The four huge piers which support the dome are used as shrines for the four great relics of the church, viz., 1. The lance of S. Longinus, the soldier who pierced the side of our Saviour, presented to Innocent VIII., by Pierre d'Aubusson, grandmaster of the Knights of Rhodes, who had received it from the Sultan Bajazet;[332] 2. The head of St. Andrew, said to have been brought from Achaia in 1460, when its arrival was celebrated by Pius II.; 3. A portion of the true cross, brought by Sta. Helena; 4. The napkin of Sta. Veronica, said, doubtless from the affinity of names, to bear the impression—vera-icon—of our Saviour's face.
"The 'Volto-Santo,' said to be the impress of the countenance of our Saviour on the handkerchief of Sta. Veronica, or Berenice, which wiped his brow on the way to Calvary, was placed in the Vatican by John VII., in 707, and afterwards transferred to the Church of Santo Spirito, where six Roman noblemen had the care of it, each taking charge of one of the keys with which it was locked up. Among the privileges enjoyed for this office, was that of receiving, every year, from the hospital of Santo Spirito at the feast of Pentecost, two cows, whose flesh, an ancient chronicle says, 'si mangiavano lì, con gran festa.' In 1440, this picture was carried back to St. Peter's, whence it has not since been moved. When I examined the head on the Veronica handkerchief, it struck me as undoubtedly a work of early Byzantine art, perhaps of the seventh or eighth century, painted on linen. It is with implicit acceptance of its claims that Petrarch alludes to it—'verendam populis Salvatoris Imaginem.' Ep. ix., lib. 2. During the republican domination in 1849, it was rumoured that about Easter, the canons of St. Peter saw the Volto-Santo turn pale, and ominously change colour while they gazed upon it."—Hemans' Catholic Italy, vol. i.
The ceremony of exhibiting the relics from the balcony above the statue of Sta. Veronica takes place on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Day, but the height is so great that nothing can really be distinguished.
"To-day we gazed on the Veronica—the holy impression left by our Saviour's face on the cloth Sta. Veronica presented to him to wipe his brow, bowed under the weight of the Cross. We had looked forward to this sight for days, for seven thousand years of indulgence from penance are attached to it.
"But when the moment came we could see nothing but a black board hung with a cloth, before which another white cloth was held. In a few minutes this was withdrawn, and the great moment was over, the glimpse of the sacred thing on which hung the fate of seven thousand years."—Schönberg-Cotta Chronicles.
The niches in the piers are occupied by four statues, of Longinus, St. Andrew, Sta. Helena, and Sta. Veronica, holding the napkin or "sudarium," "flourishing a marble pocket-handkerchief."[333]
"Malheureusement toutes ces statues pèchent par le goût. Le rococo, mis à la mode par le Bernin, est surtout exécrable dans le genre colossale. Mais la présence du génie de Bramante et de Michel-Ange se fait tellement sentir, que les choses ridicules ne le sont plus ici; elles ne sont qu' insignifiantes. Les statues colossales des piliers représentent: St. André, par François Quesnoy (Fiammingo), elle excita la jalousie du Bernin; St. Veronique par M. Mochi, dont il blamait les draperies volantes (dans un endroit clos). Un plaisant lui répondait que leur agitation provenait du vent qui soufflait par les crevasses de la coupole, depuis qu'il avait affaibli les piliers par des niches et tribunes: St. Hélène par A. Bolgi, St. Longin par Bernin."—A. Du Pays.
Not very far from the confessional, against the last pier on the right of the nave, stands the statue of St. Peter, said to have been cast by Leo the Great, from the old statue of Jupiter Capitolinus. It is of very rude workmanship. Its extended foot is eagerly kissed by Roman Catholic devotees, who then rub their foreheads against its toes. Protestants wonder at the feeling which this figure excites. Gregory II. wrote of it to Leo the Isaurian: "Christ is my witness, that when I enter the temple of the prince of the Apostles, and contemplate his image, I am filled with such emotion, that tears roll down my cheeks like the rain from heaven." On high festivals the statue is dressed up in full pontificals. On the day of the jubilee of Pius IX. (June 16, 1871), it was attired in a lace alb, stole, and gold-embroidered cope, fastened at the breast by a clasp of diamonds; and its foot was kissed by upwards of 20,000 persons during the day.
"La coutume antique chez les Grecs d'habiller et de parer les statues sacrées s'était conservée à Rome et s'y conserve encore. Tout le monde a vu la statue de saint Pierre revêtir dans les grandes solennités ses magnifiques habits de pape. On lavait les statues des dieux, on les frottait, on les frisait comme des poupées. Les divinités du Capitole avaient un nombreux domestique attaché à leur personne et qui était chargé de ce soin. L'usage romain a subsisté chez les populations latines de l'Espagne et elles l'ont porté jusqu'au Mexique où j'ai vu, à Puebla, la veille d'une fête, une femme de chambre faire une toilette en règle à une statue de la Vierge."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iv. 91.
Along the piers of the nave and transepts are ranged statues of the different Founders, male and female, of religious Orders.