The Seated Statue of St. Peter

ST. PETER'S, ROME.

This bronze statue, seated in a marble chair, is on the right side of the nave against the last pier. Some antiquaries state that it was a cast from the bronze statue of Jupiter Capitolinus, by order of St. Leo, and placed by him in the ancient basilica of St. Peter about the year 445. Other writers of more recent date assert that it is the identical statue of Jupiter transformed into that of the Apostle. But modern critics conclude that it is a work not of classical times, but of the early ages of Christianity; all agree that no bronze figure of life size, consecrated to a Christian hero, can be earlier than this. The theory that this is a likeness of the great Apostle is based upon the marked resemblance it bears to a profile on an oval medallion of the first or second century, which is preserved under glass in the Vatican Museum. This gem, which is little known, has on it the profiles of St. Peter and St. Paul, modelled after nature at an epoch when this art of gem carving was the common method of preserving the likeness of men. The right hand of the statue is raised in blessing, the left holds the traditional keys. This statue has always been an object of such veneration that the extended foot has been polished and worn by the kisses of the faithful. On high festivals this statue is dressed up in full pontificals. On the Jubilee day of Pius IX., June 16, 1871, upwards of twenty thousand people kissed the foot of this statue.