The
Cathedra Petri (Latin) or
Chair of Saint Peter is usually understood of a particular chair preserved in
St. Peter's BasilicaThe Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as the ' and commonly known as St. Peter's Basilica, is located within the Vatican City. St. Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, holding 60,000 people. It is the symbolic "Mother church" of...
, Rome, enclosed in a
giltGilding is the technique of applying a thin layer of gold to a surface. Gilding is performed through mechanical processes, such as leafing, or using one of many chemical processes.-Ancient techniques:...
bronzeBronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive, but sometimes with other elements such as phosphorus, manganese, aluminium, or silicon. It was particularly significant in antiquity, giving its name to the Bronze Age...
casing that was designed by
Gian Lorenzo BerniniGian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian artist who worked principally in Rome during the 17th century. He was the leading sculptor of his age and also a prominent architect...
and executed 1647–53.
The chair of a bishop is a
cathedraA cathedra is the chair or throne of a bishop. It is a symbol of the bishop's teaching authority in the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, and has in some sense remained such in the Anglican Communion and in Lutheran churches...
. The
cathedra in Saint Peter's Basilica was once used by the
popeThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
s. It was therefore often thought to have been used by
Saint PeterSimon Peter , Pétros “Rock”, Kephas in Hellenized Aramaic) was a leader of the early Christian Church, who features prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Peter was the son of John, and was from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee...
himself, but was in fact a gift from
Charles the BaldCharles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.- Struggle against his brothers :He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...
to the Pope in 875.
This wooden chair is enclosed in a
giltGilding is the technique of applying a thin layer of gold to a surface. Gilding is performed through mechanical processes, such as leafing, or using one of many chemical processes.-Ancient techniques:...
bronzeBronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive, but sometimes with other elements such as phosphorus, manganese, aluminium, or silicon. It was particularly significant in antiquity, giving its name to the Bronze Age...
casing designed by
Gian Lorenzo BerniniGian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian artist who worked principally in Rome during the 17th century. He was the leading sculptor of his age and also a prominent architect...
and executed 1647–53.
The
Cathedra Petri (Latin) or
Chair of Saint Peter is usually understood of a particular chair preserved in
St. Peter's BasilicaThe Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as the ' and commonly known as St. Peter's Basilica, is located within the Vatican City. St. Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, holding 60,000 people. It is the symbolic "Mother church" of...
, Rome, enclosed in a
giltGilding is the technique of applying a thin layer of gold to a surface. Gilding is performed through mechanical processes, such as leafing, or using one of many chemical processes.-Ancient techniques:...
bronzeBronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive, but sometimes with other elements such as phosphorus, manganese, aluminium, or silicon. It was particularly significant in antiquity, giving its name to the Bronze Age...
casing that was designed by
Gian Lorenzo BerniniGian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian artist who worked principally in Rome during the 17th century. He was the leading sculptor of his age and also a prominent architect...
and executed 1647–53.
The chair of a bishop is a
cathedraA cathedra is the chair or throne of a bishop. It is a symbol of the bishop's teaching authority in the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, and has in some sense remained such in the Anglican Communion and in Lutheran churches...
. The
cathedra in Saint Peter's Basilica was once used by the
popeThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
s. It was therefore often thought to have been used by
Saint PeterSimon Peter , Pétros “Rock”, Kephas in Hellenized Aramaic) was a leader of the early Christian Church, who features prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Peter was the son of John, and was from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee...
himself, but was in fact a gift from
Charles the BaldCharles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.- Struggle against his brothers :He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...
to the Pope in 875.
This wooden chair is enclosed in a
giltGilding is the technique of applying a thin layer of gold to a surface. Gilding is performed through mechanical processes, such as leafing, or using one of many chemical processes.-Ancient techniques:...
bronzeBronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive, but sometimes with other elements such as phosphorus, manganese, aluminium, or silicon. It was particularly significant in antiquity, giving its name to the Bronze Age...
casing designed by
Gian Lorenzo BerniniGian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian artist who worked principally in Rome during the 17th century. He was the leading sculptor of his age and also a prominent architect...
and executed 1647–53. Like many medieval
reliquariesA reliquary is a container for relics. These may be the physical remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, or some object associated with saints or other religious figures...
that took the form of the relic they protected, it is in 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
ChristChrist is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed". It is a translation of the Hebrew . The term "Christ" was a title rather than a proper name. In the four gospels in the New Testament, the word "Christ" is nearly always preceded by the definite article...
giving the keys to Peter. Nearly life-size 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. The
cathedra appears to hover over the altar in the basilica's apse, lit by a central tinted window through which early morning light streams (
illustration, right), illuminating the gilded glory of sunrays and sculpted clouds that surrounds the window. Like Bernini's
Ecstasy of St TheresaThe Ecstasy of Saint Theresa is the central sculptural group in white marble set in an elevated aedicule in the Cornaro Chapel , Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome...
, this is a definitive fusion of the
BaroqueBaroque is an artistic style prevalent from the late 16th century to the early 18th century. The popularity and success of the Baroque style was encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church, which had decided at the time of the Council of Trent that the arts should communicate religious themes in...
arts, unifying sculpture and richly polychrome architecture and manipulating effects of light.
JesusJesus of Nazareth —also known as Jesus Christ or occasionally Jesus the Christ—is the central figure of Christianity. Within most Christian denominations...
' words to Peter in , "You are Peter, and upon this Rock, I will build my Church and the gates of
HellIn many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld. Religions with a linear divine history often depict Hell as endless...
shall not prevail against it. To you have I entrusted the keys of the
Kingdom of HeavenKingdom of Heaven may refer to:* Kingdom of God, a foundational theological concept in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam* Kingdom of Heaven , a 2005 film, directed by Ridley Scott...
and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven", are inscribed in Latin in the apse, within which 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 ChristVicar of Christ has been used since Pope Gelasius I , alongside a few rarer 'vicarial' titles, as one of the titles of the Bishop of Rome—the Pope—as head of the Catholic Church . A vicar is one who represents another and acts as a steward, administering the position held in lieu of the true...
and successor of Saint Peter (see Petrine supremacy).
Liturgical feasts
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 Saint Peter's Basilica, the other at the
catacomb of PriscillaThe Catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria in Rome, Italy, is situated in what was a quarry in Roman times, currently located beneath the basilica San Martino ai Monti. This quarry was used for Christian burials from the late second century through the fourth century. Some of the walls and...
. 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
synecdocheSynecdoche is a figure of speech in which:* a term denoting a part of something is used to refer to the whole thing , or...
signifies the
episcopal officeA bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of the
PopeThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
as Bishop of Rome, an office considered to have been first held by
Saint PeterSimon Peter , Pétros “Rock”, Kephas in Hellenized Aramaic) was a leader of the early Christian Church, who features prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Peter was the son of John, and was from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee...
, 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 HieronymianumThe Martyrologium Hieronymianum was a medieval list of martyrs, one of the most used and influential of the Middle Ages...
associated the January 18 feast with his stay in Rome, and the February 22 feast with his stay at
AntiochAntioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River...
.
The two feasts were included in the
Tridentine CalendarThe Tridentine Calendar is the calendar of saints to be honoured in the official liturgy of the Roman Rite during the course of the liturgical year. It was established in 1570 by Pope Pius V, when he implemented a decision of the Council of Trent by promulgating his Roman Missal...
with the rank of Double, which
Pope Clement VIIIPope Clement VIII , born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was Pope from 30 January, 1592 to 3 March, 1605.-Cardinal:...
raised in 1604 to the newly invented rank of Greater Double. In the year 1960
Pope John XXIIIBlessed Pope John XXIII , born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli , known as Blessed John XXIII since his beatification, was elected as the 261st Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City on October 28, 1958.He called the Second Vatican Council but did not live to see it to completion,...
removed from the General Roman Calendar eight feast days that were second feasts of a single saint or mystery: one of them was the January 18 feast of the Chair of Peter. The February 22 celebration became a Second-Class Feast. This calendar was incorporated in the 1962
Roman MissalThe Roman Missal is the liturgical book that contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of the Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.-History:...
of
Pope John XXIIIBlessed Pope John XXIII , born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli , known as Blessed John XXIII since his beatification, was elected as the 261st Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City on October 28, 1958.He called the Second Vatican Council but did not live to see it to completion,...
, whose continued use as an
extraordinary form of the Roman Rite"An extraordinary form of the Roman Rite" is the term used in Pope Benedict XVI's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum for the liturgy of the 1962 Roman Missal, widely referred to as the "Tridentine Mass"...
is authorized under the conditions indicated in the motu proprio
Summorum PontificumSummorum Pontificum is an Apostolic Letter of Pope Benedict XVI, issued "motu proprio" . The document specified the rules, for the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, for celebrating Mass according to the "Missal promulgated by John XXIII in 1962" , and for administering most of the sacraments in...
In the new classification introduced in 1969 the February 22 celebration appears in the Roman Calendar with the rank of Feast. Traditional Roman Catholics continue to celebrate both feast days: "St Peter's Chair at Rome" on January 18 and the "Chair of St Peter at Antioch" on February 22.
External links