Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/418

 SAINT PETER

372

SAINT PETER

German emperors were form(Tly crowned. The magnificent holy water basins to the right and to the left, well known from numerous illustrations, are supported by gigantic putti. The barrel vaulting reposes in a beautiful curve upon the pillars and the arches connecting them. Proceeding forwards we also perceive the marble reliefs of many popes on the piers while many of the pier niches contain heroic statues of the founders of the orders, a decoration which extends also over the transepts and the nave of the tribune. At the fourth pier to the right is a very important sitting statue of St. Peter, which has been erroneously ascribed to the thirteenth centur}', but in truth dates from the fourth or fifth. This is no adap- tation of another statue, but was intended to be a statue of the Prince of the Apostles. In the left transept the confessionals of the penitentiaries of St. Peter's reveal in the most beautiful manner the unity of the Faith, by offering the opportunity for confes- sion in the most important civilized tongues of the world. Facing the Confes- sion there stand obliquely be- fore the dome piers the colos- sal marble statues of Sts. Longinus, Helena, Veronica, and Andrew. From the gal- lery above the statue of St. Helena the so-called great relics are disjilayed se\eral times during the year. The most important of these is a large fragment of the True Cross. Above the four gal- leries of the dome the four Evangelists are depicted in magnificent mosaics after the designs of Cavaliere d'Arpino. In the frieze above stands the proud Latin inscription, the letters of which are six feet high: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build Mj' Church, and I will give thee the keys of Heaven".

In the tribune of the left transept are three altars of which the middle one is par- ticularly noteworthy, because, in the first place, the tomb of the immortal composer Pier- luigi da Palestrina lies before it ; secondly, because the bodies of the two Apo.stles Simeon and Judas Thaddeus re- po.se m a stone sarcophagus beneath the altar; and thirdly, becau.se, as the altar-piece of Guido Reni re- cords, the altar marks the spot in the circus of Nero where the cross stood upon which St. Peter breathed his last. The right transept has attained a special im- portance m most recent ecclesiastical history because in 1870 the Vatican Council held its sessions here until dispensed by the mar(h of the crowned revolution upon Rome. Returning to the entrance we find in the first lateral chapel of the right aisle the place made famous by Michelangelo's "Piet^" (1498). Besideit in the chapel of St. Nicholas is the treasury of the relics of St. Peter,

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the Gregorian chapel, because it was decorated under Gregory XIII after the designs of Michelangelo. Next to the monument of Gregory XVI is the altar of the Madonna dell Soccorso, whose picture is from the ancient church of St. Peter. Under the altar- piece reposes the body of St. Gregory of Nazianzus and adjoining it is the colossal tomb of Benedict XIV. In the opposite passage of the dome pier are Canova's masterpiece, the monument of Clement XIII, and the altar-piece after Guido Reni, repre- senting the Archangel Michael. In the same divi- sion on the left side of the church, the monument of Alexander VIII gleams in the distance, and under the altar of the Madonna della Colonna, in an early Christian sarcophagus the mortal remains of Sts. Leo II, Leo III, and Leo IV repose. The altar of St. Leo I is surmounted by the colossal marble re- lief by Algardi, the "Retreat of Attila from Rome", the proportions of which seem too large, even for the Basilica of Saint Peter. Farther on is the monu- ment of Alexander VII, and opposite this is the onlj' oil- painted altar-piece — one by Vareni — of St. Peter's. All the remaining altar-pieces within the church are of mo- saic. Passing through the left transept we ajiproach the pas- sage around the fourth dome pier, where on the right, under the monument of Pius VIII, is the entrance to the sacristy, and directly in front, under the monument of Pius VII by Thorwaldsen, is the stairway to the gallery of the singers in the choir chapel. Here the left transept begins, the first lateral chapel of which is used for the prayers of the canons, while the last serves as a bap- tistery. Adjoining the choir chapel, beyond the entrance, at a height of fifteen feet above the pavement, is an en- closed niche in which each de- ceased pope is interred until his body can be taken to the sepulchre definitively assigned for it. At the present time the body of Leo Xlll still re- poses here, although his sepul- chre in the Lateran has long been finished. The un- certainty of conditions at Rome has rendered it inad- visable as yet to undertake the removal of the body. On the tomb of Leo XI our attention is attracted by an excellent marble relief representing King Henry IV of France abjuring Protestantism. Of similar im- portance is another relief here upon the monument of Innocent XI, relating to the raising of the Turkish siege of Vienna by .lolin Sohieski, King of Poland. Among the most beautiful funeral monuments of the ent ire basilica is that of Innocent VIU by Antonio and Pietro Pollajuolo. Adjoining these are the two im-

., portant tombs of Urban VIII by Bernini and Paul III

then follows the chapel of St. Seba.stian, and finally by (juglielmo della Porta.

the roomy chapel of the Sacrament. Among the art treasures here is the tomb of Sixtus IV, a thoroughly simple and impressive bronze monument by Antonio Pollajuolo. From the multitude of sepulchral monu- ments which adorn the right transept, those of Leo XII, of Omntess Matilda of Tuscany, the powerful friend of Gregory VII, and of Gregory XIII, the reformer of the calendar, df^erve special ment ion. Against t he dome pier, directly in front of us, stands an altar with the "Communion of St. .leromc" after Doinenifhino. The passage around the dome to the right iu called

Sagre Grolle Vaticane is the name applied to the ex- tended chambers under the pavement of St. Peter's. They are distinguished as the old and new crypts. The former lie princif)ally undvT the nave, and are 59 feet wide and 1470 feet long. They represent the pavement of the old Basilica of St. Peter. Numerous graves of popes and emperors, which were in the Basilica of Constantine, are here, so that, the low and extended place, 11-4 feet in height, is of the greatest historic interest. Among many others are the graves of the popes: Nicholas I, Gregory V, a German,