The rere of the church.

may

be

The door at this extremity leads out to the rere
of the church. It is faced with travertin, and
said to consist of three divisions, one that correspon-
ding with the Pauline chapel, erected by Flaminio
Ponzio, on which is the inscription: SANCTAE. VIR-

GINI DEI. GENITRICI MARIAE PAVLVS. PAPA, V. HVMILIS.
SERVVS SACELLVM OBTVLIT AN. SAL. MDCXVI. PONTIFI-

CATVS. SEXTVS. The other division, consisting of the
rere of the tribune, was erected by Carlo Rainaldi,
and bears the inscription: CLEMENT. X. PONT. MAX.

LIBERIANAE. BASILICAE SEPTENTRIONALEM FRONTEM. SVA
IN VIRGINEM MAGNAM PIETATE, MVNIFICENTIVS. EXTRV-
XIT ET. EXORNAVIT AN. SAL. MDCLXXIII. PONTIFICATVS IV.

The third division corresponds with the rere of the
Sixtine, and was erected by Clement X., on the
plan of Rainaldi ; but the Poontiff was unwiiling to
have his name inscribed on it, and it therefore bears
the inscsiption: SANCTISS. PRAESEPI DOMINI. NOSTRI

JES V. CHRISTI SIXTVS. PAPA. V. DEVOTVS SACELLVM EXTRVXIT AN. SAL. MDLXXXVII. PONTIFICATVS TERTIVS. The three divisions terminate with a handsome balustrade; and that of the tribune is adorned with statues, as is also the western side of the church. At the two extremities are seen the two cupolas of the Pauline and Sixtine chapels; and in front rises an obelisk of red granite erected there in 1587, under Sixtus V., by Carlo Fontana (a). This back has considerable merit; but, although it presents the character of a public building, and is in strict accordance with the form of the ancient basilic, it does not at once strike the eye as the rere of a church.

This basilic has a Card. Archpriest, whose Vicar is a prelate; and a Chapter composed of Canons, beneficed clergy and subordinates. On the night of

(a) See Index, Obelisk of S. Mary Major's.

the Nativity and during the day, the Crib is exposed to the veneration of the Faithful, and the Pope himself officiates. (a) On the 15th of August, the feast of the Assumption, the Pope attends the capella, and gives his solemn benediction from the balcony; and on the 5th of August is celebrated the feast of S. Maria ad Nives in the Capella Borghese, at the Vespers of which the Cardinals attend. Its stations occur on the eighth day of Lent; the second sunday of Lent; Spy-wednesday; Easter-sunday; the first of the Rogation days; the wednesday of the autumnal Quatuortense; the first sunday of Advent; the wednesday of the winter Quatuortense; the 24tl and 25th of December, the Vigil and Feast of the Nativity; the 27th of December, the feast of S. John the Evangelist; the 24th of February, the feast of

(a) The Holy Crib was first brought to Rome, probably in the VII. century. That it had been preserved in Bethlehem in the days of S. Jerom we learn from that Holy Doctor's letter to S. Marcella, in which he urges her to visit Bethlehem, in order to venerate the Crib; and the Patriarch Sophronius, in a discourse delivered on Christmasday A. D. 636, laments his inability to visit Bethlehem as usual, on that day, and venerate the sacred Presepio, being prevented by the invasion of the Saracens. It appears that the Crib remained in Bethlehem, under lhe protection of the emperors of the east, until the Sultan, Omar became master of Palestine, and that country fell under the Mahametan yoke. The Patriarch Sophronius was then dead; and Theodore, a native of Jerusalem, raised to the pon tificate in 642, deputed Stephen, Dore nsian Bishop as his Vicar Apostolic, to convey the pecious relic to Rome. Hence it is that we find the church assuming, for the first time, in the VII. century, the name of S. Maria ad Praesepe. Bianchini is of opinion that the body of S. Jerom was conveyed to Rome at the same time. Bianchini Francesco De Sacris Įmaginibus a Systo P. M. ex Liberiana Basilica constructis.

S. Matthew; and the 30th of September, the feast of S. Jerom. The principal writer on the basilic is Paolo de Angelis; on the Capella Borghese, Andrea Vittorelli; and on the capella Sistina, Fran. Berci.

S. PETER'S

"But thou, of temples old, or altars new,
Standest alone-with nothing like to thee-
Worthiest of God, the holy and the true.
Since Zion's desolation, when that He
Forsook his former city, what could be,
Of earthly structures, in his honour piled,
Of a sublimer aspect? Majesty,

Power, Glory, Strength, and Beauty, all are aisled In this eternal ark of worship undefiled ".

Childe Harold.

"Siede un Tempio, il più bello e meglio adorno, Che vede il sole fra quanto gira intorno".

Ariosto.

The basilic of S. Peter is situate in the XIV. region, Borgo, on the skirt of the Vatican hill, partly on the site of the circus of Nero, the scene of the inhuman cruelties of that ferocious monster against the early Christians (a). Anastasius Bibliothecarius informs us that S. Anacletus, Pope and martyr, who succeeded S. Linus, the successor of the great Apostle, erected a chapel over his tomb on the Vatican A. D. 106; and it continued to mark the spot until the time of Constanține, who, at the solicitation of S. Sylvester, erected in its stead the ancient church (b).

(a) See Index Circus of Nero. (b) Anastas. Vit. S. Sylvestr.