Let me try to put into a few words what pictures can’t capture. It is probably a fool’s errand, but I’ve run a few of those in my time. You’ve heard of Raphael and Michelangelo? Both worked on this project at different times as architects. It took 120 years to complete.
When you step in the front door, this is the view.
Take a hard right and you have arguably one of the most famous sculptures in the world. Rightfully so, because it is both a technical triumph and of a worthy object.
I have a thing for baptistries. The Vatican’s is quite the installation.
And then we start being overcome by the history and sanctity of this place. Saint John Paul II. Some would say John Paul the Great. I think it’s an apt accolade after reading his biography.
You quickly learn there is someone beneath every altar.
Saint John XXIII, convener of the second Vatican Council.
In the center of everything, is of course, the main altar.
Below the altar is St. Peter. THE Saint Peter. More about that next week.
The dome above the main altar has 16 sections adorned with Jesus, Mary, John the Baptist, Saint Paul, and the 12 Apostles. Yes, they are all mosaics.
On the four corners around the altar are four saints’ statues.
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They are all 16’ 6” tall. Above them, relics the represented resided at some point.
Saint Frances of Rome is prominent. Saint Peter’s has many large statues of founders of religious orders, of which Saint Frances is one (as well as my wife’s confirmation saint, as previously mentioned.)
This magnificent altar is behind the main altar.
It is really hard to get the scale of this church from photographs.
Saint Leo the great lies beneath this relief, depicting him turning back Atilla the Hun from invading Rome.
Of all the sculpture we saw, this cloth draped as part of this tomb was one of the most amazing. That you could take that much marble and make it look light, as if a breeze would disturb it, is just incredible.
137 popes are listed as buried here. That’s just over half of the 265 deceased popes. We’ll see a few more next week.
This is obviously nowhere near all that there is to see at St Peter’s. There is also the crypt (next week) and the museums.
I obviously just gave some cursory description of the photos. You could spend a lifetime writing about all this church holds and the stories that those works of art and those relics represent. I’ve walked on Omaha Beach and the fields of Waterloo. I’ve seen the Grand Canyon and the Rocky Mountains. I’ve flown over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. This is the most awe-inspiring place I have ever been. That’s as close as I can get to trying to communicate what walking this hallowed space was like.
Grace & peace,
Chris