"A general affinity with the style of Cimabue is observable in some mosaics executed by contemporary artists. Those in Sta. Maria Maggiore are inscribed with the name of Jacobus Torriti, and executed between 1287 and 1292. They are surpassed by no contemporary work in dignity, grace, and decorative beauty of arrangement. In a blue, gold-starred circle is seen Christ enthroned with the Virgin; on each side are adoring angels, kneeling and flying, on a gold ground, with St. Peter and St. Paul, the two St. Johns, St. Francis, and St. Anthony (the same in size and position as at St. J. Lateran), advancing devoutly along. The upper part is filled with graceful vine-branches, with symbolical animals among them. Below is Jordan, with small river gods, boats, and figures of men and animals. Further below are scenes from the life of Christ in animated arrangement. The group in the centre of the circle, of Christ enthroned with the Virgin, is especially fine: while the Saviour is placing the crown on His mother's head, she lifts up her hands with the expression both of admiration and of modest remonstrance.[275] The forms are very pure and noble; the execution careful, and very different from the Roman mosaics of the twelfth century."—Kugler.
In front of and beneath the high altar Pius IX. has lately been preparing his own monument, by constructing a splendid chamber approached by staircases, and lined with the most precious alabaster and marbles.
On the right of the western entrance is the tomb of the Rospigliosi pope, Clement IX. (1667—69), the work of Ercole Ferrata, a pupil of Bernini. His body rests before the high altar, surrounded by a number of the members of his family. Left of the entrance is the tomb of Nicholas IV., Masci (1288-92), erected to his memory three hundred years after his death by Sixtus V. while still a cardinal. He is represented giving benediction, between two allegorical figures of Justice and Religion,—a fine work of Leonardo da Sarzana.
"It is well to know that this pope, a mere upstart from the dust, sought to support himself through the mighty family of Colonna, by raising them too high. His friend, the Cardinal Giacomo Colonna, contributed with him to the renewal of the mosaics which are in the tribune of Sta. Maria Maggiore, and one can see their two figures there to this day. It was in this reign that Ptolemais, the last possession of the Christians in Asia, fell into the hands of the Mohammedans; thus ended the era of the Crusades."—Gregorovius.
Behind this tomb, near the walled-up Porta Santa, is a good tomb of two bishops, brothers, of the fifteenth century, and in the same aisle are many other monuments of the sixteenth century, some of them fine in their way.
Nearly on a line with the baldacchino is the entrance of the Borghese Chapel, built by Flaminio Ponzio for Paul V. in 1608, gorgeous with precious marbles and alabasters. Over its altar is preserved one of the pictures attributed to St. Luke (and announced to be such in a papal bull attached to the walls!), much revered from the belief that it stayed the plague which decimated the city during the reign of Pelagius II., and that (after its intercession had been sought by a procession by order of Innocent VIII.) it brought about the overthrow of the Moorish dominion in Spain.
"On conserve à Sainte Marie Majeure une des images de la Madonne peintes par St. Luc, et plusieurs fois on a trouvé les anges chantant les litanies autour de ce tableau."—Stendhal.
The "Scheme of decorations in this gorgeous chapel is so remarkable, as testifying to the development which the theological idea of the Virgin, as the Sposa or personified Church, had attained in the time of Paul V.—the same pope who in 1615 promulgated the famous bull relative to the Immaculate Conception"—that the insertion of the whole passage of Mrs. Jameson on this subject will not be considered too much.
"First, and elevated above all, we have the 'Madonna della Concezione,' 'Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception,' in a glory of light, sustained and surrounded by angels, having the crescent under her feet, according to the approved treatment. Beneath, round the dome, we read in conspicuous letters the text from the Revelation:—SIGNUM. MAGNUM. APPARAVIT. IN. CŒLO. MULIER. AMICTA. SOLE. ET. LUNA. SUB. PEDIBUS. EJUS. ET. IN. CAPITE. EJUS. CORONA. STELLARUM. DUODECIM. Lower down is a second inscription expressing the dedication. MARIÆ. CHRISTI. MATRI. SEMPER. VIRGINI. PAULUS. QUINTUS. P.M. The decorations beneath the cornice consist of eighteen large frescoes, and six statues in marble, above life size. We have the subjects arranged in the following order:—
"1. The four great prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, in their usual place in the four pendatives of the dome.
"2. Two large frescoes. In the first the Vision of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, and Heretics bitten by Serpents. In the second, St. John Damascene and S. Ildefonso miraculously rewarded for defending the majesty of the Virgin.
"3. A large fresco, representing the four Doctors of the Church who had especially written in honour of the Virgin: viz., Irenæus and Cyprian, Ignatius and Theophilus, grouped two and two.
"4. St. Luke, who painted the Virgin, and whose gospel contains the best account of her.
"5. As spiritual conquerors in the name of the Virgin, St. Dominic and St. Francis, each attended by two companions of his Order.
"6. As military conquerors in the name of the Virgin, the Emperor Heraclius, and Narses, the general against the Arians.
"7. A group of three female figures, representing the three famous saintly princesses, who in marriage preserved their virginity, Pulcheria, Edeltruda (our famous Queen Ethelreda), and Cunegunda.
"8. A group of three learned Bishops, who had especially defended the immaculate purity of the Virgin, St. Cyril, St. Anselm, and St. Denis (?).
"9. The miserable ends of those who were opposed to the honour of the Virgin. 1. The death of Julian the Apostate, very oddly represented; he lies on an altar, transfixed by an arrow, as a victim; St. Mercurius in the air. 2. The death of Leo IV., who destroyed the effigies of the Virgin. 3. The death of Constantine IV., also a famous iconoclast.
"The statues which are placed in niches are—
"1—2. St. Joseph, as the nominal husband, and St. John the Evangelist, as the nominal son, of the Virgin; the latter, also, as prophet and poet, with reference to the passage in the Revelation, xii. i.
"3—4. Aaron, as priestly ancestor (because his wand blossomed), and David, as kingly ancestor, of the Virgin.
"5—6. St. Dionysius the Areopagite, who was present at the death of the Virgin, and St. Bernard, who composed the famous 'Salve Regina' in her honour.
"Such is this grand systematic scheme of decoration, which, to those who regard it cursorily, is merely a sumptuous confusion of colours and forms, or at best a 'fine example of the Guido school and Bernini.' It is altogether a very complete and magnificent specimen of the prevalent style of art, and a very comprehensive and suggestive expression of the prevalent tendency of thought in the Roman Catholic Church from the beginning of the seventeenth century. In no description of this chapel have I seen the names and subjects accurately given: the style of art belongs to the decadence, and the taste being worse than questionable, the prevailing doctrinal idea has been neglected, or never understood."—Legends of the Madonna, lxxi.
On the right is the tomb of Clement VIII. (1592—1605), the Florentine Ippolito Aldobrandini, the builder of the new palace of the Vatican, and the cruel torturer and executioner of the Cenci. He is represented in the act of benediction. The bas-reliefs on his monument commemorate the principal events of his reign,—the conclusion of peace between France and Spain, and the taking of Ferrara, which he seized from the heirs of Alphonso II.
On the left is the tomb of Paul V. (1605-1621), Camillo Borghese,—in whose reign St. Peter's was finished, as every traveller learns from the gigantic inscription over its portico,—who founded the great Borghese family, and left to his nephew, Cardinal Scipio Borghese, a fortune which enabled him to buy the Borghese Palace and to build the Borghese Villa.
"It is a truly herculean figure, with a grandly developed head, while in his thick neck, pride, violence, and sensuality seem to be united. He is the first pope who wore the beard of a cavalier, like that of Henry IV., which recalls the Thirty-years' War, which he lived through; as far as the battle of the White Mountain. In this round, domineering, pride-swollen countenance, appears the violent, imperious spirit of Paul, which aimed at an absolute power. Who does not remember his famous quarrel with Venice, and the rôle which his far superior adversary Paolo Sarpi played with such invincible courage? The bas-reliefs of his tomb represent the reception given by the pope to the envoys of Congo and Japan, the building of the citadel of Ferrara, the sending of auxiliary troops to Hungary to the assistance of Rudolph II., and the canonization of Sta. Francesca Romana and S. Carlo Borromeo."—Gregorovius.
The frescoes in the cupola are by Cigoli; those around the altar by the Cav. D'Arpino; those above the tombs and on the arches by Guido, except the Madonna, which is by Lanfranco. The late beloved Princess Borghese, née Lady Gwendoline Talbot, was buried in front of the altar, all Rome following her to the grave.
The funeral of Princess Borghese proved the feeling with which she was regarded. Her body lay upon a car which was drawn by forty young Romans, and was followed by all the poor of Rome, the procession swelling like a river in every street and piazza it passed through, while from all the windows as it passed flowers were showered down. In funeral ceremonies of great personages at Rome an ancient custom is observed by which, when the body is lowered into the grave, a chamberlain, coming out to the church door, announces to the coachman, who is waiting with the family carriage, that his master or mistress has no longer need of his services; and the coachman thereupon breaks his staff of office and drives mournfully away. When this formality was fulfilled at the funeral of Princess Borghese, the whole of the vast crowd waiting outside the basilica broke into tears and sobs, and kneeling by a common impulse, prayed aloud for the soul of their benefactress.
The chapel has been lately the scene of a miraculous story, with reference to a visionary appearance of the Princess Borghese, which has obtained great credit among the people, by whom she is already looked upon as a saint.
The first chapel in the right aisle is that of the Patrizi family, and close by is the sepulchral stone of their noble ancestor, Giovanni Patricino, whose bones were found beneath the high altar, and deposited here in 1700. A little further is the chapel of the Santa Croce, with ten porphyry columns. Then comes the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, built by Fontana for Sixtus V. while still Cardinal of Montalto. Gregory XIII., who was then on the throne, visited this gorgeous chapel when it was nearly completed, and immediately decided that one who could build such a splendid temple was sufficiently rich, and suppressed the cardinal's pension. Fontana advanced a thousand scudi for the completion of the work, and had the delicacy never to allow the cardinal to imagine that he was indebted to him. The chapel, restored 1870, is adorned with statues by Giobattista Pozzo, Cesare Nebbia, and others. Under the altar is a presepio—one of the best works of Bernini, and opposite to it, in the confession, a beautiful statue of S. Gaetano (founder of the Theatines, who died 1547[276]), with two little children. On the right is the splendid tomb of Pius V., Michaele Ghislieri (1566—72), the barefooted, bareheaded Dominican monk of Sta. Sabina, who in his short six years' reign beheld amongst other events the victory of Lepanto, the fall of the Huguenots in France, and the massacre of St. Bartholomew, events which were celebrated at Rome with fêtes and thanksgivings. The figure of the pope, a monk wasted to a skeleton (by Leonardo de Sarzana), sits in the central niche, between statues of St. Dominic and St. Peter Martyr. A number of bas-reliefs by different sculptors represent the events of his life. Some are by the Flemish artists Nicolas d'Arras and Egidius.
On the left, is the tomb of Sixtus V. (1585-90), Felice Perretti, who as a boy kept his father's pigs at Montalto; who as a young man was a Franciscan monk preaching in the Apostoli, and attracting crowds by his eloquence; and who then rose to be bishop of Fermo, soon after to be cardinal, and was lastly raised to the papal throne, which he occupied only five years, a time which sufficed for the prince of the Church who loved building the most, to renew Rome entirely.
"If anything can still the spectator to silence, and awaken him to great recollections, it is the monument of this astonishing man, who, as child, herded swine, and as an old man commanded people and kings, and who filled Rome with so many works, that from every side his name, like an echo, rings in the traveller's ear. We never cease to be amazed at the wonderful luck which raised Napoleon from the dust to the throne of the world, as if it were a romance or a fairy story. But if in the history of kings these astonishing changes are extraordinary accidents, they seem quite natural in the history of the popes, they belong to the very essence of Christendom, which does not appeal to the person, but to the spirit; and while the one history is full of ordinary men, who, without the prerogative of their crown, would have sunk into eternal oblivion, the other is rich in great men, who, placed in a different sphere, would have been equally worthy of renown."—Gregorovius.
In a little chapel on the left of the entrance of this—which is as it were a transept of the church—is a fine picture of St. Jerome by Spagnuoletto, and in the chapel opposite a sarcophagus of two early Christian consuls, richly wrought in the Roman imperial style, but with Christian subjects,—Daniel in the den of lions, Zaccheus in the sycamore-tree, Martha at the raising of Lazarus, &c.
At the east end of the right aisle, near the door, is perhaps the finest gothic monument in Rome,—the tomb of Cardinal Gonsalvi, bishop of Albano, c. 1299.
"A recumbent statue, in pontifical vestments, rests on a sarcophagus, and two angels draw aside curtains as if to show us the dead; in the background is a mosaic of Mary enthroned, with the Child, the apostle Matthias, St. Jerome, and a smaller kneeling figure of Gonsalvi, in pontifical robes; at the apex is a tabernacle with cusped arch, and below the epitaph 'Hoc opus fecit Joannes Magister Cosmæ civis Romanus,' the artist's record of himself. In the hands of St. Matthias and St. Jerome are scrolls; on that held by the apostle, the words, 'Me tenet ara prior'; on St. Jerome's,'Recubo presepis ad antrum', these epigraphs confirming the tradition that the bodies of St. Matthias and St. Jerome repose in this church, while indicating the sites of their tombs. Popular regards have distinguished this tomb; no doubt in intended honour to the Blessed Virgin, lamps are kept ever burning, and vases of flowers ranged, before her mosaic image."—Hemans' Mediæval Christian Art.
At the west end of the right aisle is the entrance of the Baptistery, which has a vast porphyry vase as a font. Hence we reach the Sacristy, in the inner chamber of which are some exceedingly beautiful bas-reliefs by Mino da Fiesole.
One of the greatest of the Christmas ceremonies is the procession at 5 A.M., in honour of the great relic of the church—the Santa Culla—i.e., the cradle in which our Saviour was carried into Egypt, not, as is frequently imagined, the manger, which is allowed to have been of stone, and of which a single stone only is supposed to have found its way to Rome, and to be preserved in the altar of the Blessed Sacrament. The "Santa Culla" is preserved in a magnificent reliquary, six feet high, adorned with bas-reliefs and statuettes in silver. On the afternoon of Christmas eve the public can visit the relic at an altar in a little chapel near the sacristy. On the afternoon of Christmas Day it is also exposed, but upon the high altar, where it is less easily seen.
"Le Seigneur Jésus a voulu naître dans une étable; mais les hommes ont apporté précieusement le petit berceau qui a reçu le salut du monde, dans la reine des cités, et ils l'ont enchâssé dans l'or.
"C'est bien ici que nous devons accourir avec joie et redire ce chant triomphant de l'Église: Adeste, fideles, læti triumphantes; venite, venite in Bethleem."—Une Chrétienne à Rome.
Among the many other relics preserved here are two little bags of the brains of St. Thomas à Becket.
It was in this church that Pope St. Martin I. was celebrating mass in the seventh century, when a guard sent by the Exarch Olympius appeared on the threshold with orders to seize and put him to death. At the sight of the pontiff the soldier was stricken with blindness, a miracle which led to the conversion of Olympius and many other persons.
Platina, the historian of the popes, was buried here, with the epitaph: "Quisquis es, si pius, Platynam et sua ne vexes, anguste jacent et soli volunt esse."
Sta. Maria Maggiore was the scene of the seizure of Hildebrand by Cencius:
"On Christmas Eve, 1075, the city of Rome was visited by a dreadful tempest. Darkness brooded over the land, and the trembling spectators believed that the day of final judgment was about to dawn. In this war of the elements, however, two processions were seen advancing to the Church of Sta. Maria Maggiore. At the head of one was the aged Hildebrand, conducting a few priests to worship at the shrine of the Virgo Deipara. The other was preceded by Cencius, a Roman noble. At each pause in the tempest might be heard the hallelujahs of the worshippers, or the voice of the pontiff, pouring out benedictions on the little flock which knelt before him—when Cencius grasped his person, and some yet more daring ruffian inflicted a wound on his forehead. Bound with cords, stripped of his sacred vestments, beaten, and subjected to the basest indignities, the venerable minister of Christ was carried to a fortified mansion within the walls of the city, again to be removed at daybreak to exile or death. Women were there, with women's sympathy and kindly offices, but they were rudely put aside; and a drawn sword was already aimed at the pontiff's bosom, when the cries of a fierce multitude, threatening to burn or batter down the house, arrested the aim of the assassin. An arrow, discharged from below, reached and slew him. The walls rocked beneath the strokes of the maddened populace, and Cencius, falling at his prisoner's feet, became himself a suppliant for pardon and for life.... In profound silence, and with undisturbed serenity, Hildebrand had thus far submitted to these atrocious indignities. The occasional raising of his eyes towards heaven alone indicated his consciousness of them. But to the supplication of his prostrate enemy he returned an instant and a calm assurance of forgiveness. He rescued Cencius from the exasperated besiegers, dismissed him in safety and in peace, and returned, amidst the acclamations of the whole Roman people, to complete the interrupted solemnities of Sta. Maria Maggiore."—Stephens' Lectures on Eccles. Hist.
Leaving the church by the door behind the tribune, we find ourselves at the top of the steep slope of the Esquiline and in front of an Obelisk erected here by Fontana for Sixtus V.,—brought from Egypt by Claudius, and one of two which were used to guard the entrance to the mausoleum of Augustus. The inscriptions on three of its sides are worth notice:—"Christi Dei in æternum viventis cunabula lætissime colo, qui mortui sepulchro Augusti tristis serviebam."—"Quem Augustus de vergine nasciturum vivens adoravit, sed deinceps dominum dici noluit, adoro."—"Christus per invictam crucem populo pacem præbeat, qui Augusti pace in præsepe nasci voluit."
Via S. Giovanni—The Obelisk and Baptistery—Basilica and Cloisters—Mosaic of the Triclinium—Santa Scala—Palace of the Lateran—Villa Massimo Arsole—SS. Pietro e Marcellino—Villa Wolkonski—(Porta Furba—Tombs of the Via Latina—Basilica of S. Stefano)—Santa Croce in Gerusalemme—Amphitheatrum Castrense—Porta Maggiore—(Tomb of Sta. Helena—Torre dei Schiavi—Cervaletto—Cerbara)—Porta and Basilica of S. Lorenzo—Catacomb of S. Hippolytus.
BEHIND the Coliseum the Via S. Giovanni ascends the slope of the Esquiline. In mediæval times this road was always avoided by the popes, on account (as most authorities state) of the scandal attaching to the more than doubtful legend of Joan, the famous papessa, who is said to have horrified her attendants by giving birth to a child on this spot, during a procession from the Lateran, and to have died of shame and terror immediately afterwards. Joan is stated to have been educated at Athens, to have skilfully obtained her election to the papal throne, disguised as a man, between the reign of Leo IV. and that of Benedict III. (855), and to have taken the name of John VIII. In the cathedral of Siena the heads of all the popes in terra-cotta (down to Alexander III.) decorate the frieze above the arches of the nave, and among them was that of Pope Joan, inscribed "Johannes VIII. Femina de Anglia," till 1600, when it was changed into a head of Pope Zacharias by the Grand Duke, at the request of Pope Clement VIII.
On the left of this street is S. Clemente (described Ch. VII.). On the right, a long wall flooded by a cascade of Banksia roses in spring, and a villa inlaid with terra-cotta ornaments, are those of the favourite residence of the well-known Marchese Campana, the learned archæologist of Etruria, and the chief benefactor of the Etruscan museum at the Vatican, cruelly imprisoned and exiled by the papal government in 1858, upon an accusation of having tampered with the revenues of Monte di Pietà.
Beyond the turn of the road leading to S. Stefano Rotondo (Ch. VII.), bas-reliefs of Our Saviour's Head (from the Acheirotopeton in the Sancta Sanctorum) between two candelabra—upon the different buildings, announce the property of the Lateran chapter.
The Piazza di San Giovanni is surrounded by a remarkable group of buildings. In front are the Baptistery and Basilica of the Lateran. On the right is a Hospital for women, capable of containing 600 patients; on the left, beyond the modern palace, are seen the buildings which enclose the Santa Scala, and some broken arches of the Aqua Marcia. In the centre of the piazza is the Obelisk of the Lateran, 150 feet high, the oldest object in Rome, being referred by translators of hieroglyphics to the year 1740 B.C., when it was raised in memory of the Pharaoh Thothmes IV. It was brought, from the temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, to Alexandria by Constantine, and removed thence by his son Constantius to Rome, where it was used, together with the obelisk now in the Piazza del Popolo, to ornament the Circus Maximus. Hence it was moved to its present site in 1588, by Fontana, for Sixtus V. The obelisk was then broken into three pieces, and in order to piece them together, some part had to be cut off, but it is still the tallest in the city. One of the inscriptions on the basement is false, as it narrates that Constantine received at the Lateran the baptism which he did not receive till he was dying at Nicomedia.
An octagon building of mean and miserable exterior is that of the Baptistery of the Lateran, sometimes called S. Giovanni in Fonte, built, not by Constantine, to whom it is falsely ascribed, but by Sixtus III. (430-40). Of his time are the two porphyry columns at the entrance on the side nearest the church, and the eight which form a colonnade round the interior, supporting a cornice from which rise the eight small columns of white marble, which sustain the dome. In the centre is the font of green basalt in which Rienzi bathed on the night of August 1, 1347, before his public appearance as a knight, when he summoned Clement VI. and other sovereigns of Europe to appear before him for judgment. The cupola is decorated with scenes from the life of John the Baptist by Andrea Sacchi. On the walls are frescoes pourtraying the life of Constantine by Gimignano, Carlo Maratta, and Andrea Camassei.
On the right is the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, built by Pope Hilary (461-67). Between two serpentine columns is a figure of St. John Baptist by L. Valadico after Donatello.
On the left is the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist, also built by Hilary, who presented its bronze doors (said to have once belonged to the Baths of Caracalla) in remembrance of his delivery from the fury of fanatical monks at the Second Council of Ephesus, where he appeared as the legate of Leo I.,—a fact commemorated by the inscription: "Liberatori suo B. Joanni Evangelistæ Hilarius Episcopus famulus Christi." The vault is covered with mosaics representing the Spotless Lamb in Paradise. Here is a statue of St. John by Landini.
Close by is the entrance to the Oratory of S. Venanzio,[277] built in 640 by John IV., and dedicated to St. Venantius, from a filial feeling to his father, who bore the same name. Nothing, however, remains of this time but the mosaics. Those in the apse represent the Saviour in the act of benediction with angels, and below him the Virgin (an aged woman) in adoration,[278] with St. Peter and St. John Baptist, St. Paul and St. John the Evangelist, St. Venantius and St. Domnus—and another figure unnamed, probably John IV., holding the model of a church. Outside the chancel arch are eight saints, with their names (Palmianus, Julius, Asterius, Anastasius, Maurus, Septimius, Antiochianus, Cajanus), the symbols of the evangelists, and the cities Bethlehem and Jerusalem; also the verses:—
The next chapel, called the Capella Borgia, and used as the burial-place of that family, was once an open portico, but this character was destroyed by the building up of the intercolumniations. On its façade are a number of fragments of ancient friezes, &c. Over the inner door is a bas-relief of the Crucifixion, of 1494.
The piteous modernization of this ancient group of chapels is chiefly due to the folly of Urban VIII. The baptistery is used on Easter Eve for the ceremony of adult baptism, the recipients being called Jews.
The Lateran derives its name from a rich patrician family, whose estates were confiscated by Nero, when their head, Plautius Lateranus, was put to death for taking part in the conspiracy of Piso.[279] It afterwards became an imperial residence, and a portion of it being given by Maximianus to his daughter Fausta, second wife of Constantine, received the name of "Domus Faustæ." It was this which was given by Constantine to Pope Melchiades in 312,—a donation which was confirmed to St. Sylvester, in whose reign the first basilica was built here, and consecrated on November 9, 324, Constantine having laboured with his own hands at the work. This basilica was overthrown by an earthquake in 896, but was rebuilt by Sergius III. (904—11), being then dedicated to St. John the Baptist. This second basilica, whose glories are alluded to by Dante,—
was of the greatest interest, but was almost entirely destroyed by fire in 1308. It was rebuilt, only to be again burnt down in 1360, when it remained for four years in utter ruin, in which state it was seen and mourned over by Petrarch. The fourth restoration of the basilica was due to Urban V. (1362-70), but it has since undergone a series of mutilations and modernizations, which have deplorably injured it. The west front still retains the inscription "Sacrosancta Lateranensis ecclesia, Omnium urbis et orbis Ecclesiarum Mater et Caput;" the Chapter of the Lateran still takes precedence even over that of St. Peter's; and every newly elected pope comes hither for his coronation.
"St. J. Lateran est regardé comme le siége du patriarchal romain. À St. Pierre le pape est souverain pontife. À St. J. Lateran il est évêque de Rome. Quand le pape est élu, il vient à St. J. Lateran prendre possession de son siége comme évêque de Rome."—A. Du Pays.
The west end of the basilica is in part a remnant of the building of the tenth century, and has two quaint towers (rebuilt by Sixtus IV.) at the end of the transept, and a rich frieze of terra-cotta. The church is entered from the transept by a portico, ending in a gloomy chapel which contains a statue of Henry IV., by Niccolo Cordieri. The transept—rich in colour from its basement of varied marbles, and its upper frescoes of the legendary history of Constantine—is by far the finest part of the basilica, which, as a whole, is infinitely inferior to Sta. Maria Maggiore. The nave, consisting of five aisles, is of grand proportions, but has been hideously modernized under Borromini, who has enclosed all its ancient columns, except two near the tribune, in tawdry plaster piers, in front of which are huge statues of the apostles; the roof is gilt and gaudy, the tabernacle ugly and ill-proportioned,—only the ancient pavement of opus-alexandrinum is fine. Confessionals for different languages are placed here as in St. Peter's. The Tabernacle was erected by Urban V. in the fourteenth century. Four granite columns support a gothic canopy, decorated at its angles with canopied statuettes. Between these, on either side, are three much restored frescoes by Berni da Siena, those in central panels representing the Annunciation, the Crucifixion, the Coronation of the Virgin, and the Saviour as a shepherd (very beautifully treated) feeding his flock with corn. The skulls of SS. Peter and Paul are said to be preserved here. The altar encloses the greater part of the famous wooden table, saved at great risk of life from the conflagration of 1308, upon which St. Peter is supposed to have celebrated mass in the house of Pudens.[280] The steps of the altar (at the top of which the pope is installed) have an allegorical enamelled border with emblems of an asp, a dragon, a lion, and basilisk, in allusion to Psalm xci.
In the confession, in front of the altar, is the bronze tomb of Martin V., Oddone Colonna (1417—24), the wise and just pope who was elected at the Council of Constance to put an end to the schism which had long divided the papacy, and which had almost reduced the capital of the Church to ruins. A bronze slab bears his figure, in low-relief, and is a fine work of Antonio Filarete, author of the bronze doors at St. Peter's. It bears the appropriate surname which was given to this justly-loved pope—"Temporum suorum felicitas."
The tribune is of the time of Nicholas IV. (1287—1292). Above the arch is a grand mosaic head of the Saviour, attributed to the time of Constantine, and evidently of the fourth century,—of great interest on this spot, as commemorating the vision of the Redeemer, who is said to have appeared here on the day of the consecration of the church by Sylvester and Constantine, looking down upon the people, and solemnly hallowing the work with his visible presence. The head, which is grand and sad in expression, is surrounded by six-winged seraphim. Below is an ornamented cross, above which hovers a dove—from whose beak, running down the cross, flow the waters which supply the four rivers of Paradise. The disciples, as harts (panting for the water-brooks) and sheep, flock to drink of the waters of life. In the distance is the New Jerusalem, within which the Phœnix, the bird of eternity, is seated upon the tree of Life, guarded by an angel with a two-edged sword. Beside the cross stand, on the left, the Virgin with her hand resting on the head of the kneeling pope, Nicholas IV.; St. Peter with a scroll inscribed, "Tu es Christus filius Dei vivi;" St. Paul with a scroll inscribed, "Salvatorem expectamus Dominum Jesum." On the right St. John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist, St. Andrew (all with their names). Between the first and second of these figures are others, on a smaller scale, of St. Francis and St. Anthony of Padua. All these persons are represented as walking in a flowery Paradise, in which the souls of the blessed are besporting, and in front of which flows the Jordan. Below, between the windows, are figures of prophets, and (very small) of two Franciscans, who were the artists of the lower portion of the mosaic, as is shown by the inscriptions, "Jacobus Turriti, pictor, hoc opus fecit;"—"Fra Jacobus de Camerino socius magistri."
Behind the tribune, is all that remains internally of the architecture of the tenth century, in the vaulted passage called "Portico Leonino," from its founder, Leo I. It is supported on low marble and granite columns with Ionic and Corinthian capitals. Here are collected a variety of relics of the ancient basilica. On either side of the entrance are mosaic tablets, which relate to the building of the church. Then, on the right, is a curious kneeling statue of Pope Nicholas IV., Masci (1287—92). On the left, in the centre, is an altar, above which is an ancient crucifix, and on either side tenth century statues of SS. Peter and Paul.
On the right is the entrance to the sacristy (whose inner bronze doors date from 1196), which contains an Annunciation by Sebastian del Piombo, and a sketch by Raphael for the Madonna, called "Della Casa d'Alba," now at St. Petersburg; also an ancient bas-relief, which represents the old and humble basilica of Pope Sergius. On the left, at the end of the passage, is a very handsome cinquecento ciborium, and near it the "Tabula Magna Lateranensis," containing the list of relics belonging to the church.
Near this, opening from the transept, is the Capella del Coro, with handsome wooden stallwork. It contains a portrait of Martin V., by Scipione Gaetani.
The altar of the Sacrament, which closes the transept, has four fluted bronze columns, said to have been brought from Jerusalem by Titus, and to be hollow and filled with earth from Palestine.[281] The last chapel in the left aisle is the Corsini Chapel, erected in 1729 in honour of St. Andrea Corsini, from designs of Alessandro Galilei. It is in the form of a Greek cross, and ranks next to the Borghese Chapel in the richness of its marble decoration. The mosaic altar-piece, representing S. Andrea Corsini, is a copy from Guido. The founder of the chapel, Clement XII., Lorenzo Corsini (1730—40), is buried in a splendid porphyry sarcophagus which he plundered from the Pantheon. Above it is a bronze statue of the pope.[282] Opposite is the tomb of Cardinal Neri Corsini, with a number of statues of the Bernini school.
Beneath the chapel is a vault lined with sarcophagi of the Corsini. Its altar is surmounted by a magnificent Pietà—in whose beautiful and impressive figures it is difficult to recognise a work of the usually coarse and theatrical artist Bernini.
Of the many tombs of mediæval popes which formerly existed in this basilica,[283] none remain, except the memorial slab and epitaph of Sylvester II., Gerbert (999—1003). This pope is said (by the chronicler Martin Polonus de Corenza) to have been a kind of magician, who obtained first the archbishopric of Rheims, then that of Ravenna, and then the papacy, by the aid of the devil, to whom, in return, he promised to belong after death. When he ascended the throne, he asked the devil how long he could reign, and the devil, as is his custom, answered by a double-entendre, "If you never enter Jerusalem, you will reign a long time." He occupied the throne for four years, one month, and ten days, when, one day, as he was officiating in the basilica of Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme, he saw that he had passed the fatal threshold, and that his death was impending. Overwhelmed with repentance, he confessed his backslidings before the people, and exhorted them to lay aside pride, to resist the temptations of the devil, and to lead a good life. After this he begged of his attendants to cut his body in pieces after he was dead, as he deserved, and to place it on a common cart, and bury it wherever the horses stopped of their own accord. Then was manifested the will of the Divine Providence, that repentant sinners should learn that their God preserves for them a place of pardon even in this life,—for the horses went of their own accord to St. John Lateran, where he was buried. "Since then," says Platina, "the rattling of his bones, and the sweat, or rather the damp, with which his tomb becomes covered, has always been the infallible sign and forerunner of the death of a pope"!
Against the second pillar of the right aisle, counting from the west door, is a very interesting fresco of Giotto, originally one of many paintings executed by him for the loggia of the adjoining papal palace, whence the benediction and "plenary indulgence" were given in the jubilee year. It represents Boniface VIII. (Benedetto Gaetani, 1294—1303), the founder of the jubilee, between two priests.
"On y voit Boniface annonçant au peuple le jubilé. Le portrait du pape doit être ressemblant. J'ai reconnu dans cette physiognomie, où il y a plus de finesse que de force, la statue que j'avais vue couchée sur le tombeau de ce pape, dans les souterrains du Vatican."—Ampère, Voyage Dantesque.
Opening from this aisle are several chapels. The second is that of the newly established and rich family of Torlonia, which contains a marble Pietà, by Tenerani, and some handsome modern monuments. The third is that of the Massimi (designed by Giacomo della Porta), which has, as an altar-piece, the Crucifixion by Sermoneta. Beyond this, in the right aisle, are several remarkable tombs of cardinals, among which is the tomb of Cardinal Guissano, who died in 1287. The painters Cav. d'Arpino and Andrea Sacchi are buried in this church.
Entered from the last chapel in the left aisle (by a door which the sacristan will open) is the beautiful twelfth century Cloister of the Monastery, surrounded by low arches supported on exquisite inlaid and twisted columns, above which is a lovely frieze of coloured marbles. The court thus enclosed is a garden of roses; in the centre is a well (adorned with crosses) of the tenth century, called the "Well of the Woman of Samaria." In the cloister is a collection of architectural and traditional relics, including a beautiful old white marble throne, inlaid with mosaics, a candelabrum resting on a lion, and several other exquisitely wrought details from the old basilica; also a porphyry slab upon which the soldiers are said to have cast lots for the seamless robe; columns which were rent by the earthquake of the Crucifixion; a slab, resting on pillars, shown as a measure of the height of Our Saviour,[284] and a smaller slab, also on pillars, of which it is said that it was once an altar, at which the officiating priest doubted of the Real Presence, when the wafer fell from his hand through the stone, leaving a round hole which still remains.
Five General Councils have been held at the Lateran, viz.:—
I.—March 19, 1123, under Calixtus II., with regard to the Investiture.
II.—April 18, 1139, under Innocent II., to condemn the doctrines of Arnold of Brescia and Peter de Bruys, and to oppose the anti-pope Anacletus II.
III.—March 5, 1179, under Alexander III., to condemn the doctrines of Waldenses and Albigenses, and to end the schism caused by Frederick Barbarossa.
IV.—Nov. 11, 1215, at which 400 bishops assembled under Innocent III., to condemn the Albigenses, and the heresies of the Abbot Joachim.
V.—May 3, 1512, under Julius II. and Leo X., at which the Pragmatic Sanction was abolished, and a Concordat concluded between the Pope and Francis I. for the destruction of the liberties of the Gallican Church.
It is in the basilica of the Lateran that the Church places the first meeting between St. Francis and St Dominic.
"Une nuit, pendant que Dominique dormait, il lui sembla voir Jésus-Christ se préparant à exterminer les superbes, les voluptueux, les avares, lorsque tout-à-coup la Vierge l'apaisa en lui présentant deux hommes: l'un d'eux lui-même; quant à l'autre, il ne le connaissait pas; mais le lendemain, la première personne qu'il aperçut, en entrant au Latran, fut l'inconnu qui lui était apparu en songe. Il était couvert de haillons et priait avec ferveur. Dominique se précipita dans ses bras, et l'embrassant avec effusion: 'Tu es mon compagnon,' lui dit-il; 'nous courons la même carrière, demeurons ensemble, et aucun ennemi ne prévaudra contre nous.' Et, à partir de ce moment, dit la légende, ils n'eurent plus qu'un cœur et qu'une âme dans le Seigneur. Ce pauvre, ce mendiant, était saint François d'Assise."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne.
Issuing from the west door of the basilica, we find ourselves in a wide portico, one of whose five doors is a Porta Santa. At the end, is appropriately placed an ancient marble statue of Constantine, who is in the dress of a Roman warrior, bearing the labarum, or standard of the cross, which is here represented as a lance surmounted by the monogram of Christ. From this portico we look down upon one of the most beautiful and characteristic views in Rome. On one side are the Alban Hills, blue in morning, or purple in evening light, sprinkled with white villages of historic interest—Albano, Rocca di Papa, Marino, Frescati, Colonna; on the other side are the Sabine Mountains, tipped with snow; in the middle distance the long, golden-hued lines of aqueducts stretch away over the plain, till they are lost in the pink haze, and nearer still are the desolate basilica of Santa Croce, the fruit gardens of the Villa Wolkonski, interspersed with rugged fragments of massive brickwork, and the glorious old walls of the city itself. The road at our feet is the Via Appia Nuova, which leads to Naples, and which immediately passes through the modern gate of Rome, known as the Porta San Giovanni (built in the sixteenth century by Gregory XIII.). Nearer to us, on the right, is an ancient gateway, the finest on the Aurelian wall, bricked up by Ladislaus, king of Naples, in 1408. By this gate, known as the Porta Asinaria, from the family of the Asinarii, Belisarius entered Rome in 505, and Totila, through the treachery of the Isaurian Guard, in 546. Here also, in 1084, Henry IV. entered Rome against Hildebrand with his anti-pope Guibert; and, a few years after, the name of the gate itself was changed to Porta Perusta, in consequence of the injuries it received from Robert Guiscard, who came to the rescue of the lawful pontiff.
The broad open space which we see beneath the steps was the favourite walk of the mediæval popes.