Note 562 — Chapter III

The cultus of Peter, the result of the growing conception of his primacy, was developed to a degree second only to that of Mary. Its extent and character in the ninth century are indicated by a mosaic in the triclinium of San Giovanni di Laterano at Rome, in which the apostle, seated on a lofty throne, with the keys of heaven and hell lying in his lap, is bestowing the pallium, or symbol of ecclesiastical power, on the most holy lord, Pope Leo—so he is designated—and the standard of battle on the Emperor Charlemagne, both of whom are kneeling at his feet. Beneath is the following prayer, addressed to Peter as to God: BEATE PETRE DONA VITA LEONI PPE BICTORIA CARLO REGI DONA, “Blessed Peter, give life to Pope Leo, and victory to King Charles.”

This religious cultus culminated in the erection of that noblest of all earthly temples, raised to the honour of a lowly fisherman, and in the idolatrous homage paid to the great bronze statue cast from that of Jupiter Capitolinus, if it be not indeed the identical statue of the heathen deity transformed into that of the Christian apostle and Romish saint.