Rome - St. Peter's Basilica

Rom - Petersdom

 

Chair of Saint Peter

 

Cathedra Petri

 

The Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican (Italian: Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply St. Peter's Basilica (Latin: Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal enclave which is within the city of Rome.

 

Designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter's is the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture and the largest church in the world. While it is neither the mother church of the Catholic Church nor the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome, St. Peter's is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic shrines. It has been described as "holding a unique position in the Christian world" and as "the greatest of all churches of Christendom".

 

Catholic tradition holds that the basilica is the burial site of Saint Peter, chief among Jesus's apostles and also the first Bishop of Rome (Pope). Saint Peter's tomb is supposedly directly below the high altar of the basilica. For this reason, many popes have been interred at St. Peter's since the Early Christian period. A church has stood on this site since the time of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. Old St. Peter's Basilica dates from the 4th century AD. Construction of the present basilica began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626.

 

St. Peter's is famous as a place of pilgrimage and for its liturgical functions. The pope presides at a number of liturgies throughout the year both within the basilica or the adjoining St. Peter's Square; these liturgies draw audiences numbering from 15,000 to over 80,000 people. St. Peter's has many historical associations, with the Early Christian Church, the Papacy, the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-reformation and numerous artists, especially Michelangelo. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age. St. Peter's is one of the four churches in the world that hold the rank of major basilica, all four of which are in Rome. Contrary to popular misconception, it is not a cathedral because it is not the seat of a bishop; the cathedra of the pope as Bishop of Rome is in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

The Chair of Saint Peter (Latin: Cathedra Petri), also known as the Throne of Saint Peter, is a relic conserved in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the sovereign enclave of the Pope inside Rome, Italy. The relic is a wooden throne that tradition claims the Apostle Saint Peter, the leader of the Early Christians in Rome and first Pope, used as Bishop of Rome. The relic is enclosed in a sculpted gilt bronze casing designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and executed between 1647 and 1653. In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI described the chair as "a symbol of the special mission of Peter and his Successors to tend Christ’s flock, keeping it united in faith and in charity."

 

The wooden throne was a gift from Holy Roman Emperor Charles the Bald to Pope John VIII in 875. It has been studied many times over the years, the last being from 1968 to 1974, when it was last removed from the Bernini altar. That study concluded that it was not a double, but rather a single, chair with a covering and that no part of the chair dated earlier than the sixth century.

 

The relic itself is described as an oaken chair damaged by cuts and worms. The Chair has metal rings attached to each side, allowing use as a sedia gestatoria. The back and front of the chair are trimmed with carved ivory. This description comes from 1867, when the relic was photographed and displayed for veneration.

 

The reliquary, like many of the medieval period, takes the form of the relic it protects, i.e. the form of a chair. Symbolically, the chair Bernini designed had no earthly counterpart in actual contemporary furnishings. It is formed entirely of scrolling members, enclosing a coved panel where the upholstery pattern is rendered as a low relief of Christ instructing Peter to tend to His sheep. Large angelic figures flank an openwork panel beneath a highly realistic bronze seat cushion, vividly empty: the relic is encased within.

 

The cathedra is lofted on splayed scrolling bars that appear to be effortlessly supported by four over-lifesize bronze Doctors of the Church: Western doctors Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine of Hippo on the outsides, wearing miters, and Eastern doctors Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Athanasius on the insides, both bare-headed. The cathedra appears to hover over the altar in the basilica's apse, lit by a central tinted window through which light streams, illuminating the gilded glory of sunrays and sculpted clouds that surrounds the window. Like Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Theresa, this is a definitive fusion of the Baroque arts, unifying sculpture and richly polychrome architecture and manipulating effects of light.

 

Above, on the golden background of the frieze, is the Latin inscription: "O Pastor Ecclesiae, tu omnes Christi pascis agnos et oves" (O pastor of the Church, you feed all Christ's lambs and sheep). On the right is the same writing in Greek. Behind the altar is placed Bernini's monument enclosing the wooden chair, both of which are seen as symbolic of the authority of the Bishop of Rome as Vicar of Christ and successor of Saint Peter.

 

Early martyrologies indicate that two liturgical feasts were celebrated in Rome, centuries before the time of Charles the Bald, in honour of earlier chairs associated with Saint Peter, one of which was kept in the baptismal chapel of St. Peter's Basilica, the other at the catacomb of Priscilla. The dates of these celebrations were January 18 and February 22. No surviving chair has been identified with either of these chairs. The feasts thus became associated with an abstract understanding of the "Chair of Peter", which by synecdoche signifies the episcopal office of the Pope as Bishop of Rome, an office considered to have been first held by Saint Peter, and thus extended to the diocese, the See of Rome. Though both feasts were originally associated with Saint Peter's stay in Rome, the ninth-century form of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum associated the January 18 feast with his stay in Rome, and the February 22 feast with his stay at Antioch. The two feasts were included in the Tridentine Calendar with the rank of Double, which Pope Clement VIII raised in 1604 to the newly invented rank of Greater Double.

 

In 1960 Pope John XXIII removed from the General Roman Calendar the January 18 feast of the Chair of Peter, along with seven other feast days that were second feasts of a single saint or mystery. The February 22 celebration became a Second-Class Feast. This calendar was incorporated in the 1962 Roman Missal of Pope John XXIII, whose continued use Pope Benedict XVI authorized under the conditions indicated in his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. Those traditionalist Catholics who do not accept the changes made by Pope John XXIII continue to celebrate both feast days: "Saint Peter's Chair at Rome" on January 18 and the "Chair of Saint Peter at Antioch" on February 22.

 

In the new classification introduced in 1969 the February 22 celebration appears in the Roman Calendar with the rank of Feast.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Die Basilika Sankt Peter im Vatikan (italienisch: San Pietro in Vaticano) in Rom, im deutschsprachigen Raum meist Petersdom genannt (auch Basilica Sancti Petri in Vaticano, Petersbasilika, vatikanische Basilika oder Templum Vaticanum), ist die Memorialkirche des Apostels Simon Petrus. Sie ist auf dem Territorium des unabhängigen Staates der Vatikanstadt gelegen und eine der sieben Pilgerkirchen von Rom. Mit einer überbauten Fläche von 20.139 m² und einem Fassungsvermögen von 20.000 Menschen ist der Petersdom die größte der päpstlichen Basiliken und eine der größten und bedeutendsten Kirchen der Welt.

 

Der Vorgängerbau des heutigen Petersdomes, Alt-St. Peter, wurde um das Jahr 324 von Konstantin dem Großen über dem vermuteten Grab des hl. Petrus errichtet. Mit dem heutigen Bau wurde im Jahr 1506 begonnen, 1626 war er weitestgehend vollendet.

 

Seit Mitte des 5. Jahrhunderts war die Peterskirche auch die Patriarchalbasilika des Lateinischen Patriarchen von Konstantinopel. Nach der Auflösung des Patriarchats im Jahr 1964 wurde dieser Titel weitergeführt; 2006, als Papst Benedikt XVI. den Titel des Patriarchen des Abendlandes (oder des Westens) niederlegte, wurde er durch den einer Papstbasilika ersetzt.

 

Seit dem Ende des 14. Jahrhunderts residieren die Päpste in direkter Nähe zum Petersdom. Er ist jedoch weder die Kathedrale des Bistums Rom noch der offiziell ranghöchste römisch-katholische Kirchenbau. Beides ist seit alters her die Lateranbasilika.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Cathedra Petri heißt eine stilisierte überlebensgroße Thron-Nachbildung innerhalb einer mehrteiligen Dekoration vor dem mittleren Wandabschnitt der Haupt-Apsis des Petersdoms in Rom, die 1657 bis 1666 von Gian Lorenzo Bernini im Auftrag von Alexander VII. (Regierungszeit: 1655–1667) geschaffen wurde.

 

Die Cathedra Petri im Petersdom ist von ihrer Funktion her ein Reliquiar, ein Bronzemantel für einen darin befindlichen Holzstuhl, welcher der Tradition nach der Lehrstuhl von Simon Petrus gewesen sein soll. Wahrscheinlich handelt es sich jedoch um einen für die Krönung Karls des Kahlen angefertigten Stuhl aus dem 9. Jahrhundert n. Chr. Dieser wurde dann nach der Krönungsfeier dem Papst oder der Peterskirche geschenkt. Die liturgische Kathedra Petri, d. h. der Bischofsstuhl des Bischofs von Rom, befindet sich in der römischen Kathedrale, der Lateranbasilika.

 

Die Cathedra Petri ist ein riesiges Gesamtkunstwerk im Stil des Barock, in dessen Zentrum sich der Thron selbst befindet. Über dem Thron scheint der Himmel geöffnet: In der Mitte erscheint eine Taube im Strahlenkranz als Symbol des Heiligen Geistes, gestaltet als Glasmalerei in einem ovalen, weiß-gelblichen Fenster aus Alabaster. Von der Erscheinung des Heiligen Geistes gehen Bündel von Lichtstrahlen aus und Wolken, auf denen Engelschöre aus Stuck oder Bronze zu sehen sind. Der gesamte obere Teil des Kunstwerkes ist vergoldet. Gold symbolisiert das Göttliche.

 

Der Thron scheint auf den Wolken aus der himmlischen Sphäre herabzuschweben. Vier überlebensgroße Bronzefiguren greifen in seitliche Schlaufen, die an den geschweiften Beinen des Thrones befestigt sind, und halten ihn auf diese Weise in der Schwebe. Sie stellen die vier Kirchenväter dar, zwei aus dem griechischen Osten (Johannes Chrysostomos und Athanasius) und zwei aus dem lateinischen Westen (Augustinus und Ambrosius). Der Thron selbst ist mit Reliefs verziert.

 

Nach kirchlicher Überlieferung war Petrus vor Rom auch Gründerbischof der Christengemeinde von Antiochia. Die Kathedra, die er dort innegehabt haben soll, wird heute in San Pietro di Castello, der ehemaligen Patriarchalkirche von Venedig, gezeigt. Sie soll ein Geschenk des Kaisers Michael III. an das damals noch unter byzantinischer Oberhoheit stehende Venedig gewesen sein und stärkte dieses in seinem Selbstbewusstsein gegenüber den Päpsten und in seinem Anspruch auf das Patriarchat von Aquileja. Deutlich sichtbare arabische Schriftzeichen weisen diesen Thronsitz allerdings als zwar orientalisch, aber keinesfalls urchristlich aus.

 

(Wikipedia)

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