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and adornments, and his inscription recording the fact may still be seen on the architrave. Pope St. Hilary (461-468) raised the height, and also added the chap- els round. Urban VIII and Innocent X repaired it m more recent times.

In the centre of the buildinc one descends by sev- eral steps to the basin of crecn oasalt which forms the actual baptismal font. 1 here is no foundation for the idea that the Emperor Con^tantine was himself ac- tually baptized in this font by Pope St. Sylvester. That is a confusion which has arisen from the fact that he was the founder of the baptistery. But although he had embraced Christianity and had done so much for the advancement of the Church, the emperor, as a matter of fact, deferred the actual reception of the sacrament of baptism imtil the very end of his life, and was at last baptized, not by Sylvester, but by Eu- sebius, in whose diocese of Nicomedia he was then, after the foundation of Constantinople, pcrmanentlv residing (Von Funk, ''Manual of Church History', London, 1910, 1, 118-119; Duchesne, *' Liber Pontifi- cahs", Paris, 1887, I, cix-cxx). The mosaics in the adjoining oratories are both ancient and interesting. Those in the oratory of St. Jolm the Evangelist are of the fifth centuiy, and are of the conventional style of that period, consisting of flowers and birds on a gold ground, also a Lamb with a cruciform nimbus on the vault. The corresponding mosaics of the chapel of St. John the Baptist disappeared in the seventeenth century, but we have a ciescription of them in Pan- vinio. The mosaics in the chapel of St. Venantius (the ancient vestibule) are still extant, and are of con- siderable interest. They date from the seventh cen- tury, and a comparison between the workmanship of these mosaics and of those in the cliapel of St. John offers an instructive lesson on the extent to which the arts had deteriorated between the fifth and the sev- enth centuries. The figures represent, for the most part, Dalmatian saints, and the whole decoration was originally desired as a memorial to Dalmatian mar- tyrs, whose relics were brought here at the conclusion of the Istrian schism.

The Lateran Palace. — From the beginning of the fourth century, when it was eiven to the pope by Con- stantine, the palace of the Lateran was the principal residence of the popes, and continued so for about a thousand years. In the tenth century Serglus III restored it after a disastrous fire, and later on it was greatlv embellished by Innocent III. This was the period of its greatest magnificence, when Dante speaks of it as beyond all human achievements. At this t imc the centre of the piazza in front, where now the obe- lisk stands, was occupied by the palace and tower of the Annibaldeschi. Between this palace and the ba- silica was the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, then believed to represent Constantine, which now is at the Capitol. The whole of the front of the palace was taken up with the ''Aula Concilii", a magnifi- cent hall witn eleven apses, in which were held the various Councils of the Lateran during the medieval period. The fall of the palace from uiis position of

flory was the result of the departurie of the popes from Lome during the Avignon period. Two aestructive fires, in 130/ and 1361 respectively, did irreparable harm, and although vast sums were sent from Avignon for the rebuilding, the palace never again attained its former splendour. When the popes returned to Home they resided first at Santa Maria m Trastevere, then at Santa Maria Maggiore, and lastly fixed their residence at the Vatican. Sixtus V then destroyed what still remained of the ancient palace of the Lateran and erected the present much smaller edifice in its place. An apee lined with mosaics and open to the air still preserves the memory of one of the most famous halls of the ancient palace, the "Triclinium" of Leo III, which was the state banqueting hall. The existing fftructure is not ancient, but it is possible that some

portions of the original mosaics have been preserved. The subject is threefold. In the centre Christ gives their mission to the Apostles, on the left he gives the kc>[s to St. Sylvester and the Labarum to Constantine, while on the ri^ht St. Peter gives the stole to Leo III and the standard to Charlemagne. The private rooms of the popes in the old palace were situated be- tween this '^Triclinium" and the city walls. The palace is now given up to the Pontifical Museiun of Christian Antiquities.

For the history of the basilica, the student should consult primarily the two quarto volumes of the Liber PontificaKs, edited by Duchesne (Paris, 1887 sqq.). Other monographs are Joannes Diaconuh, Liber de Ecclena Laleranensi in P. L.: AxjEMANNi, De Laieranensibiu parietinis (Rome, 1625); Uah- poNDi, De basilica el patriarchio Jjoteranenn (Home, 1656); Crescimbeni and Baldeschi, Stalo delta S. Chiesa papale Latera- nense nell' anno 172S (Rome, 1723); Skverano, Le »eUe chiete di Roma; Ugonio, Historia delle Stazioni di Roma; Panvinio, De Seplem urbis ecclenis; Piazza, Stazioni di Roma. The latter four works were published in Rome in the sixteenth or seven- teoith century.

Among recent books the best are: Armellini, Le chieae di Roma (Rome, 1891); Marucchi, Basiligucs et Eglises de Rome (Rome. 1902); and in particular, ns Fleury, Le Lairem au moyen Age^ (Paris, 1877). There is a lai]ge number of plans and manuscripts in the archives of the bxisilica. For special points consult also de Rossi, Musaici delle chiese di Roma anteriori al secolo XV (Rome, 1872); de Montault, La grande pancarU de la baeilique de Latran in Revue de Vart chritien (Paris, 1886); GER8PA(*n, La Moea'ique apaidaie dee Sancla Sanctorum du Latran in Gazette dee beaux aria, 1880: Bartouni, Sopra Vantichiaaimo altare di legno in Roma (1852).

Arthur S. Barnes.

Lateran Oooncils, a series of five important coun- cils held at Rome from the twelfth to the sixteenth century. From the reign of Constantine the Great imtil the removal of the papal Court to Avi^on, the Lateran palace and basilica ser\'ed the bishops of Rome as residence and cathedral. During this long period the popes had occasion to convoke a number of general councils, and for this purpose they made choice of cities so situated as to reduce as much as pos- sible the inconveniences which the bishops called to such assemblies must necessarily experience by reason of long and costly absence from their sees. Five of these councils were held in the Lateran palace, and are known as the First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Lateran Councils, held respectively in 1123, 1139, 1179, 1215, and 1512-17.

First Lateran Council (1123). — The Council of 1123 is reckoned in the series of oecumenical councils. It had been convoked in December, 1122, immediately after the Concordat of Worms, which agreement be- tween pope and emperor had caused general satisfac- tion in the Church. It put a stop to the arbitrary conferring of ecclesiastical benefices by laymen, re- established freedom of episcopal and abbatial elections, separated spiritual from temporal affairs, and ratified the principle that spiritual authority can emanate only from the Church; lastly, it tacitly alx)lished the exor- bitant claim of the emperors to interfere in panal elec- tions. So deep was the emotion caused by tnis con- cordat, the first ever signed, that in many documents of the time the year 1122 is mentioned as the be^n- ning of a new era. For its more solemn confirmation, and in conformity with the earnest desire of the Arch- bishop of Mainz, Callistus II convoked a council to which all the archbishops and bishops of the West were invited. Three hundred bishops and more than six hundred abbots assembled at Rome in March, 1123; Callistus II presided in nerson. Both originals {in- strumenta) of the Concoraat of Worms were read and ratified, and twent-y-two disciplinary canons were pro- mulgated, most of them reinforcements of previous conciliary decrees. Canons iii and xxi forbia priests, deacons, subdeacons, and monks to marry or to have concubines; it is also forbidden them to keep in their houses any women other than those sanctioned by the ancient canons. Marriages of clerics are null vieno jvre, and those who have contracted them are subject to penance. Canon vi: Nullity of the ordinations per-