The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-08-25
Continued from page ID
The Residence of the Pope

tian pilgrims and the Chdrcn's clergy
from all parts to pray at st. Peters
tomb and to do homage and to main
tain communion with st. Peters sue
cessor Hither came Pepin, King of
the Franks, to lay at St. Peters feet
the gift of further temporal power;
and hither, too, came Pepins greater
son, Charlemagne, to devote his genius
and his power to the support of the
Roman Pontiff and the Universal
Church.
On Christmas Day in the year 500,
Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne
Emperor of the West in ST. Peters
Basilica. There is in the present st.
Peters a large, circular slab of red
porphyry set into the pavement just
within the main entrance of the BASIL
lea. This slab was taken from the old
basilica and is the one upon which
| Charlemagne knelt for his coronation,
and where, also, the succeeding en-
perors were crowned by the Roman
Pontiff.
! The coronation of Charlemagne was
the beginning of the Holy Roman En-
pire, that august system of government
under the combined influence of Pope
and emperor which continued through
out the Middle Ages. 1t was not an
empire in any absolutistic sense, but
rather a great Christian republic, an
attempt to realize the dream of COM
| monwealth of mankind. 1t did not
aim at the destruction of local liber-
ties, but rather it sought to unite all
Christian peoples in the recognition of
one international law, to give to civil
society unity suggested by that re-
ligious unity which the Roman Pontiff
gave to society in the common bond of
| Christian Faith. ut was beautiful
and ennobling vision, this medieval
ideal, which dreamed of the Caesar and
the Apostle seated side by side, the
| two great powers working in harmony
to carry out Gods Will upon earth. y
When we recall the role of medieval
Rome, which was conceived as the cap
ital of the medieval Christian empire,
the place of imperial coronation, we
can not but regret that the monuments
of that age have been so largely super
seeded by those of the Renaissance.
The grandeur of the present st. Peters
is viewed with sense of regret for
the loss of the old historic basilica.
The crypt, indeed, of the new st.
/ Peters is filed with reminders of the
old and of medieval days. The Lat
eran is ever memorable for it's medic
val general councils. The Castle of
St Angelo, a relic of ancient pagan
days, speaks eloquently of the Middle
Ages, as do also the Churches of Santa
Maria in Cosmedin, the Franciscan
Santa Maria in Ara Coe1i, and the
Dominican Santa Maria sopra Minerva.
At the end of the Middle Ages the
residence of the Popes in Rome was
interrupted by their sojourn for seven
ty years in Avignon. Then came the
woeful thirty years of the great
schism. When the Council of Con
stance restored the unity of the
Church, and Pope Martin V. took up
his residence in Rome, the new era OF
the Renaissance had begun.
Great as was the medieval papacy,
Igreat also was the papacy of the Re
Nuisance. Under the patronage of
the Popes, Rome of the Renaissance
became the worlds chief center of sci
ence, letters and the arts, and was her
self embellished with those works of
beauty which she holds today as the
priceless heritage of the world. The
names of Popes Nicholas v, Plus II,
Sixtus ", julius II and Leo x are
splendid with the fullest 1uster of the
Renaissance.
And yet it is not Rome's glory that
she is beautiful. Rome possesses her
beauty in calm, unconscious way, as
something that is no more than fit
ting tribute to her greatness. For
Rome is great beyond comparison;
Rome is the Eternal City. The ancient
Romans deified their city as the mis-
tress of the world. Christian Rome
has a far greater dignity, for she is the
city of God, as she is the capital OF
Christ's Vicar on earth. She is built
about the tomb of st. Peter, to whom
the Divine Lord promised, "Thou art
Peter. and upon this rock / shall build
my church and the gates of hell shall
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