illuminations on Easter Sunday and at the festival of St. Peter (June 29) are magnificent. All parts of the edifice up to the summit of the cross are then lighted up at dusk with 5900 lanterns of white paper; and at 8 o'clock P. M. on Easter, and an hour later on St. Peter's day, 900 lamps (iron cups filled with tallow and turpentine) are instantaneously lighted, when from these 6800 blazing centers the light streams forth so brilliantly upon the surrounding darkness that the whole seems a vision of glory. "The wonder, the beauty, of that great glowing temple of fiery jewels," says an eye-witness, "no words can tell."

the practice of being borne in chairs. This was done by means of rings placed at their sides, through which poles were passed; and thus the chair was carried by slaves upon their shoulders. At each side of St. Peter's chair are two rings, manifestly intended for this purpose. Thus, while the workmanship of this venerable relic necessarily refers its date to an early period of the Roman empire, this peculiarity fixes it at a period not earlier than the reign of Claudius, in which St. Peter arrived at Rome."

"

Cardinal Wiseman, whose essay furnishes the engraving here copied, also adduces as confirmatory of the Roman Catholic tradition passages from ancient ecclesiastical writers, especially from Ennodius of Pavia A.D. 503—the festival on the 18th of January, in honor of the chair—and the “demonstrated fact, that the early Christians, well knowing that an idol is nothing,' made no scruple of turning to pious uses, and employing in the worship of the church, objects adorned with the symbols of idolatry." He also claims that Lady Morgan's story originated thus: The stone chair, called by the vulgar 'the chair of St. Peter,' and long kept in the old patriarchal church of St. Peter at Venice as having been used by Peter at Antioch, has on it an Arabic inscription composed of several verses from the Koran in the Cufic character; this chair has been confounded by some blundering or malicious person with the ivory throne of the Vatican basilic, which is the chair used by St. Peter at Rome, according to the Roman Catholic tradition.

It should be added, that this tradition is universally discredited by Protestants, because it cannot be proved that St. Peter either founded the church at Rome or was ever the bishop there (see Chapter III.); because he can not rationally be supposed to have transgressed, by possessing or occupying such a chair, the Savior's express command in Mat. 20: 25-27; because neither could Christians, nor would Pagans, have preserved such a chair through the terrible persecutions that followed; because it would have been as easy, after the custom of honoring relics arose in the 4th century, see Chapter XV.), to introduce such a chair as anything else to a position of popular veneration; and because there is good reason to believe, from what has been said by Tillemont, a Roman Catholic historian, by Dr. De Sanctis, who was long familiar with matters at Rome, and by others, that different chairs have had the honor of representing the chair of St. Peter (see Chapter XXVI.).

But St. Peter's is by no means the only one among the 365 churches of modern Rome that is deserving of special notice. The basilica of St. John Lateran (Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano), in the S. E. part of the city, is in some important respects the first of the Roman churches. The title Lateran, or in Laterano, is derived from the former owner of the site, Plautius Lateranus, who was put to death by Nero. On this Lateran estate, years afterwards, stood an imperial palace, to which Constantine annexed a church or chapel. The palace was the residence of the bishop of Rome from Constantine's day down to the fourteenth century; and the church, enlarged at different times, became, as it is now, the pope's episcopal church. Its ecclesiastics take precedence over those of St. Peter's. In this church the popes for many centuries have been crowned. Here many councils have been held, five of them general. The inscription over the door styles this "the Mother and Head of all the churches of the city and of the world." The old edifice was nearly destroyed by fire in 1308; but it was restored by Clement V., and has since been enlarged and remodeled. Its splendid front, from one of the balconies of which the pope gives his benediction to the people on Ascension day, its rich carved and gilt ceiling, its pillars and statues, paintings and bronzes, medallions and other ornaments, give to this basilica a magnificent and imposing character. One of its great attractions is "the Holy Stairs," consisting of 28 marble steps, traditionally declared to have belonged to Pilate's house, and to have been sanctified by being ascended and descended by our Savior at the time of his passion; now kept under a portico on the north side of the basilica, preserved from further wear by being covered over with planks, and allowed to be ascended by penitents only on their knees. When Martin Luther was humbly creeping up these stairs, he thought he heard a voice of thunder in his heart, crying, "The just shall live by faith;" and in amazement and shame he rose from his knces, and fled from the place.

The basilica of St. Mary Major (Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore), also called the Liberian basilica from its founder, and situated on the summit of the Esquiline hill, is said to have been founded in A. D. 352 by Pope Liberius and John, a Roman patrician, on the spot covered by a miraculous fall of snow in August. It has been enlarged, restored, and embellished by various popes. It is called St. Mary Major from its being the principal of more than 20 Roman churches dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It has two façades, from a balcony in the principal of which the pope pronounces his benediction on the Festival of the Assumption. The interior of this basilica is richly decorated and considered one of the finest in the world. The nave is 280 feet long by about 60 wide; the roof is flat, paneled, elaborately carved, and gilt with the first gold brought to Spain from South America and presented by Ferdinand and Isabella to Pope Alexander VI. The gorgeous chapel in the right aisle, built by Pope Sixtus V., and styled the Sixtine chapel or chapel of the Holy Sacrament, is magnificently adorned, and has in its center the smaller chapel of the Præsepe (manger, or crib), where is preserved the sacred crib or cradle, consisting of five boards of the manger in which the infant Jesus is said to have been deposited at his birth, inclosed in an urn of silver and crystal with a fine gilt figure of the child on the top. This crib forms the subject of a solemn ceremony and procession on Christmas eve.

The basilica of St. Paul (Basilica di San Paolo), or Ostian basilica, situated outside of the wall of Rome, about a mile and a quarter south of St. Paul's gate on the road to Ostia, also traces back its origin to the emperor Constantine; but was rebuilt in the latter part of the 4th century; restored in the 8th century; burnt July 16, 1823; subsequently rebuilt, and dedicated by Pius IX. in December, 1854. It is the most gorgeous and costly of all the basilicas. It has 80 magnificent Corinthian columns of granite, with capitals of white marble, between the nave and the aisles. The edifice is grandly rich in its carved wood-work and gilding, its alabaster and marble,

its pictures, statues, altars, &c. Here are, among other elaborate works, frescoes representing the principal events in St. Paul's life, and portraits of the popes in mosaic. Here is the traditional burial-place of St. Paul, whose body is said to have been removed here from the Vatican in A. D. 251.

The last of the five great basilicas of Rome is that of San Lorenzo (St. Lawrence), about a mile east of the basilica of St. Mary Major, half a mile beyond the city wall, and near the public cemetery. This also is said to have been founded by the emperor Constantine, and subsequently enlarged. It was partly rebuilt in A. D. 578; and in 1216 a new nave and vestibule-portico were added at the west end, the old entrance having been at the east. In 1217, Peter de Courtenay, Count of Auxerre, was crowned here as emperor of the East on his way to Constantinople, which had been taken by the crusaders; but he never reached his destination, though his sons Robert and Baldwin were afterwards Latin emperors at Constantinople.

Besides these five great basilicas, there are eight lesser basilicas, one of the most remarkable of which is the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (= Holy Cross in Jerusalem), or Sessorian basilica, on the site of the ancient Sessorian palace, and near the southeast extremity of the modern city. Its name is derived from the portion (one-third) of the true cross of our Savior said to have been deposited in it by the empress Helena, mother of its founder Constantine, and from the earth from Jerusalem brought hither and mixed with the foundations. Frequent alterations and restorations have been made, and its present form of about a century's age is due to pope Benedict XIV. Here formerly took place the consecration of the golden rose, which was sent every year by the popes to sovereign princes. Here, too, are large collections of relics. Under this basilica is the chapel of St. Helena, which ladies are forbidden, on pain of excommunication, to enter, except on the 20th of March, the anniversary of its dedication.

The basilica of Santa Agnese fuori le Mura (= St. Agnes beyond the walls), situated about two miles northeast of the

Quirinal palace, and founded in A.D. 324 by Constantine, is remarkable for preserving its ancient form and arrangement unchanged, and for the celebration here, on the 21st of January, of the festival of St. Agnes, when two lambs are blessed by the pope, to be afterwards reared by the nuns of a convent in Rome for their wool, of which is made the sacred palls worn by the pope and other great dignitaries of the Roman Catholic church.

Rome has 54 parish churches, most of which, as well as of the great multitude attached to monasteries, &c., would elsewhere be considered remarkable for their architectural and decorative splendor. Only a few of these can be briefly noticed here.

The church of Sant' Andrea della Valle (St. Andrew of the Valley), built in 1591, and lying in the valley southwest of the Pantheon, is one of the best specimens of modern church architecture. Its frescoes are celebrated, and its cupola is

beautiful.

The church Ara Coeli (= altar of heaven), or Santa Maria di Ara Cæli, occupying the site of the ancient temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, on the Capitoline hill, near the modern Capitol, is probably as old as the 4th century; but is specially venerated by the Romans on account of the Santissimo Bambino, or most holy baby, a figure of the infant Savior, which is reputed to have miraculous powers in curing the sick, and whose festival, attended by crowds of Italian peasantry, takes place from Christmas day to the Epiphany.

The church Il Gesu (= the Jesus), one of the richest and most gorgeous in Rome, belonged to the Jesuits. It was founded in 1575, and is situated about midway between the Capitol and the Pantheon. Here the body of St. Ignatius, the founder of the order, is preserved in a splendid urn of gilt bronze, adorned with precious stones, &c. Annexed to the church is an extensive building, which was, during their existence in Rome, the headquarters of the Jesuits, and the residence of their general.

The church of Santa Maria degli Angeli (= St. Mary of the