(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 07.10.2024).- On October 2, Pope Francis was able to appreciate directly one of the most important relics of Saint Peter, the first Pope. On the morning of that day, at the end of the Holy Mass that opened the Synod on Synodality, the Holy Father was able to. see the Chair of the Apostle Saint Peter, kept in the Ottoboni sacristy of the Vatican Basilica.
The Chair is “the ancient wooden throne, symbol of Peter’s Primacy, extracted from the Basilica’s apse during the restoration works on Bernini’s monument.
Tradition considers the Chair the Episcopal Seat of Saint Peter. Its decorations include ivory plates with figures of Hercules’ works and 9th century ivory friezes typical of the Carolingian era.
A relief on the back shows Christ entrusting to Peter the guidance of the Church. Bas-reliefs on the right side represent the handing of the keys to Peter, narrated in the Gospel of Saint Matthew and others, and on the left the washing of the feet, narrated in Saint John’s Gospel
The relic was taken by the Fabric of Saint Peter to the Basilica’s sacristy to show it to the Holy Father, on the occasion of the opening Mass of the Second Session of the Synod on Synodality.
The Chair, the wooden seat from which the Maser teaches, is a relic of the first Pope, also known as the Cathedra Sancti Petri Apostoli, which goes back to the beginning of Christianity.
The historical piece is kept habitually in the apse of Saint Peter’s Basilica, work carried out by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, finished in 1666 after ten years of works. The bronze elements weigh 74 tons. The Chair is kept in a reliquary and represents the spiritual, temporal and moral authority of the Apostle Saint Petter and his Successors.
