How is one able to begin describing the greatest church in all Christendom? The sheer enormity of its scale and detail would easily fill a hundred pages or more, not to mention its ancient and venerable history as the seat of the Apostle’s successor. With such considerations in mind, it seems doubtful to attempt a sketch of Rome’s highest boast. Even so, I shall try my hand at it, although in such a way that it presents to the imagination those features deemed pertinent to an understanding of the basilica as a whole. They include structure, sculpture, and embellishment.
Saint Peter was crucified upside down, and it follows that the church dedicated to his name should have the same form as the instrument of martyrdom. The crossing of the long vaulted nave and transept–following the traditional circular arch of Roman architecture–marks the spot of St. Peter’s tomb and the current high altar. The pendentives of the intersection support a fenestrated drum, which in turn support a oglival dome that rivals the Pantheon’s in circumference. This dome unlike the Pantheon’s is suspended over the earth and not fused to it. This signifies both the otherness of God and the inability of man to gain salvation except through grace. The piers supporting the superstructure of the dome and nave vault double as an ambulatory leading to the apse, freeing the space between for nearly twenty side altars, including two enclosed chapels. The apse is actually behind the high altar itself, which in turn occupies the space directly over Saint Peter’s tomb, a sort of deck that rises over the recessio holding the Apostle’s relics. The apse, along with the windows in the dome and interspersed along the length of the nave lets in the natural lighting typical of all Roman churches. The effect of such lighting is further accentuated by the use of sculpture that takes advantage of the interplay between light and shadow: chiaroscuro.
The great piers of the nave and transept have many niches in them, and all these are filled with the figures of the Church Triumphant; huge marble sculptures of the Saints and Popes reminding one of the seriousness and greatness of the Catholic Faith, while at the same time providing examples to imitate. These statues are nearly all Baroque in style, with dramatic gestures, clear use of contrapposto, and deep folds of carving that bring out the use of shadow. Their scale is overwhelming, but because of the harmonious proportions of the church this effect is lessened. The four huge statues adorning the four central piers are only gigantic when one is directly below them, and the same is true for the sculpture in the apse.
The latter is a masterpiece of Bernini, whose genius in designing and completing Saint Peter’s outdid even Michaelangelo’s design. It depicts the entry of the Holy Ghost over the Chair of Peter, employing the method of bel composto to create its total effect. The amber stained glass of the apse erupts into bronze rays as the white dove signifying a new Pentecost flies over a suspended throne, while beneath the four Doctors of the Western Church–Saints Jerome, Gregory, Ambrose, and Augustine–gesture upward in awe. No one could fail to be impressed by this work, and it holds huge theological implications for the power and office of the Pope: the Vicar of Christ on Earth granted infallibility, the successor of the Apostle who was given the Keys of Heaven. The theme of Divinely granted authority is also found in the embellishment of the basilica, especially in the gold-bordered letters running along the length of the whole structure. These read in Latin and Greek the words of Christ: “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church”. The glory of the Apostolic office is given fitting expression a tangible way through beauty; but it is a grand and triumphant beauty, in keeping with the gravity of the office of ruling the Church of Christ on earth. Thus the embellishment of Saint Peter’s is expressed in marble and bronze, with Corinthian piers and the solemn, stable Roman arch. The whole ceiling is deeply coffered, while in the pendentives supporting the dome the Four Evangelists are seen immediately below figures of the popes, the saints, the Apostles, and Our Lady that adorn its interior. All these figures, as well as the great paneled scenes behind the many side altars are rendered in mosaic.
Unlike the side altars set against the interior walls of the basilica, the high altar is freestanding. It is located, as has ben stated, directly at the crossing of the nave and transept over the tomb of Saint Peter. Impressive for its size, the high altar is made even more grand by the great bronze baldacchino of Bernini. This huge edifice employs twisting columns which support a suspended canopy that culminate in the familiar sphere and cross that also can be seen surmounting the basilica’s dome. The serpentine columns are blackened bronze with gold inlay, and contain the same passionate Baroque splendor of the basilica’s sculpture.
The beautifully complementary proportions and embellishment of Saint Peter’s creates the illusion that it seems smaller than it truly is. In fact, the basilica is very much like the one in whose honor it was built and whose successor holds the same office today; for as soon as one begins to closely examine the scale of either, he quickly becomes overwhelmed by the immensity of what he finds.
Amore Antiqui Ritus 