"The mausoleum which Hadrian erected for himself on the further bank of the Tiber far outshone the tomb of Augustus, which it nearly confronted. Of the size and dignity which characterized this work of Egyptian massiveness, we may gain a conception from the existing remains; but it requires an effort of imagination to transform the scarred and shapeless bulk before us, into the graceful pile which rose column upon column, surmounted by a gilded dome of span almost unrivalled." Merivale, ch. lxvi.
The history of the Mausoleum, in the middle ages, is almost the history of Rome. It was probably first turned into a fortress by Honorius, A.D. 423. From Theodoric it derives the name of "Carcer Theodorici." In 537, it was besieged by Vitiges, when the defending garrison, reduced to the last extremity, hurled down all the magnificent statues which decorated the cornice, upon the besiegers. In A.D. 498 Pope Symmachus removed the bronze fir-cone at the apex of the roof to the court of St. Peter's, whence it was afterwards transferred to the Vatican garden, where it is still to be seen between two bronze peacocks, which probably stood on either side of the entrance.
Belisarius defended the castle against Totila, whose Gothic troops captured and held it for three years, after which it was taken by Narses.
It was in 530 that the event occurred which gave the building its present name. Pope Gregory the Great was leading a penitential procession to St. Peter's, in order to offer up prayers for the staying of the great pestilence which followed the inundation of 589; when, as he was crossing the bridge, even while the people were falling dead around him, he looked up at the mausoleum, and saw an angel on its summit, sheathing a bloody sword,[319] while a choir of angels around chaunted with celestial voices, the anthem, since adopted by the Church in her vesper service—"Regina cœli, lætare—quia quem meruisti portare—resurrexit, sicut dixit, Alleluja"—To which the earthly voice of the pope solemnly responded, "Ora pro nobis Deum, Alleluja."[320]
In the tenth century the fortress was occupied by the infamous Marozia, who, in turn, brought her three husbands (Alberic, Count of Tusculum; Guido, Marquis of Tuscany; and Hugo, King of Italy) thither, to tyrannise with her over Rome. It was within the walls of this building that Alberic, her son by her first husband, waiting upon his royal stepfather at table, threw a bowl of water over him, when Hugo retorted by a blow, which was the signal for an insurrection, the people taking part with Alberic, putting the king to flight, and imprisoning Marozia. Shut up within these walls, Pope John XI. (931-936), son of Marozia by her first husband, ruled under the guidance of his stronger-minded brother Alberic; here, also, Octavian, son of Alberic, and grandson of Marozia, succeeded in forcing his election as John XII. (being the first pope who took a new name), and scandalised Christendom by a life of murder, robbery, adultery, and incest.
In 974 the castle was seized by Cencio (Crescenzio Nomentano), the consul, who raised up an anti-pope (Boniface VII.) here, with the determination of destroying the temporal power of the popes, and imprisoned and murdered two popes, Benedict VI. (972), and John XIV. (984), within these walls. In 996 another lawful pope, Gregory V., calling in the emperor Otho to his assistance, took the castle, and beheaded Cencio, though he had promised him life if he would surrender. From this governor the fortress long held the name of Castello de Crescenzio, or Turris Crescentii, by which it is described in mediæval writings. A second Cencio supported another anti-pope, Cadolaus, here in 1063, against Pope Alexander II. A third Cencio imprisoned Gregory VII. here in 1084. From this time the possession of the castle was a constant point of contest between popes and anti-popes. In 1313 Arlotto degli Stefaneschi, having demolished most of the other towers in the city, arranged the same fate for S. Angelo, but it was saved by cession to the Orsini. It was from hence, on December 15, 1347, that Rienzi fled to Bohemia, at the end of his first period of power, his wife having previously made her escape disguised as a friar.
"The cause of final ruin to this monument" is described by Nibby to have been the resentment of the citizens against a French governor who espoused the cause of the anti-pope (Clement VII.) against Urban VI. in 1378. It was then that the marble casings were all torn from the walls and used as street pavements.
A drawing of Sangallo of 1465 shows the "upper part of the fortress crowned with high square towers and turreted buildings; a cincture of bastions and massive square towers girding the whole; two square-built bulwarks flanking the extremity of the bridge, which was then so connected with these outworks that passengers would have immediately found themselves inside the fortress after crossing the river. Marlianus, 1588, describes its double cincture of fortifications—a large round tower at the inner extremity of the bridge; two towers with high pinnacles, and the cross on their summits, the river flowing all around."[321]
The castle began to assume its present aspect under Boniface IX. in 1395. John XXIII., 1411, commenced the covered way to the Vatican, which was finished by Alexander VI.; and roofed by Urban VIII., in 1630. By the last-named pope the great outworks of the fortress were built under Bernini, and furnished with cannon made from the bronze roof of the Pantheon. Under Paul III. the interior was decorated with frescoes, and a colossal marble angel erected on the summit, in the place of a chapel (S. Angelo inter Nubes), built by Boniface IV. The marble angel was exchanged by Benedict XIV. for the existing angel of bronze, by a Dutch artist, Verschaffelt.
"Paul III. voulant justifier le nom donné à cette forteresse, fit placer au sommet de l'édifice une statue de marbre, représentant un ange tenant à la main une épée nue. Cet ouvrage de Raphaël de Montelupo a été remplacé, du temps de Benoit XIV., par une statue de bronze qui fournit cette belle réponse à un officier français assiégé dans le fort. 'Je me rendrai quand l'ange remettra son épée dans le fourreau.'
" ... Cet ange a l'air naïf d'une jeune fille de dix-huit ans, et ne cherche qu'à bien remettre son épée dans le fourreau."—Stendhal, i. 33.
"I suppose no one ever looked at this statue critically—at least, for myself, I never could; nor can I remember now whether, as a work of art, it is above or below criticism; perhaps both. With its vast wings, poised in air, as seen against the deep blue skies of Rome, or lighted up by the golden sunset, to me it was ever like what it was intended to represent—like a vision."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 98.
Of the castle, as we now see it externally, only the quadrangular basement is of the time of Hadrian; the round tower is of that of Urban VIII., its top added by Paul III. The four round towers of the outworks, called after the four Evangelists, are of Nicholas V., 1447.
The interior of the fortress can be visited by an order. Excavations made in 1825 have laid open the sepulchral chamber in the midst of the basement. Here stood, in the centre, the porphyry sarcophagus of Hadrian, which was stolen by Pope Innocent II. to be used as his own tomb in the Lateran, where it was destroyed by the fire of 1360, the cover alone escaping, which was used for the tomb of Otho II., in the atrium of St. Peter's, and which, after filling this office for seven centuries, is now the baptismal font of that basilica. A spiral passage, thirty feet high, and eleven wide, up which a chariot could be driven, gradually ascends through the solid mass of masonry. There is wonderfully little to be seen. A saloon of the time of Paul III. is adorned with frescoes of the life of Alexander the Great, by Pierino del Vaga. This room would be used by the pope in case of his having to take refuge in S. Angelo. An adjoining room, adorned with a stucco frieze of Tritons and Nereids, is that in which Cardinal Caraffa was strangled (1561) under Pius IV., for alleged abuses of authority under his uncle, Paul IV.—his brother, the Marquis Caraffa, being beheaded in the castle the same night. The reputed prison of Beatrice Cenci is shown, but it is very uncertain that she was ever confined here,—also the prison of Cagliostro, and that of Benvenuto Cellini, who escaped, and broke his leg in trying to let himself down by a rope from the ramparts. The statue of the angel by Montelupo is to be seen stowed away in a dark corner. Several horrible trabocchette (oubliettes) are shown.
On the roof, from which there is a beautiful view, are many modern prisons, where prisoners suffer terribly from the summer sun beating upon their flat roofs.
Among the sculptures found here were the Barberini Faun, now at Munich, the Dancing Faun, at Florence, and the Bust of Hadrian at the Vatican. The sepulchral inscriptions of the Antonines existed till 1572, when they were cut up by Gregory XIII. (Buoncompagni), and the marble used to decorate a chapel in St Peter's! The magnificent Easter display of fireworks (from an idea of Michael Angelo, carried out by Bernini), called the girandola, used to be exhibited here, but now takes place at S. Pietro in Montorio, or from the Pincio. From 1849 to 1870, the castle was occupied by French troops, and their banner floated here, except on great festivals, when it was exchanged for that of the pope.
Running behind, and crossing the back streets of the Borgo, is the covered passage intended for the escape of the popes to the castle. It was used by Alexander VI. when invaded by Charles VIII. in 1494, and twice by Clement VII. (Giulio di Medici), who fled, in 1527, from Moncada, viceroy of Naples, and in May, 1527, during the terrible sack of Rome by the troops of the Constable de Bourbon.
"Pendant que l'on se battait, Clement VII. était en prières devant l'autel de sa chapelle au Vatican, détail singulier chez un homme qui avait commencé sa carrière par être militaire. Lorsque les cris des mourants lui annoncèrent la prise de la ville, il s'enfuit du Vatican au château St. Ange par le long corridor qui s'élève au-dessus des plus hautes maisons. L'historien Paul-Jove, qui suivait Clement VII., relevait sa longue robe pour qu'il pût marcher plus vîte, et lorsque le pape fut arrivé au pont qui le laissait à découvert pour un instant, Paul-Jove le couvrit de son manteau et de son chapeau violet, de peur qu'il ne fût reconnu à son rochet blanc et ajusté par quelque soldat bon tireur.
"Pendant cette longue fuite le long du corridor, Clement VII. apercevait au-dessous de lui, par les petites fenêtres, ses sujets poursuivis par les soldats vainqueurs qui déjà se répandaient dans les rues. Ils ne faisaient aucun quartier à personne, et tuaient à coups de pique tout ce qu'ils pouvaient atteindre."—Stendhal, i. 388.
"The Escape" consists of two passages; the upper open like a loggia, the lower covered, and only lighted by loop-holes. The keys of both are kept by the pope himself.
S. Angelo is at the entrance of the Borgo, promised at the Italian invasion of September, 1870, as the sanctuary of the papacy, the tiny sovereignty where the temporal sway of the popes should remain undisturbed,—the sole relic left to them of all their ancient dominions. The Borgo, or Leonine City, is surrounded by walls of its own, which were begun in A.D. 846, by Pope Leo IV., for the better defence of St. Peter's from the Saracens, who had been carrying their devastations up to the very walls of Rome. These walls, 10,800 feet in circumference, were completed in four years by labourers summoned from every town and monastery of the Roman states. Pope Leo himself daily encouraged their exertions by his presence. In 852 the walls were solemnly consecrated by a vast procession of the whole Roman clergy barefooted, their heads strewn with ashes, who sprinkled them with holy water, while the pope offered a prayer composed by himself,[322] at each of the three gates.
The adjoining Piazza Pia is decorated with a fountain erected by Pius IX. The principal of the streets which meet here is the Via del Borgo Nuovo, the main artery to St. Peter's. On its left is the Church of Sta. Maria Traspontina, built 1566, containing two columns which bear inscriptions, stating that they were those to which St. Peter and St. Paul were respectively attached, when they suffered flagellation by order of Nero!
This church occupies the site of a Pyramid supposed to have been erected to Scipio Africanus, who died at Liternum, B.C. 183, and which was regarded in the middle ages as the tomb of Romulus. Its sides were once coated with marble, which was stripped off by Donus I. This pyramid is represented on the bronze doors of St Peter's.
A little further is the Palazzo Giraud, belonging to Prince Torlonia. It was built, 1506, by Bramante, for Cardinal Adriano da Corneto,[323] who gave it to Henry VIII., by whom it was given to Cardinal Campeggio. Thus it was for a short time the residence of the English ambassador before the Reformation. Innocent XII. converted it into a college for priests, by whom it was sold to the Marquis Giraud.
Facing this palace is the Piazza Scossa Cavalli, with a pretty fountain. Its name bears witness to a curious legend, which tells how when St. Helena returned from Palestine, bringing with her the stone on which Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, and that on which the Virgin Mary sate down at the time of the presentation of the Saviour in the Temple, the horses drawing these precious relics stood still at this spot, and refused every effort to make them move. Then Christian people, "recognising the finger of God," erected a church on this spot (S. Giacomo Scossa Cavalli), where the stones are still to be seen.
The Strada del Borgo Sto. Spirito contains the immense Hospital of Santo Spirito, running along the bank of the Tiber. This establishment was founded in 1198 by Innocent III. Sixtus IV., in 1471, ordered it to be rebuilt by Bacio Pintelli, who added a hall 376 feet long by 44 high and 37 wide. Under Benedict XIV., Ferdinando Fuga built another great hall. The altar in the midst of the great hall is the only work of Andrea Palladio in Rome. The church was designed by Bacio Pintelli, but built by Antonio di San Gallo under Paul III. Under Gregory XIII., Ottaviano Mascherino built the palace of the governor, which unites the hospital with the church.
The institution comprises a hospital for every kind of disease, containing in ordinary times 1620 beds, a number which can be almost doubled in time of necessity; a lunatic asylum containing an average of 450 inmates; and a foundling hospital, where children are received from all parts of the papal states, and even from the Neapolitan towns. Upwards of 3000 foundlings pass through the hospital annually, but the mortality is very great,—in the return of 1846, as much as fifty-seven per cent. The person who wishes to deposit an infant rings a bell, when a little bed is turned towards the grille near the door, in which the baby is deposited. Close to this is another grille, without any apparent use. "What is that for?" you ask. "Because, when nurses come in from the country, they might be tempted to take the children for money, and yet not feel any natural tenderness towards them, but by looking through the second grille, they can see the child, and discover if it is simpatico, and if not, they can go away and leave it."
At the end of the street one enters the Piazza Rusticucci (where Raphael died), from which open the magnificent colonnades of Bernini, which lead the eye up to the façade of St. Peter's, while the middle distance is broken by the silvery spray of its glittering fountains.
The Colonnades have 284 columns, are sixty-one feet wide, and sixty-four high; they enclose an area of 777 English feet; they were built by Bernini for Alexander VII., 1657-67. In the centre is the famous red granite Obelisk of the Vatican, brought to Rome from Heliopolis by Caligula, in a ship which Pliny describes as being "nearly as long as the left side of the port of Ostia." It was used to adorn the circus of Nero, and was brought from a position near the present sacristy of St. Peter's by Sixtus V. in 1586. Here it was elevated by Domenico Fontana, who estimated its weight at 963,537 Roman pounds; and employed 800 men, 150 horses, and 46 cranes in its removal.
The obelisk was first exorcised as a pagan idol, and then dedicated to the Cross. Its removal was preceded by high mass in St. Peter's, after which Pope Sixtus bestowed a solemn benediction upon Fontana and his workmen, and ordained that none should speak, upon pain of death, during the raising of the obelisk. The immense mass was slowly rising upon its base, when suddenly it ceased to move, and it was evident that the ropes were giving way. An awful moment of suspense ensued, when the breathless silence was broken by a cry of "Acqua alle funi!"—throw water on the ropes, and the workmen, acting on the advice so unexpectedly received, again saw the monster move, and gradually settle on its base. The man who saved the obelisk was Bresca, a sailor of Bordighiera, a village of the Riviera di Ponente, and Sixtus V., in his gratitude, promised him that his native village should ever henceforth have the privilege of furnishing the Easter palms to St. Peter's. A vessel laden with palm-branches, which abound in Bordighiera, is still annually sent to the Tiber in the week before Palm Sunday, and the palms, after being prepared and plaited by the nuns of S. Antonio Abbate, are used in the ceremonial in St. Peter's.
The height of the whole obelisk is 132 feet, that of the shaft, eighty-three feet. Upon the shaft is the inscription to Augustus and Tiberius: "DIVO. CÆS. DIVI. JULII. F. AUGUSTO.—TI. CÆSARI. DIVI. AUG. F.—AUGUSTA. SACRUM." The inscriptions on the base show its modern dedication to the Cross[324]—"Ecce Crux Domini—Fugite partes adversæ—Vicit Leo de tribu Juda."
"Sixte-quint s'applaudissait du succès, comme de l'œuvre la plus gigantesque des temps modernes; des médailles furent frappées; Fontana fut créé, noble romain, chevalier de l'Éperon d'or, et reçut une gratification de 5,000 écus, indépendamment des matériaux qui avaient servi à l'entreprise, et dont la valeur s'élevait à 20,000 écus (108,000 fr.); enfin des poëmes, dans toutes les langues, sur ce nouveau triomphe de la croix, furent adressés aux différents souverains de l'Europe."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 232.
"In summer the great square basks in unalluring magnificence in the midday sun. Its tall obelisk sends but a slim shadow to travel round the oval plane, like the gnomon of a huge dial; its fountains murmur with a delicious dreaminess, sending up massive jets like blocks of crystal into the hot sunshine, and receiving back a broken spray, on which sits serene an unbroken iris, but present no 'cool grot,' where one may enjoy their freshness; and in spite of the shorter path, the pilgrim looks with dismay at the dazzling pavement and long flight of unsheltered steps between him and the church, and prudently plunges into the forest of columns at either side of the piazza, and threads his way through their uniting shadows, intended, as an inscription[325] tells him, for this express purpose."—Cardinal Wiseman.
"Un jour Pie V. traversait, avec l'ambassadeur de Pologne, cette place du Vatican. Pris d'enthousiasme au souvenir du courage des martyrs qui l'ont arrosée de leurs larmes, et fertilisée par leur sang, il se baisse, et saisissant dans sa main une poignée de poussière: 'Tenez,' dit-il au représentant de cette noble nation, 'prenez cette poussière formée de la cendre des saints, et imprégnée du sang des martyrs.'
"L'ambassadeur ne portait pas dans son cœur la foi d'un pape, ni dans son âme les illuminations d'un saint; il reçut pourtant avec respect cette rélique étrange à ses yeux: mais revenu en son palais, retirant, d'une main indifférente peut-être, le linge qui la contenait, il le trouva ensanglanté.
"La poussière avait disparu. La foi du pontife avait évoqué le sang des martyrs, et ce sang généreux reparaissait à cet appel pour attester, en face de l'hérésie, que l'Église romaine, au XVIe siècle, était toujours celle pour laquelle ces héros avaient donné leur vie sous Néron."—Une Chrétienne à Rome.
No one can look upon the Piazza of St. Peter's without associating it with the great religious ceremonies with which it is connected, especially that of the Easter Benediction.
"Out over the great balcony stretches a white awning, where priests and attendants are collected, and where the pope will soon be seen. Below, the piazza is alive with moving masses. In the centre are drawn up long lines of soldiery, with yellow and red pompons, and glittering helmets and bayonets. These are surrounded by crowds on foot, and at the outer rim are packed carriages filled and overrun with people, mounted on the seats and boxes. What a sight it is!—above us the great dome of St. Peter's, and below, the grand embracing colonnade, and the vast space, in the centre of which rises the solemn obelisk thronged with masses of living beings. Peasants from the Campagna and the mountains are moving about everywhere. Pilgrims in oil-cloth cape and with iron staff demand charity. On the steps are rows of purple, blue, and brown umbrellas, for there the sun blazes fiercely. Everywhere crop forth the white hoods of Sisters of Charity, collected in groups, and showing, among the parti-coloured dresses, like beds of chrysanthemums in a garden. One side of the massive colonnade casts a grateful shadow over the crowd beneath, that fill up the intervals of its columns; but elsewhere the sun burns down and flashes everywhere. Mounted on the colonnade are crowds of people leaning over, beside the colossal statues. Through all the heat is heard the constant plash of the sun-lit fountains, that wave to and fro their veils of white spray. At last the clock strikes. In the far balcony are seen the two great showy peacock fans, and between them a figure clad in white, that rises from a golden chair, and spreads his great sleeves like wings as he raises his arms in benediction. That is the pope, Pius the Ninth. All is dead silence, and a musical voice, sweet and penetrating, is heard chanting from the balcony;—the people bend and kneel; with a cold gray flash, all the bayonets gleam as the soldiers drop to their knees, and rise to salute as the voice dies away, and the two white wings are again waved;—then thunder the cannon,—the bells clash and peal,—a few white papers, like huge snow-flakes, drop wavering from the balcony;—these are Indulgences, and there is an eager struggle for them below;—then the pope again rises, again gives his benediction,[326] waving to and fro his right hand, three fingers open, and making the sign of the cross,—and the peacock fans retire, and he between them is borne away,—and Lent is over."—Story's Roba di Roma.
The first church which existed on or near the site of the present building, was the oratory founded in A.D. 90, by Anacletus, bishop of Rome, who is said to have been ordained by St. Peter himself, and who thus marked the spot where many Christian martyrs had suffered in the circus of Nero, and where St. Peter was buried after his crucifixion.
In 306 Constantine the Great yielded to the request of Pope Sylvester, and began the erection of a basilica on this spot, labouring with his own hands at the work, and himself carrying away twelve loads of earth, in honour of the twelve apostles.[327] Anastasius describes how the body of the great apostle was exhumed at this time, and re-interred in a shrine of silver, enclosed in a sarcophagus of gilt bronze. The early basilica measured 395 feet in length by 212 in width. Its nave and aisles were divided by eighty-six marble pillars of different sizes, in great part brought from the Septizonium of Severus, and it had an atrium, and a paradisus, or quadrangular portico, along its front.[328] Though only half the size of the present cathedral, still it covered a greater space than any mediæval cathedral except those of Milan and Seville, with which it ranked in size.[329]
The old basilica suffered severely in the Saracenic invasion of 846, when some authorities maintain that even the tomb of the great apostle was rifled of its contents, but it was restored by Leo IV., who raised the fortifications of the Borgo for its defence.
Among the most remarkable of its early pilgrims were, Theodosius, who came to pray for a victory over Eugenius; Valentinian, emperor of the East, with his wife Eudoxia, and his mother Galla-Placidia; Belisarius, the great general under Justinian; Totila; Cedwalla, king of the West Saxons, who came for baptism; Concred, king of the Mercians, who came to remain as a monk, having cut off and consecrated his long hair at the tomb of St. Peter; Luitprand, king of the Lombards; Ina of Wessex, who founded a church here in honour of the Virgin, that Anglo-Saxons might have a place of prayer, and those who died, a grave; Carloman of France, who came for absolution and remained as a monk, first at S. Oreste (Soracte), then at Monte Casino; Richard of England; Bertrade, wife of Pepin, and mother of Charlemagne; Offa, the Saxon, who made his kingdom tributary to St. Peter; Charlemagne (four times), who was crowned here by Leo III.; Lothaire, crowned by Paschal I.; and, in the last year of the reign of Leo IV., Ethelwolf, king of the Anglo-Saxons, who was crowned here, remained a year, and who brought with him his boy of six years old, afterwards the great Alfred.
Of the old basilica, the crypt is now the only remnant, and there are collected the few relics preserved of the endless works of art with which it was filled, and which for the most part were lost or wilfully destroyed, when it was pulled down. Its destruction was first planned by Nicholas V. (1450), but was not carried out till the time of Julius II., who in 1506 began the new St. Peter's from designs of Bramante. The four great piers and their arches above were completed, before the deaths of both Bramante and Pope Julius interrupted the work. The next pope, Leo X., obtained a design for a church in the form of a Latin cross from Raphael, which was changed, after his death (on account of expense) to a Greek cross, by Baldassare Peruzzi, who only lived to complete the tribune. Paul III. (1534) employed Antonio di Sangallo as an architect, who returned to the design of a Latin cross, but died before he could carry out any of his intentions. Giulio Romano succeeded him and died also. Then the pope, "being inspired by God," says Vasari, sent for Michael Angelo, then in his seventy-second year, who continued the work under Julius III., returning to the plan of a Greek cross, enlarging the tribune and transepts, and beginning the dome on a new plan, which he said would "raise the Pantheon in the air." The dome designed by Michael Angelo, however, was very different to that which we now admire, being much lower, flatter, and heavier. The present dome is due to Giacomo della Porta, who brought the great work to a conclusion in 1590, under Sixtus V., who devoted 100,000 gold crowns annually to the building. In 1605 Paul V. destroyed all that remained of the old basilica, and employed Carlo Maderno as his architect, who once more returned to the plan of the Latin cross, and completed the present ugly façade in 1614. The church was dedicated by Urban VIII., November 18th, 1626; the colonnade added by Alexander VII., 1667, the sacristy by Pius VI., in 1780. The building of the present St. Peter's extended altogether over 176 years, and its expenses were so great that Julius II. and Leo X. were obliged to meet them by the sale of indulgences, which led to the Reformation. The expense of the main building alone has been estimated at 10,000,000l. The annual expense of repairs is 6300l.
"St. Pierre est une sorte de ville à part dans Rome, ayant son climat, sa température propre, sa lumière trop vive pour être religieuse, tantôt deserte, tantôt traversée par des sociétés de voyageurs, ou remplie d'une foule attirée par les cérémonies religieuses (à l'époque des jubilés le nombre des pélerins s'est parfois élevé à Rome, jusqu'à 400,000). Elle a ses reservoirs d'eau; sa fontaine coulant perpetuellement au pied de la grande coupole, dans un bassin de plomb, pour la commodité des travaux; ses rampes, par lesquelles les bêtes de somme peuvent monter; sa population fixe, habitant ses terrasses. Les San Pietriné, ouvriers chargés de tous les travaux qu'exige la conservation d'un aussi précieux edifice, s'y succèdent de père en fils, et forment une corporation qui a ses lois et sa police."—A. Du Pays.
The façade of St. Peter's is 357 feet long and 144 feet high. It is surmounted by a balustrade six feet in height, bearing statues of the Saviour and the Twelve Apostles. Over the central entrance is the loggia where the pope is crowned, and whence he gives the Easter benediction. The huge inscription runs—"In. Honorem. Principis. Apost. Paulus V. Burghesius. Romanus. Pont. Max. A. MDCXII. Pont. VII."
"I don't like to say the façade of the church is ugly and obtrusive. As long as the dome overawes, that façade is supportable. You advance towards it—through, O such a noble court! with fountains flashing up to meet the sunbeams; and right and left of you two sweeping half-crescents of great columns; but you pass by the courtiers and up to the steps of the throne, and the dome seems to disappear behind it. It is as if the throne was upset, and the king had toppled over."—Thackeray, The Newcomes.
A wide flight of steps, at the foot of which are statues of St. Peter by De Fabris, and St. Paul by Tadolini, lead by fine entrances to the Vestibule, which is 468 feet long, 66 feet high, and 50 feet wide. Closing it on the right is a statue of Constantine by Bernini—on the left that of Charlemagne by Cornacchini. Over the principal entrance (facing the door of the church) is the celebrated Mosaic of the Navicella, executed 1298, by Giotto, and his pupil, Pietro Cavallini.
"For the ancient basilica of St. Peter, Giotto executed his celebrated mosaic of the Navicella, which has an allegorical foundation. It represents a ship, with the disciples, on an agitated sea; the winds, personified as demons, storm against it; above appear the Fathers of the Old Testament speaking comfort to the sufferers. According to the early Christian symbolization, the ship denoted the Church. Nearer, and on the right, in a firm attitude, stands Christ, the Rock of the Church, raising Peter from the waves. Opposite sits a fisherman in tranquil expectation, denoting the hope of the believer. The mosaic has frequently changed its place, and has undergone so many restorations, that the composition alone can be attributed to Giotto. The fisherman and the figures hovering in the air are, in their present form, the work of Marcello Provenzale."—Kugler, i. 127.
"This mosaic is ill placed and ill seen for an especial reason. Early converts from paganism retained the heathen custom of turning round to venerate the sun before entering a church, so that in the old basilica, as here, the mosaic was thus placed to give a fitting object of worship. The learned Cardinal Baronius never, for a single day, during the space of thirty years, failed to bow before this symbol of the primitive Church, tossed on the stormy sea of persecution and of sin, saying, 'Lord, save me from the waves of sin as thou didst Peter from the waves of the sea.' "—Mrs. Elliot's Historical Pictures.
The magnificent central door of bronze is a remnant from the old basilica, and was made in the time of Eugenius IV., 1431—39, by Antonio Filarete, and Simone, brother of Donatello. The bas-reliefs of the compartments represent the martyrdoms of SS. Peter and Paul, and the principal events in the reign of Eugenius,—the Council of Florence, the Coronation of Sigismund, emperor of Germany, &c. The bas-reliefs of the framework are entirely mythological; Ganymede, Leda and her Swan, &c., are to be distinguished.
"Corinne fit remarquer à Lord Nelvil que sur les portes étaient représentées en bas-relief les métamorphoses d'Ovide. On ne se scandalise point à Rome, lui dit-elle, des images du paganisme, quand les beaux-arts les ont consacrées. Les merveilles du génie portent toujours à l'âme une impression religieuse, et nous faisons hommage au culte chrétien de tous les chefs-d'œuvre que les autres cultes ont inspirés."—Mad. de Staël.
Let into the wall between the doors are three remarkable inscriptions: 1. Commemorating the donation made to the church by Gregory II., of certain olive-grounds to provide oil for the lamps; 2. The bull of Boniface VIII., 1300, granting the indulgence proclaimed at every jubilee; 3. In the centre, the Latin epitaph of Adrian I. (Colonna, 772-95), by Charlemagne,[330] one of the most ancient memorials of the papacy:
Adrian the pope, of blessed memory, reigned for three-and-twenty years, ten months, and seventeen days, and died on the 25th of December."
The walled-up door on the right is the Porta Santa, only opened for the jubilee, which has taken place every twenty-fifth year (except 1850) since the time of Sixtus IV. The pope himself gives the signal for the destruction of the wall on the Christmas-eve before the sacred year.
"After preliminary prayers from Scripture singularly apt, the pope goes down from his throne, and, armed with a silver hammer, strikes the wall in the doorway, which, having been cut round from its jambs and lintel, falls at once inwards, and is cleared away in a moment by the San Pietrini. The pope, then, bare-headed and torch in hand, first enters the door, and is followed by his cardinals and his other attendants to the high altar, where the first vespers of Christmas Day are chaunted as usual. The other doors of the church are then flung open, and the great queen of churches is filled."—Cardinal Wiseman.
"Arrêtez-vous un moment ici, dit Corinne à Lord Nelvil, comme il était déjà sous le portique de l'église; arrêtez-vous, avant de soulever le rideau qui couvre la porte du temple; votre cœur ne bat-il pas à l'approche de ce sanctuaire? Et ne ressentez-vous pas, au moment d'entrer, tout ce que ferait éprouver l'attente d'un évènement solennel?"—Mad. de Staël.
We now push aside the heavy double curtain and enter the Basilica.
"Hilda had not always been adequately impressed by the grandeur of this mighty cathedral. When she first lifted the heavy leathern curtains, at one of the doors, a shadowy edifice in her imagination had been dazzled out of sight by the reality."—Hawthorne.
"The ulterior burst upon our astonished gaze, resplendent in light, magnificence, and beauty, beyond all that imagination can conceive. Its apparent smallness of size, however, mingled some degree of surprise, and even disappointment, with my admiration; but as I walked slowly up its long nave, empanelled with the rarest and richest marbles, and adorned with every art of sculpture and taste, and caught through the lofty arches opening views of chapels, and tombs, and altars of surpassing splendour, I felt that it was, indeed, unparalleled in beauty, in magnitude, and magnificence, and one of the noblest and most wonderful of the works of man."—Eaton's Rome.
"St Peter's, that glorious temple—the largest and most beautiful, it is said, in the world, produced upon me the impression rather of a Christian pantheon, than of a Christian church. The æsthetic intellect is edified more than the God-loving or God-seeking soul. The exterior and interior of the building appear to me more like an apotheosis of the popedom than a glorification of Christianity and its doctrine. Monuments to the popes occupy too much space. One sees all round the walls angels flying upwards with papal portraits, sometimes merely with papal tiaras."—Frederika Bremer.
"L'Architecture de St. Pierre est une musique fixée."—Madame de Staël.
"The building of St. Peter's surpasses all powers of description. It appears to me like some great work of nature, a forest, a mass of rocks, or something similar; for I never can realise the idea that it is the work of man. You strive to distinguish the ceiling as little as the canopy of heaven. You lose your way in St. Peter's, you take a walk in it, and ramble till you are quite tired; when divine service is performed and chaunted there, you are not aware of it till you come quite close. The angels in the Baptistery are enormous giants; the doves, colossal birds of prey; you lose all sense of measurement with the eye, or proportion; and yet who does not feel his heart expand, when standing under the dome, and gazing up at it."—Mendelssohn's Letters.
"On pousse avec peine une grosse portière de cuir, et nous voici dans Saint-Pierre. On ne peut qu'adorer la religion qui produit de telles choses. Rien du monde ne peut être comparé à l'intérieur de Saint Pierre. Après un an de séjour à Rome, j'y allais encore passer des heures entières avec plaisir."—Fontana, Tempio Vaticano Illustrato.
"Tandis que, dans les églises gothiques, l'impression est de s'agenouiller, de joindre les mains avec un sentiment d'humble prière et de profond regret; dans Saint-Pierre au contraire, le mouvement involontaire serait d'ouvrir les bras en signe de joie, de relever la tête avec bonheur et épanouissement. Il semble, que là, le péché n'accable plus; le sentiment vif du pardon par le triomphe de la résurrection remplit seul le cœur."—Eugénie de la Ferronays.
"The temperature of St. Peter's seems, like the happy islands, to experience no change. In the coldest weather it is like summer to your feelings, and in the most oppressive heats it strikes you with a delightful sensation of cold—a luxury not to be estimated but in a climate such as this."—Eaton's Rome.
On each side of the nave are four pillars with Corinthian pilasters, and a rich entablature supporting the arches. The roof is vaulted, coffered, and gilded. The pavement is of coloured marble, inlaid from designs of Giacomo della Porta and Bernini. In the centre of the floor, immediately within the chief entrance, is a round slab of porphyry, upon which the emperors were crowned.
The enormous size of the statues and ornaments in St. Peter's do away with the impression of its vast size, and it is only by observing the living, moving figures, that one can form any idea of its colossal proportions. A line in the pavement is marked with the comparative size of the other great Christian churches. According to this the length of St Peter's is 613½ feet; of St. Paul's, London, 520½ feet; Milan Cathedral, 443 feet; St. Sophia, Constantinople, 360½ feet. The height of the dome in the interior is 405 feet; on the exterior, 448 feet. The height of the baldacchino is 94½ feet.
The first impulse will be to go up to the shrine, around which a circle of eighty-six gold lamps is always burning, and to look down into the Confessional, where there is a beautiful kneeling statue of Pope Pius VI. (Braschi, 1785—1800) by Canova. Hence one can gaze up into the dome, with its huge letters in purple-blue mosaic upon a gold ground (each six feet long).[331] "Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram ædificabo ecclesiam meam, et tibi dabo claves regni cœlorum." Above this are four colossal mosaics of the Evangelists from designs of the Cav. d'Arpino; the pen of St. Luke is seven feet in length.