Ascending one of the lateral staircases—no foot must touch the Santa Scala—we reach the outside of the Sancta Sanctorum, a chapel held so intensely sacred that none but the pope can officiate at its altar, and that it is never open to others, except on the morning before Palm Sunday, when the canons of the Lateran come hither to worship, in solemn procession, with torches and a veiled crucifix, and, even then, none but the clergy are allowed to pass its threshold. The origin of the sanctuary is lost in antiquity, but it was the private chapel of the mediæval popes in the old palace, and is known to have existed already, dedicated to St. Laurence, in the time of Pelagius I. (578—590), who deposited here some relics of St. Andrew and St. Luke. It was restored by Honorius III. in 1216, and almost rebuilt by Nicholas III. in 1277.
It is permitted to gaze through a grating upon the picturesque glories of the interior, which are chiefly of the thirteenth century. The altar is in a recess, supported by two porphyry columns. Above it a beautiful silver tabernacle, presented by Innocent III. (1198-1216), to contain the great relic, which invests the chapel with its peculiar sanctity,—a portrait of our Saviour (placed here by Stephen III. in 752), held by the Roman Church as authentic,—to have been begun by St. Luke and finished by an angel, whence the name by which it is known, "Acheirotopeton," or, the "picture made without hands."
"The different theories as to the acheirotopeton picture, and the manner in which it reached this city, are stated with naïveté by Maroni—i.e., that the apostles and the Madonna, meeting after the ascension, resolved to order a portrait of the Crucified, for satisfying the desire of the faithful, and commissioned St. Luke to execute the task; that after three days' prayer and fasting, such a portrait was drawn in outline by that artist, but, before he had begun to colour, the tints were found to have been filled in by invisible hands; that this picture was brought from Jerusalem to Rome, either by St. Peter, or by Titus (together with the sacred spoils of the temple); or else expedited hither in a miraculous voyage of only twenty-four hours by S. Germanus, patriarch of Constantinople, who desired thus to save such a treasure from the outrages of the Iconoclasts; and that, about A.D. 726, Pope Gregory II., apprised of its arrival at the mouth of the Tiber by revelation, proceeded to carry it thence, with due escort, to Rome; since which advent it has remained in the Sancta Sanctorum."—Hemans' Mediæval Christian Art.
Above the altar is, in gilt letters, the inscription, "non est in tota sanctior urbe locus." Higher up, under gothic arches, and between twisted columns, are pictures of sainted popes and martyrs, but these have been so much retouched as to have lost their interest. The gratings here are those of the relic chamber, which contains the reputed sandals of Our Saviour, fragments of the true cross, &c. On the ceiling is a grand mosaic,—a head of Our Saviour within a nimbus, sustained by six-winged seraphim—ascribed to the eighth century. The sill in front of the screen is covered with money, thrown in as offerings by the pilgrims.
The chapel was once much larger. Its architect was probably Deodatus Cosmati. An inscription near the door tells us, "Magister Cosmatus fecit hoc opus."
Here, in the time when the Lateran palace was inhabited, the feet of twelve sub-deacons were annually washed by the pope on Holy Thursday. On the Feast of the Assumption the sacred picture used to be borne in triumph through the city, halting in the Forum, where the feet of the pope were washed in perfumed waters on the steps of Sta. Maria Nuova, and the "Kyrie Eleison" was chaunted a hundred times. This custom was abolished by Pius V. in 1566.
The Modern Palace of the Lateran was built from designs of Fontana by Sixtus V. In 1693 Innocent XII. turned it into a hospital,—in 1438 Gregory XVI. appropriated it as a museum. The entrance faces the obelisk in the Piazza di San Giovanni. The palace is always shown, but the terrible cold which pervades it makes it a dangerous place except in the late spring months, and a visit to it is often productive of fever.
The ground floor is the principal receptacle for antiquities, found at Rome within the last few years. It contains a number of very beautiful sarcophagi and bas-reliefs.
Entering under the corridor on the right, the most remarkable objects are:—
1st Room.—