The Role and Impact of the Word in Post-Reformation Christian Art: St. Peter's in Rome

Abstract

Since the year of 1606, on the immense dome's retaining ring in St. Peter's in Rome, there is one of the Western world's largest inscriptions. The aesthetic impact of the colossal blue letters on a golden background is overwhelming. It is a spectacular example of colossal epigraphy in one of the Europe of those times most public places, made in the classical Roman imperial and early-Christian medium of mosaic. It is ”language in architecture”, the language being that of the Western Church, at the same time the international language of Europe in Early Modern Times, which is Latin. The inscription reads: TU ES PETRUS ET SUPER HANC PETRAM AEDIFICABO ECCLESIAM MEAM…TIBI DABO CLAVES REGNI COELI…”And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven…”The words are from the Bible, more precisely from the Gospel of St. Matthew. There, Jesus says them to Simon Peter, the elected amongst the twelve Apostles. Those are the founding words of Church and Papacy. In St. Peter's, however, they are taken out of their original context. They run around the vast dome of Michelangelo's cupola. Their new context, then, produces a new function and role, a new impact, and a new meaning: addressing Peter as if he were present, they mark his hidden tomb under the cupola. They denote the hidden body of the fisherman and Apostle from Galilea who by the middle of the first century had come to Rome from the Eastern parts of the Empire, he, Peter, the first Pope, of whom tradition said that he had been crucified here and had been buried on the Vatican hill. They denote that place under the dome where there had been the centre of an immense cult of his tomb from the second century onwards, that place which in the fourth century Constantine made the centre of a gigantic imperial basilica, even before towards the end of the century Christendom would rise to the status of state religion of the Roman Empire; that place, which Bramante made the centre of his radical new planning of New St. Peter's and which finally was crowned by Michelangelo's cupola.The words of the inscription are not only addressed to the historical Peter. Papacy is not a dynasty. From the fifth century onwards its theory follows a legal ”figura” of Roman law: Each Pope is the direct successor, that is the direct universal heir of Saint Peter. Hence, as ritual provides, at the beginning of every Papal Mass, when the Pope approaches the altar over Saint Peter's tomb, the words ”Tu es Petrus” are intoned.The colossal inscription addressing the historical Peter and every single one of his successors was unveiled in 1606. At the same time, its existence reflects one of the deepest breaks in the history of Western civilisation. In 1606 the words ”Tu es Petrus” are not least polemical. They are directed against Protestantism which does not share the belief in Peter, for which the Pope is not the head of the Church, for which Jesus with the words ”Tu es Petrus” did not found the papacy - against Protestantism vehemently opposing the cult of Saint Peter's tomb and his relics.This historical situation of the year 1606 is the starting point of my paper entitled ”The Role and Impact of the Word in Post-Reformation Christian Art” which on the case of the inscriptions of St. Peter's intends to exemplify the themes of this conference, namely ”Art”, ”Ritual”, ”Religion”, ”Material Culture” and ”Spiritual Beliefs” and their interaction at the time.