ULTiaAH
15
ULTiaAH
fthe city deserted and the churches almost m ruins.
Great works were begun at the Lateran by Martin V
and his successors. The palace, however, was never
Again used by them as a residence, the Vatican, which
stands in a much drier and healthier position, being
chosen in its place. It was not until the latter part
of the seventeenth century that the church took its
present appearance, in the tasteless restoration carried
out by Innocent X, with Borromini for his architect.
The ancient columns were now enclosed in huge pi-
lasters, with gigantic statues in front. In consequence
of this the church has entirely lost the appearance
of an ancient basilica, and is completely altered in
character.
Some portions of the older buildings still survive. Among these we may notice the pavement of medieval Cosmatesque work, and the statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, now in the cloisters. The graceful haldacchino over the high altar, which looks so utterly out of place in its present surroundings, dates from 13G9. The stercoraria, or throne of red marble on which the popes sat, is now in the Vatican Museum. It owes its unsavoiuy name to the anthem sung at the ceremony of the papal enthronization, *' De stercore erigens pau- perem". From the fifth century there were seven oratories surrounding the basilica. These before long were thrown into the actual church. The devotion of visitina; these oratories, which held its ground all through the medieval period, gave rise to the similar devotion of the seven altars, still common in many churches of Rome and elsewhere. Between the ba- silica and the city wall there was in former times the great monastery, in which dwelt the community of monks whose dutv it was to provide the services in the basilica. The only part of it which still survives is the cloister, surrounded by graceful columns of inlaid marble. They are of a style intermediate between the Romanesque proper and the Gothic, and are the work of Vassellectus and the Cosmati. The date of these beautiful cloisters is the early part of the thir- teenth century.
The ancient apse, with mosaics of the fourth cen- tury, survived all the many changes and dangers of the Middle Ages, and was still to be seen very much in its original condition as late as 1878, when it was de- stroyed in order to provide a larger space for the or- dinations and other pontifical functions which take place in this cathedral church of Rome. The original mosaics were, however, preserved with the greatest possible care and very great success, and were re- erected at the end of the new and deeper apse which had been provided. In these mosaics, as they now appear, the centre of the upper portion is occupied by the figure of Christ surrounded by nine angels. This figure is extremely ancient, and dates from the fifth, or it may be even the fourth century. It is possible even that it is the identical one which, as is told in ancient tradition, was manifested to the eyes of the worshippers on the occasion of the dedication of the
If it is so, however, it has certainly -been retouched.
Below is seen the crux gammata, surmounted by a
dove which symbolizes the Holy Spirit, and standing
on a hill whence flow the four rivers of the Gospels,
from whose waters stags and sheep come to drink.
On either side are saints, looking towards the Cross.
These last are thought to belong originally to the
sixth century, though they were repaired and altered
in the thirteenth by Nicholas IV, whose effigy may be
seen prostrate at the feet of the Blessed Virgin. The
river which runs below is more ancient still, and may
be regarded as going back to Constantine and the first
day^ of the basilica. The remaining mosaics of the
apse are of the thirteenth century, and the signatures
01 the artist-s, Torriti and Camerino, may still be read
upon them. Camerino was a Frandsoan friar; per-
haps Torriti was one also.
The pavement of the basilica dates from Martin V and the return of the popes to Rome from Avignon. Martin V was of the Colonna family, and the columns are their badge. The high altar, which formerly oc- cupied the position customary in all ancient basilicas, in the centre of the chord of the apse, has now beyond it, owine to the successive enlargements of the church, the whole of the transverse nave and of the new choir. It has no saint buried beneath it, since it was not, as were almost all the other great churches of Rome, erected over the tomb of a martyr. It stands alone among all the altars of the Catholic world in being of wood and not of stone, and enclosing no relics of any kind. The reason for this peculiarity is that it is it- self a relic of a most interesting kind, being the actual wooden altar upon which St. Peter is believed to have celebrated Mass during his residence in Rome. It was carefully preserved through all the years of per- secution, and was brought by Constantine and Syl- vester from St. Pudentiana's, where it had been kept till then, to become the principal altar of the cathedral church of Rome. It is now, of course, enclosed in a larger altar of stone and cased with marble, but the original wood can still be seen. A small portion was left at St. Pudentiana's in memory of its long con- nexion with that church, and is still preserved there. Above the High Altar is the canopy or haldacchino al- ready mentioned, a Gothic structure resting on four marble columns, and decorated with paintings by Bama of Siena. In the upper part of the baldacchino are preserved the heads of the Apostles Peter and Paul, the great treasure of the basilica, which until this shrine was prepared to receive them had always been kept in the *^Sancta Sanctorum", the private chapel of the Lateran Palace adjoining. Bchmd the ai^e there formerly extended the "Leonine" portico; it is not known which pontiff §ave it this name. At the entrance there was an inscription commemorating the dream of Innocent VIII, when he saw the church of the Lateran upheld by St. Francis of Assisi. On the opposite wall was hung the tabula magna, or catalogue of all the relics of the basilica, and also of the different chapels and the indulgences attached to them respectively. It is now in the archives of the basilica.
The Baptistery. — ^The baptistery of the church, following the invariable rule of the first centuries of Christianity, was not an integral part of the ciiurch it- self, but a separate and detached building, joined to the church by a colonnade, or at any rate in close prox- imity to it. The right to baptize was the peculiar privilege of the cathedral church, and here, as else- where, all were brought from all parts of the city to re- ceive the sacrament. There is no reason to doubt the tradition which makes the existing baptistery, which altogether conforms to these conditions, the original Imptistery of the church, and ascribes its foundation to Constantine. The whole style and appearance of the edifice bear out the claim made on its behalf. There is, however, much less ground for saying that it w^as here that the emperor was baptized by St. Syl- vester. The building was originally entered from the opposite side from the present doorway, through the portico of St. Vcnantius. This is a vestibule or atrium, in which two large porphyry columns are still standing and was formerly approached by a colonnade of smaller porphyry columns leading from the church. The baptistery itself is an octagonal edifice with eight immense porphyry columns supporting an architrave on which are eight smaller columns, likewise of por- phyry, which in their turn support the octagonal drums of the lantern. In the main the building has preserved its ancient form and characteristics, though it has been added to and adorned by many popes. Sixtus III carried out the first of these restorations
