Lenten Station Church
5th Sunday in Lent
St. Peter
(San Petri)

This is our second visit to St Peter's Basilica during the Lenten Calendar. The first occurred on Saturday of the First Week in Lent. Today we will review five of the alters and chapels in St Peter's. The Basilica of St Peter includes many chapels and altars. Many of the chapels and altars contain the bodies, remains, or relics of deceased popes. 1. The Chapel of St Sebastian is named after the altarpiece, a mosaic created by Pier Paulo Cristofari between 1730-1736. Christofari was the Director of the Vatican Mosaic Studio and was responsible for the production of many of the altarpieces in the basilica. The remains of Pope Innocent XI lie beneath the altar. 2. The Pieta is a key work of Italian Renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti located just outside the Chapel of St Sebastian. On May 21, 1972 (Pentecost Sunday), a mentally disturbed geologist, the Hungarian-born Australian Laszlo Toth, walked into the chapel and attacked the sculpture with a geologist's hammer while shouting, "I am Jesus Christ; I have risen from the dead!" The work was painstakingly restored and is now protected by a bulletproof acrylic glass panel. 3. The Altar of St Jerome is the final resting place of Pope John XXIII who died in 1963 and was beatified on September 3, 2000 by Pope John Paul II. In 2001, John XXIII’s tomb was opened so that his body could be transferred to the basilica. Witnesses reported that his body had remained incorrupt. The body, embalmed and covered in wax, can be viewed through a glass window under the Altar of St Jerome. 4. The Altar of St Gregory the Great is a marble sarcophagus containing relics of Pope Gregory I. The altarpiece is a mosaic created in 1772 by Alessandro Cocchi and Vincenzo Castellini. The mosaic shows Pope Gregory I cutting a linen cloth that had been on St. Peter’s tomb when it suddenly bled. Pope Gregory’s name is associated with the Gregorian Chants, which he promoted. 5. The Altar of the Transfiguration includes Monosilio’s mosaic copy of Raphael’s Transfiguration. The upper part of the mosaic shows the transfiguration itself while the lower part of the image shows a crowd surrounding a possessed boy. Our next and final visit to St Peter's Basilica during the Lenten Calendar will be on the Monday Within the Octave of Easter. St Peter's Basilica Exterior Views The Chapel of St Sebastian The Pieta The Altar of St Gregory the Great The Altar of the Transfiguration The Altar of St Jerome (Body of Pope John XXIII Beneath the Altar) Reference: 'Altars and Chapels in the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter' on StephenDanko.com 'St Peter's Basilica' on WikiPedia.org All Photographs are from Commons.WikiMedia.org Roman Basilicas - St Peter's E11 (1949) Transfiguration - Christ Transfigured 596 (1976) Canonization of Pope John Paul II & Pope John XXIII 1558 (2014) New York World's Fair - 'Pieta' by Michelangelo 384 (1964) Michelangelo Buonarroti 4th Century of Death - Michelangelo 387 (1964)