The Irish standard., 1903-04-11

Rome, commonly called 1.-THE Lat
eran," is considered next to st. Peters
cathedral in interest. The papal cor
onation is held there, with other i'm
portant ceremonies, and it is the
church of the pope us bishop Of Rome.
He takes his title from this church,
which gives it precedence over all
others. The bishop of Rome being al
SO the papa. pope or father of the
Roman Catholic Church, entities the
Laterun to be called "rhe mother and
head Of the churches OF the city and
OF the world"
The situation is more imposing than
that Of st. Peters, and there is IL mag
nificcnt view Of the portico. The
first church Oh this site was erected
by Constantine in the fourth century,
and took the name Of Lateran because
the ground was formerly occupied by
the palace of Plautus Lateranus, n
senator of the time of Nero, who met
his death at the hand of that tyrant.
After an existence of nearly thou
sand years it was badly injured by
fire in 1903. 1t was rebuilt in splen-
did style by Clement V. iii the four
tcenth century, and has been embel-
lishcd by his successors.
The facade was built by Clement
XII. from designs by Galilei. 1t con-
sists of ten great columns and pilas-
tcrs, supporting Il massive entnblature
and Dnlustrade, on which stand colos-
sal statues Of Jesus and the saints.
This facade is built Of travertine, a
pctrifaction foriiea.~Dy the action Of
lime and sulphur OH vegetable decay.
1t is white when first eXcavatcd, but
becomes yellow by exposure.
Between the columns and pilastcrs
are balconies, beneath which are the
entrances to the great loggiato, or
portico built by Sixtus V. This por-
tico is 0rnamcnted with twcnty four
pilastcrs, and in it is an immense stat
ue of Constantine. The interior of
the church is grand. 1t is divided in
to n nave ana four aislcs by rows of
pilastcrs. Between the pilastcrs are
inches, ornamentcd by verd-antique
columns, in which are statues of the
apostles. There are numerous cllapels,
all elegantly decorated with mosnics,
paintings and stntuary. The richest
of these is the Corsini, the walls of
which are of the finest MARBLE pro-
fuscly inlaid with precious stones.
This one room, which is not large, is
said to have cost upward Of S2,OO0,O0O.
In it is a porphyry sarcophagus con-
tanning the body of Clement XII, by
whose orders the chapel was built.
The beautiful bronze doors ut the
main entrance once hung in the an
cicnt senate house in the forum. The
bronze columns at the altar of the
holy sacrament in the left transcpt
were formerly in the temple Of Jupiter
Captolinus and were made by Angus
tus from the rostra, or beaks Of the
gallcys of the fleet of Mark Antony
and Cleopatra, captured at the battle
of Actium, to which Virgil alluded
in his third George: "Navali sur
gcntcs acre columnae"-Verse 20.
Several of the popcs are buried here.
Beneath the hight altar are pre-
served the heads Of st. Peter and st.
Paul, and within the altar is wood
en- table upon which st. Peter is said
to have celebrated mass in the house
of Senator Pudens, where st. Paul
lodged from A. D. 41 to so. Within
the altar of the holy sacrament is
kept table Of cedar wood, on which
was laid out the Last Supper, the
evening before the Cruciiixion.
The pictures are mostly by the old
masters, and some Of them, by such
artists us Botticello, Perugino, Domen-
1chinO, Andrea del SarfO and Vandyck,
are very good.
Across the piazza is the Scala Sane
ia, or the Holy Stairs, one Of the most
interesting objects in Rome. The
building in which the stairway stands
was erected after the earthquake Of