Walks in Rome

by Augustus J. C. Hare

The Sacristy of St. Peter's, which is entered by a grey marble door on the left, before turning into the south transept, was built by Pius VI., in 1755, from designs of Carlo Marchione. It consists of three halls, with a corridor adorned with columns and inscriptions from the old church, and with statues of SS. Peter and Paul, which stood in front of it. The central hall, Sagrestia Commune, is adorned with eight fluted pillars of grey marble (bigio) from Hadrian's Villa. On the left is the Sagrestia dei Canonici, with the Cappella dei Canonici, which has two pictures, the Madonna and Saints (Anna, Peter, and Paul), by Francesco Penni, and the Madonna and Child, Giulio Romano. Hence opens the Stanza Capitolare, containing an interesting remnant of the many works of Giotto in the old basilica under Boniface VIII. (for which he received 3020 gold florins), in three panel pictures belonging to the ciborium for the high altar ordered by Cardinal Stefaneschi, and representing,—Christ with that Cardinal,—the Crucifixion of St. Peter,—the Execution of St. Peter,—and on the back of the same panel, another picture, in which Cardinal Stefaneschi is offering his ciborium to St. Peter.

"The fragments which are preserved of the painting which Giotto executed for the Church of St. Peter cannot fail to make us regret its loss. The fragments are treated with a grandeur of style which has led Rumohr to suspect that the susceptible imagination of Giotto was unable to resist the impression which the ancient mosaics of the Christian basilicas must have produced upon him."—Rio. Poetry of Christian Art.

Here also are several fragments of the frescoes (of angels and apostles), by Melozzo da Forlì, which existed in the former dome of the SS. Apostoli, and of which the finest portion is now at the Quirinal Palace. On the right is the Sagrestia dei Benefiziati, which contains a picture of the Saviour giving the keys to St. Peter, by Muziano, and an image called La Madonna della Febbre, which stood in the old Sacristy. Opening hence is the Treasury of St. Peter's, containing some ancient jewels, crucifixes, and candelabra, by Benvenuto Cellini and Michael Angelo, and, among other relics, the famous sacerdotal robe called the Dalmatica di Papa San Leone, "said to have been embroidered at Constantinople for the coronation of Charlemagne as Emperor of the West, but fixed by German criticism as a production of the twelfth, or the early part of the thirteenth century. The emperors, at least, have worn it ever since, while serving as deacons at the pope's altar during their coronation-mass."

"It is a large robe of stiff brocade, falling in broad and unbroken folds in front and behind,—broad and deep enough for the Goliath-like stature and the Herculean chest of Charlemagne himself. On the breast the Saviour is represented in glory, on the back the Transfiguration, and on the two shoulders Christ administering the Eucharist to the Apostles. In each of these last compositions, our Saviour, a stiff but majestic figure, stands behind the altar, on which are deposited a chalice and a paten or basket containing crossed wafers. He gives, in the one case, the cup to St. Paul, in the other the bread to St. Peter,—they do not kneel, but bend reverently to receive it; five other disciples await their turn in each instance,—all are standing.

"I do not apprehend your being disappointed with the Dalmatica di San Leone, or your dissenting from my conclusion, that a master, a Michael-Angelo I would almost say, then flourished at Byzantium.

"It was in this Dalmatica—then semée all over with pearls and glittering in freshness—that Cola di Rienzi robed himself over his armour in the sacristy of St. Peter's and thence ascended to the Palace of the Popes, after the manner of the Cæsars, with sounding trumpets and his horsemen following him—his truncheon in his hand and his crown on his head—'terribile e fantastico,' as his biographer describes him—to wait upon the Legate."—Lord Lindsay's Christian Art, i. 137.

Above the Sacristy are the Archives of St. Peter's, containing, among many other ancient MSS., a life of St. George, with miniatures, by Giotto. The entrance to the Archivio, at the end of the corridor, is adorned with fragments of the chains of the ports of Smyrna and Tunis. Here, also, is a statue of Pius VI., by Agostino Penna.

It is quite worth while to leave St. Peter's by the Porta Sta. Marta beneath the tomb of Alexander VII., in order to examine the exterior of the church from behind, where it completely dwarfs all the surrounding buildings. Among these are the Church of S. Stefano, with a fine door composed of antique fragments, and the dismal Church of Sta. Marta, which contains several of the Roman weights known as "Pietra di Paragone," said to have been used in the martyrdoms. Beyond the Sacristy is the pretty little Cimeterio dei Tedeschi, the oldest of Christian burial-grounds, said to have been set apart by Constantine, and filled with earth from Calvary. It was granted to the Germans in 1779, by Pius VI. Close by is the Church of Sta. Maria della Pietà in Campo Santo.

Not far from hence (in a street behind the nearest colonnade) is the Palazzo del Santo Uffizio—or of the Inquisition. This body, for some time past, suppressed everywhere except in the States of the Pope, was established here in 1536 by Paul III., acting on the advice of Cardinal Caraffa, afterwards Paul IV., for inquiry into cases of heresy, and the punishment of ecclesiastical offences. It was by the authority of the "Holy Office" that the "Index" of prohibited books was first drawn up. Paul IV., on his deathbed, summoned the cardinals to his side, and recommended to them this "Santissimo Tribunale," as he called it, and succeeding popes have protected and encouraged it. The character of the Inquisition has been much changed from that which it bore three hundred years ago; but even in late years, many cases of extreme severity have been reported,—especially one of a French bishop cruelly imprisoned for sixteen years in one of its dungeons (merely because he had received his consecration from a French constitutional prelate), and who was only released when its doors were opened in the revolution of 1848.

"Within these walls has been confined for many years a very extraordinary person—the archbishop of Memphis.... Pope Leo XII. received a letter from the Pacha of Egypt informing his Holiness, that he and a large portion of his subjects desired to be received into the bosom of the Church of Rome; and announcing that he and they were willing to conform, provided the pope would send out an archbishop, with a suitable train of ecclesiastics, and requesting that his Holiness would do him the favour of appointing a certain young student whom he named, the first archbishop of Memphis, and despatch him to Egypt. No doubt was entertained as to the truth of this communication, but an objection presented itself in the youth of the ecclesiastical student whom the Pacha wished to have as his archbishop. The pope consulted his cardinals, who advised him not to make the dangerous precedent of raising a novice to so high a rank in the Church, but his Holiness, tempted by the desire of converting a kingdom to Christianity, resolved to conform to the wishes of the Pacha, and did consecrate the youth archbishop of Memphis. The archbishop was sent out attended by a train of priests to Egypt. When the ship arrived, the authorities in Egypt declared the affair was an imposition. His Grace confessed the fraud, was arrested, and reconducted to Rome. He was the author of the letter which imposed on the pope—his original intention having been to confess to the pope as a priest, after his consecration, the imposition he had practised; and as the pope could not betray a secret imparted to him at the confessional, the offender might have obtained absolution, and escaped punishment. Whether this would have been practicable I know not; but it was not accomplished, and as the youth had the rank of archbishop indelibly imprinted on him, nothing remained but to confine his Grace for the remainder of his life; and accordingly he was confined to this prison near the Vatican, whence he may find it difficult to escape."—Whiteside's Italy, 1860.