Vatican: Bernini’s Baldachin will be unveiled and the Chair of Saint Peter will be exhibited at the end of the Synod

The relic of the Chair of Saint Peter, the wooden throne that symbolizes the primacy of the first Pope, will be exposed to the faithful; while Bernini’s monumental Baldachin will be unveiled, after its restoration in the Vatican Basilica, within the framework of the conclusion of the Synodality Synod.

According to a statement from the San Pedro Factory, the exhibition of the Chair will begin on Sunday, October 27, after the Mass that the Holy Father will preside over for the closing of the Synod.

This Eucharist will be the first to be celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica with Bernini’s Baldachin restored, the monument above the central altar of the emblematic temple.

“The wooden Chair can be venerated and admired at the Altar of Confession until December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception,” the text states.

Pope Francis authorized this veneration after on October 2, at the beginning of the Synod of Synodality, he contemplated the Chair, together with Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica.

“The Chair of Peter tells us of a meeting, gathered in an assembly, of a Church gathered around its pastor, where each one is personally called to follow Jesus, but on a path that is never individualistic, but always shared and illuminated by the brothers,” comments the cardinal, according to the statement from the San Pedro Factory.

What is the Chair of Saint Peter?

The The Chair of Saint Peter the Apostleas it is called in Latin, has been considered for centuries to be the episcopal seat (chair) of Saint Peter: a wooden throne decorated with ivory plaques representing the Labors of Hercules and six constellations.

According to Vatican Newsthe relic was removed from its monumental gilded bronze ‘reliquary’, the Baldachin or Bernini Monument, to allow its restoration in the apse of the Basilica, within the framework of the works being carried out with a view to the Jubilee of 2025.

On this occasion, the Chair will undergo a series of detailed diagnostic and cognitive investigations carried out in collaboration and synergy with the Office of Scientific Research Applied to Cultural Assets of the Vatican Museums.

Pietro Zander, head of the Necropolis and Artistic Heritage section of the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Factory, explains that “this is a very old wooden seat, undoubtedly from the Carolingian era.”

“The scientific research that was done on the wood in 1974 tells us this, but the seat itself also tells us this, because in the center there is an ivory frieze in which you can see Emperor Charles the Bald, therefore a Carolingian emperor. , crowned by two angels. He was crowned in 875 right here, in St. Peter’s Basilica.”

“This headquarters may have older elements, such as the panels on the front with the Labors of Hercules, with the constellations. Research will tell us if they can be attributed, as some scholars want, even to the 3rd century,” he adds.

Zender finally specifies that “it is possible that this see contains the remains of an even older see that, due to popular devotion, representing the primacy of the Pope in the direction of the Universal Church, over time it has also assumed a devotional value as a relic and has been considered the seat of Peter.”