? On the strength of ancient tradition it has been customary to desig- nate the church of Santa Pudenziana as the spot where, in the house of the supposed Senator Pudens. the two great Apostles not only received hospitable entertainment, but also held Christian services. But the legends connected with Santa Pudenziana do not offer sufficient guarantee for the theory that this church was the cathedral and residence of the popes before Constantine. At the close of his Epistle to the Romans (xvi, 5), St. Paul mentions a place where re- ligious services wire held, the house of Aquila and Prisca (jh» nar' o'Ikov airruv iKK\rj<rlav — now Santa
Prisca on the Aventine). Aquila and Prisca are firs! among the many to whom the Apostle sends saluta- tions. Aquila's connexion with the Catacomb of Priscilla is still shown by the epitaphs of that burial place. In lTTii there was excavated on the \\ entine, near the present church of Santa Prisca. a chapel with frescoes of the fourth century; in these frescoes pic- tures of the two Apostles were still recognizable.
Among the rubbish was also found a gilded glass with
the figures of Peter and Paul. Tin' feast of the dedi- cation of this church (an important point i still falls on the same day as the above-described cathi dra feast of 22 February; this church, therefore, continued to tc the traditional feast even after the destruc- tion of the object from which it sprang. In the crypt of Santa Prisca is shown a hollowed capital, bearing in thirteenth -century letters the inscription: I'. u'Tismis Sani it I'! nu Baptism of Saint Peter), undoubtedly
the echo oi an ii tit tradition of the administration
of baptism here by Peter. In tins way we have linked ■ insiderations which make it prob- able' that th- -pot "ubi Becundo sedebat sanctus Petrus (where Saint Peter -at tor tin- second time),
must be sought in the pn sent churl h of Santa Prisca: in other words, that the chair referred to by St. Da- masus was kept there in the period before Constan- tine. It was there, consequently, that was celebrated
the "natale Petri de cathedra", set for 22 February
in the calendars beginning with the year 354. It fol-
lows also that this is the cathedra referred to in the
oldest testimonial which speak of the chair from which
Peter taught at Rome. The (third-century) poem,
"Adversus Marcionem", says (P. L., II, 1099): —
Hac cathedra, Petrus qua sederat ipse, locatum Maxima Roma Linum primum considere iussit.
(On this chair, where Peter himself had sat, great Rome first placed Linus and bade him sit.) Further. St. Cyprian, writing about 250, during the vacancy of the chair after the death of Pope St. Fabian, describes it as follows: "Cum locus Fabiani, id est locus Petri et gradus cathedrae sacerdotalis vacaret" (when the place of Fabian, i. e. the place of Peter and the step of the sacerdotal chair were vacant). Still earlier, about 200, Tertullian writes, in his "De pra?scriptione hocre- ticorum": "Percurre ecclesias apostolicas, apud quas ipsa? adhuc cathedra? apostolorum suis locis president. Si Italia? adjaces habes Romam" (Visit the Apostolic churches in (among) which the very chairs of the Apos- tles still preside in their places. If you are near Italy, there is Rome).
How Pope Damasus might be led to transfer the Cathedm Petri from Santa Prisca to the Vatican, can be readily understood from the circumstances of that time. From the reign of the first Constantine the Lateran had been the residence of the popes, and its magnificent basilica their cathedral, while the neigh- bouring baptistery of Constantine served for the solemn administration of baptism on the eve of Eas- ter. In the half-century from 312 to 366 (date of the accession of Damasus), the importance of Santa Prisca, its baptistery, and its cathedra must naturally have declined. Damasus could therefore be certain of the approval of all Rome when he transferred the venerable Apostolic relic from the small chapel in Santa Prisca to his own new baptistery in the Vatican, where it certainly remained to the first quarter of the sixth century, after which it was kept in different chapels of the Vatican Basilica. During the .Middle Ages it was customary to exhibit it yearly to the faith- fid; the newly-elected pope was also solemnly en- throned on this venerable chair, a custom that ceased at the transfer of the papal capital to Avignon, in the early part of the fourteenth century. In order to pre- serve for posterity this precious relic, Alexander VII i 1655 67) enclosed, after the designs of Bernini, the Cathedra Petri above theapsidal altar of St. Peter's in a gigantic easing of bronze, supported by four Doctors of the Church (Ambrose, August me. Athanasius, Chry- sostom). Thenceforth, for 200 years, it was not ex- hibited to the public. In 1S67, however, on the occa- sion of the eighteenth centenary of the martyrdom of the two great Apostles, it was exposed for the venera- tion of the faithful. At that time the Alessandri brothers photographed the chair, and that photo- graph is reproduced here. The seat is about one foot ten inches above the ground, and two feet eleven and seven-eighths inches wide; the sides are two feet one and one-half inches deep; the height of the back up to the tympanum is three feet five and one-third inches; the entire height of the chair is four feet seven and
one-eighth inches. According to the examination then made by Padre Garucci and Giovanni Battista de Rossi, the oldest portion (see illustration, preceding page i- a perfectly plain oaken arm-chair with four lies connected by cross-bars. The wood is much worm eaten, and pieces have been cut from various
.1 different times, evidently for relics. To the right and left of the seat four strong iron rings, m- t ended for carrying-poles, are set into the legs. At a later date, perhaps in t he ninth century, this famous chair was strengthened by the addition of pieces of acacia wood. The latter wood has inlaid in it a rich ornamentation of ivory. For the adornment of the
