Porphyry chair
The porphyry throne in the vestibule of the Lateran Basilica is called a porphyry chair ( sedes porphyrea or sedes stercorata ; from the Latin stercus, 'dirt', 'dung', 'mud', also 'excrement') . According to the ceremonial , the name of the throne derives from the words de stercore pauperum in the pericope 1 Sam 2,8 and the 113th Psalm: “He lifts the weak out of the dust and exalts the poor who lie in the dirt; he gives him a seat with the nobles, he assigns him a place of honor. Yes, the pillars of the earth belong to the Lord; on them he founded the world ”.
In the early Middle Ages , the newly elected Pope was taken to the Stercoraria at his coronation , where he stayed for a few minutes. The 113th Psalm was sung . The purpose of this ceremony was probably to remind the new Pope at the height of wealth and honor of his mortality and the necessity of humility . The Pope then sat on the throne, threw a few coins and recited from the Acts of the Apostles: “Aurum et argentum non est mihi, quod autem habeno, tibi do” (“I don't have gold and silver, but what I have is that I give you.").
Individual evidence
- ↑ Agostino Paravicini-Bagliani: The pope's body . University of Chicago Press, 2000, p. 44.
- ^ Sergio Bertelli: The King's Body: Sacred Rituals of Power in Medieval and Early Modern Europe . Penn State University Press, 2003, p. 179.
literature
- Richard Zoepffel: The introduction of the Pope into the Lateran . In: The elections of the Pope and the ceremonies closely related to them in their development from the 11th to the 14th century . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1871, p. 191ff. ( Digitized version )