I visited St. Peter's, that most stupendous and incomparable Basilica, far surpassing any now extant in the world, and perhaps, Solomon's Temple excepted, any that was ever built. The largeness of the piazza before the portico is worth observing, because it affords a noble prospect of the church, not crowded up, as for the most part is the case in other places where great churches are erected. In this is a fountain, out of which gushes a river rather than a stream which, ascending a good height, breaks upon a round emboss of marble into millions of pearls that fall into the subjacent basins with great noise; I esteem this one of the goodliest fountains I ever saw.[Pg 117]
Next is the obelisk transported out of Egypt, and dedicated by Octavius Augustus to Julius Cæsar, whose ashes it formerly bore on the summit; but, being since overturned by the barbarians, was re-erected with vast cost and a most stupendous invention by Domenico Fontana, architect to Sextus V. The obelisk consists of one entire square stone without hieroglyphics, in height seventy-two feet, but comprehending the base and all it is 108 feet high, and rests on four lions of gilded copper, so as you may see through the base of the obelisk and plinth of the pedestal.
Upon two faces of the obelisk is engraven
DIVO CAES. DIVI
IVLII F. AVGVSTO
TI. CAES. DIVI AVG.
F. AVGVS. SACRVM.
It now bears on the top a cross in which it is said that Sextus V. inclosed some of the holy wood; and under it is to be read by good eyes:
SANCTISSIMAE CRVCI
SEXTVS V. PONT. MAX.
CONSECRAVIT.
E. PRIORE SEDE AVVLSVM
ET CAESS. AVG. AC TIB.
I. L. ABLATUM M.D.LXXXVI.
On the four faces of the base below:
1. CHRISTVS VINCIT.
CHRISTVS REGNAT.
CHRISTVS IMPERAT.
CHRISTVS AB OMNI MALO
PLEBEM SVAM DEFENDAT.
2. SEXTVS V. PONT. MAX.
OBELISCVM VATICANVM DIIS GENTIVM
IMPIO CVLTV DICATVM
AD APOSTOLORVM LIMINA
OPEROSO LABORE TRANSTVLIT
AN. M.D.LXXXVI. PONT. II.
3. ECCE CRVX DOMINI
FVGITE PARTES
ADVERSAE
VINCIT LEO
DE TRIBV IVDA.
4. SEXTVS V. PONT. MAX.
CRVCI INVICTAE
OBELISCVM VATICANVM
AB IMPIA SVPERSTITIONE
EXPIATVM IVSTIVS
ET FELICITVS CONSECRAVIT
AN. M.D.L.XXXVI. PONT. II.
A little lower:
DOMINICVS FONTANA EX PAGO MILIAGRI NOVOCOMENSIS
TRANSTVLIT ET EREXIT.
It is reported to have taken a year in erecting, to have cost 37,975 crowns, the labor of 907 men, and 75 horses: this being the first of the four Egyptian obelisks set up at Rome, and one of the forty-two brought to the city out of Egypt, set up in several places, but thrown down by the Goths, Barbarians, and earthquakes. Some coaches stood before the steps of the ascent, whereof one, belonging to Cardinal Medici, had all the metal work of massy silver, viz, the bow behind and other places. The coaches at Rome, as well as covered wagons also much in use, are generally the richest and largest I ever saw. Before the facciata of the church is an ample pavement. The church was first begun by St. Anacletus, when rather a chapel, on a foundation, as they give out, of Constantine the Great, who, in honor of the Apostles, carried twelve baskets full of sand to the work. After him, Julius II. took it in hand, to which all his successors have contributed more or less.
The front is supposed to be the largest and best-studied piece of architecture in the world; to this we went up by four steps of marble. The first entrance is supported by huge pilasters; the volto within is the richest possible, and overlaid with gold. Between the five large anti-ports are columns of enormous height and compass, with as many gates of brass, the work and[Pg 119] sculpture of Pollaivola, the Florentine, full of cast figures and histories in a deep relievo. Over this runs a terrace of like amplitude and ornament, where the Pope, at solemn times, bestows his Benediction on the vulgar. On each side of this portico are two campaniles, or towers, whereof there was but one perfected, of admirable art. On the top of all, runs a balustrade which edges it quite round, and upon this at equal distances are Christ and the twelve Disciples of gigantic size and stature, yet below showing no greater than the life. Entering the church, admirable is the breadth of the volto, or roof, which is all carved with foliage and roses overlaid with gold in nature of a deep basso-relievo, à l'antique. The nave, or body, is in form of a cross, whereof the foot-part is the longest; and, at the internodium of the transept, rises the cupola, which being all of stone and of prodigious height is more in compass than that of the Pantheon (which was the largest among the old Romans, and is yet entire) or any other known. The inside, or concave, is covered with most exquisite Mosaic, representing the Celestial Hierarchy, by Giuseppe d'Arpino, full of stars of gold; the convex, or outside, exposed to the air, is covered with lead, with great ribs of metal double gilt (as are also the ten other lesser cupolas, for no fewer adorn this glorious structure), which gives a great and admirable splendor in all parts of the city. On the summit of this is fixed a brazen globe gilt, capable of receiving thirty-five persons. This I entered, and engraved my name among other travelers. Lastly, is the Cross, the access to which is between the leaden covering and the stone convex, or arch-work; a most truly astonishing piece of art! On the battlements of the church, also all overlaid with lead and marble, you would imagine yourself in a town, so many are the cupolas, pinnacles, towers, juttings, and not a few houses inhabited by men who dwell there, and have enough to do to look after the vast reparations which continually employ them.
Having seen this, we descended into the body of the church, full of collateral chapels and large oratories, most of them exceeding the size of ordinary churches; but the principal are four incrusted with most precious marbles and stones of various colors, adorned with an infinity of[Pg 120] statues, pictures, stately altars, and innumerable relics. The altar-piece of St. Michael being of Mosaic, I could not pass without particular note, as one of the best of that kind. The chapel of Gregory XIII., where he is buried, is most splendid. Under the cupola, and in the center of the church, stands the high altar, consecrated first by Clement VIII., adorned by Paul V., and lately covered by Pope Urban VIII.; with that stupendous canopy of Corinthian brass, which heretofore was brought from the Pantheon; it consists of four wreathed columns, partly channelled and encircled with vines, on which hang little puti birds and bees (the arms of the Barberini), sustaining a baldacchino of the same metal. The four columns weigh an hundred and ten thousand pounds, all over richly gilt; this, with the pedestals, crown, and statues about it, form a thing of that art, vastness, and magnificence, as is beyond all that man's industry has produced of the kind; it is the work of Bernini, a Florentine sculptor, architect, painter, and poet, who, a little before my coming to the city, gave a public opera (for so they call shows of that kind), wherein he painted the scenes, cut the statues, invented the engines, composed the music, writ the comedy, and built the theater. Opposite to either of these pillars, under those niches which, with their columns, support the weighty cupola, are placed four exquisite statues of Parian marble, to which are four altars; that of St. Veronica, made by Fra. Mochi, has over it the reliquary, where they showed us the miraculous Sudarium indued with the picture of our Savior's face, with this inscription: "Salvatoris imaginem Veronicæ Sudario exceptam ut loci majestas decentèr custodiret, Urbanus VIII. Pont. Max. Marmoreum signum et Altare addidit, Conditorium extruxit et ornavit."
Right against this is that of Longinus, of a Colossean magnitude, also by Bernini, and over him the conservatory of the iron lance inserted in a most precious crystal, with this epigraph: "Longini Lanceam quam Innocentius VIII. à Bajazete Turcarum Tyranno accepit, Urbanus VIII. statuâ appositâ, et Sacello substructo, in exornatum Conditorium transtulit."
The third chapel has over the altar the statue of our countrywoman, St. Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great; the work of Boggi, an excellent sculptor; and here[Pg 121] is preserved a great piece of the pretended wood of the holy cross, which she is said to have first detected miraculously in the Holy Land. It was placed here by the late Pope with this inscription: "Partem Crucis quam Helena Imperatrix è Calvario in Urbem adduxit, Urbanus VIII. Pont. Max. è Sissorianâ Basilicâ desumptam, additis arâ et statuâ, hìc in Vaticano collocavit."
The fourth hath over the altar, and opposite to that of St. Veronica, the statue of St. Andrew, the work of Fiamingo, admirable above all the other; above is preserved the head of that Apostle, richly enchased. It is said that this excellent sculptor died mad to see his statue placed in a disadvantageous light by Bernini, the chief architect, who found himself outdone by this artist. The inscription over it is this:
"St. Andreæ caput quod Pius II. ex Achaiâ in Vaticanum asportandum curavit, Urbanus VIII. novis hic ornamentis decoratum sacrisque statuæ ac Sacelli honoribus coli voluit."
The relics showed and kept in this church are without number, as are also the precious vessels of gold, silver, and gems, with the vests and services to be seen in the Sacristy, which they showed us. Under the high altar is an ample grot inlaid with pietra-commessa, wherein half of the bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul are preserved; before hang divers great lamps of the richest plate, burning continually. About this and contiguous to the altar, runs a balustrade, in form of a theater, of black marble. Toward the left, as you go out of the church by the portico, a little beneath the high altar, is an old brass statue of St. Peter sitting, under the soles of whose feet many devout persons rub their heads, and touch their chaplets. This was formerly cast from a statue of Jupiter Capitolinus. In another place, stands a column grated about with iron, whereon they report that our Blessed Savior was often wont to lean as he preached in the Temple. In the work of the reliquary under the cupola there are eight wreathed columns brought from the Temple of Solomon. In another chapel, they showed us the chair of St. Peter, or, as they name it, the Apostolical Throne. But among all the chapels the one most glorious has for an altar-piece a Madonna bearing a dead Christ on her knees, in white[Pg 122] marble, the work of Michael Angelo. At the upper end of the Cathedral, are several stately monuments, especially that of Urban VIII. Round the cupola, and in many other places in the church, are confession seats, for all languages, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian, French, English, Irish, Welsh, Sclavonian, Dutch, etc., as it is written on their friezes in golden capitals, and there are still at confessions some of all nations. Toward the lower end of the church, and on the side of a vast pillar sustaining a weighty roof, is the depositum and statue of the Countess Matilda, a rare piece, with basso-relievos about it of white marble, the work of Bernini. Here are also those of Sextus IV. and Paulus III., etc. Among the exquisite pieces in this sumptuous fabric is that of the ship with St. Peter held up from sinking by our Savior; the emblems about it are the Mosaic of the famous Giotto, who restored and made it perfect after it had been defaced by the Barbarians. Nor is the pavement under the cupola to be passed over without observation, which with the rest of the body and walls of the whole church, are all inlaid with the richest of pietra-commessa, in the most splendid colors of polished marbles, agates, serpentine, porphyry, calcedon, etc., wholly incrusted to the very roof. Coming out by the portico at which we entered, we were shown the Porta Santa, never opened but at the year of jubilee. This glorious foundation hath belonging to it thirty canons, thirty-six beneficiates, twenty-eight clerks beneficed, with innumerable chaplains, etc., a Cardinal being always archpriest; the present Cardinal was Francisco Barberini, who also styled himself Protector of the English, to whom he was indeed very courteous.