Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/439

Rh clergy, and was not allowed to be profaned by the presence of the unordained multitude.

The last great change was the introduction of a choir, or enclosed space in the centre of the nave, attached to the bema or presbytery, as the raised space came to be called. Round three sides of this choir the faithful were allowed to congregate to hear the Gospels or Epistles read from the two pulpits or ambones, which were built into its enclosure, one on either side; or to hear the services which were read or sung by the inferior order of clergy who occupied its precincts.

The enclosure of the choir was kept low, so as not to hide the view of the raised presbytery, or to prevent the congregation from witnessing the more sacred mysteries of the faith which were there performed by the higher order of clergy.

Another important modification, though it entailed no architectural change, was the introduction of the bodies of the saints in whose honor the building was erected into the basilica itself, and depositing them in a confessional or crypt below the high altar.

There is every reason to believe that a separate circular building, or proper tomb, was originally erected over the grave or place of martyrdom, and the basilica was sanctified merely by its propinquity to the sacred spot. Afterwards the practice of depositing the relics of the saint beneath the floor became universally the rule. At about the same time the baptistery was also absorbed into the basilica; and instead of standing opposite the western entrance, a font placed within the western doors supplied its place. This last change was made earlier at Rome than elsewhere. It is not known at what exact period the alteration was introduced, but it is probable that the whole was completed before the age of Gregory the Great.

It was thus that in the course of a few centuries the basilicas aggregated within themselves all the offices of the Roman Church, and became the only acknowledged ecclesiastical buildings—either as places for the assembly of the clergy for the administration of the sacraments and the performance of divine worship, or for the congregation of the faithful.

None of the basilican churches, either of Rome or the provinces, possess these arrangements exactly as they were originally established in the fourth or fifth century. The church of San Clemente, however, retains them so nearly in their primitive form that a short description of it may tend to make what follows more easily intelligible. This basilica seems to have been erected in the fourth or fifth century over what was supposed to be the house in which the saint of that name resided. Recently a subterranean church or crypt has been discovered, which must of course be more ancient than the