Pulpit

PULPIT. - I. ARCHAEOLOGY. - The pulpit, also called tribunal, pyrgus, analogius, was introduced quite early into buildings of worship, modeled on the oratorical tribune in Roman civil buildings and in the forum, whence also its designation as tribunal.

The two designations pulpitum and tribunal are encountered for the first time in St. Cyprian. He writes that he had promoted the young Aurelius to lector "because after the sublime words that have given Christ a faithful testimony, it is fitting for the confessor to read the Gospel of Christ and to ascend the pulpit; after the scaffold, after having been exposed (at Rome) to the view of the multitude of pagans, it is right that he be so here to the eyes of the brethren; there (at Rome) he astonished the people surrounding him, here he will be heard with joy by the assembly of the brethren" (Ep., 33, 2, 1; PL 4, 328). The same Saint promoted to lector the confessor Celerinus that he too had astonished the same persecutor with the testimony of his faith, because no one more than he "deserved to be made to ascend the p., that is, the 'tribunal' of the church" (Ep., 34, 4: PL. 4, 332). In the one erected in the cathedral of Ravenna by Bishop Agnellus (553-68) the p. is called pyrgus (from the Greek πύργος) as though it were a tower ("Servus ΧΡΠ Agnellus episc. hunc pyrgum fecit").

The p. was generally situated in the central nave and had one or two access stairs. There was always only one in the ancient basilicas, as attested by that of Thessalonica, adorned with scenes, and that of Thebes (G. De Jerphanion, L'ambon de Salonique, l'arc de Galère et l'ambon de Thèbes, in Atti della Pont. Accad. rom. di arch., 3rd series, Memorie, 3 [1932], pp. 107-32). Of that of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople fragments are preserved in the Ottoman Museum. In Rome, in St. Peter's in the Vatican, there was the one placed by Pope Pelagius I (556-61), recorded in the Lib. Pont. I, p. 203, and with the inscription: "Scandite cantantes Domino Dominumque legentes ex alto populis verba superna sonent" (G. B. De Rossi, Inscr. chr., II, 1, Rome 1888, p. 78), and one in the cemetery basilica of St. Alexander; in Ravenna, besides that of the Cathedral, there are p. in S. Apollinare Nuovo and at SS. Giovanni e Paolo; furthermore that of Gregory IV in Castel S. Elia; that of S. Ambrogio in Milan; that of the cathedral of Canosa and of the sanctuary of Garghino, all of the 11th century, and the later one in St. Mark's in Venice. Gregory of Tours mentions that of the basilica of St. Cyprian which he calls analogius and pulpitus; it was of marble, entirely carved, one reached it by four steps and it was surrounded by railings (De gloria martyrum, I, 94). In Constantinople there is the p. of Hagia Sophia. For Syria v. J. Lassus and G. Tchalenko, Ambons syriens, in Cahiers archéologiques, V (1951), pp. 75-95. Also known is that of S. Maria Antiqua with the inscription of John VII (705-707) in Greek and in Latin. In Switzerland the p. in the churches of St. Maurice, of Romainmôtier and of Baulmes (M. Besson, L'art barbare dans l'ancien diocèse de Lausanne, Lausanne 1909, p. 22, fig. 4 and pl. 4; p. 19, fig. 2; id., Antiquités du Valais, Fribourg 1910, pp. 65-68, pls. 30-31).

Only in a later period were two ambos placed in the basilicas for the reading of the Gospel and the Epistle.

Enrico Josi

II. ART

The Roman Cosmatesque pulpits (v. COSMATI) also have a solid base and belong to two different types; one with a square loggia and a single stairway, the other with a double stairway and a slightly projecting loggia, curved or polygonal. The decoration in porphyry, serpentine and ornamental mosaics gives these works a particular character; they all belong to the 12th-13th centuries; among the most important are to be remembered the pulpits of S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura, of S. Clemente, of S. Maria in Aracoeli. Inserted into the schola cantorum (v.), they have a different form according to the function for which they were intended. The pulpits of southern Italy from the Romanesque age are generally of the type with a quadrangular box supported by columns. Extremely rich in color are those of Salerno, Cava dei Tirreni, etc., to which the mosaic incrustations prevailing in the space to be decorated give a character different from the Roman pulpits; subtly measured in the polychrome richness of its marbles is that of the Palatine Chapel of Palermo. In the Apulian examples, from Canosa to Troia, carved ornament prevails. To an Apulian sculptor, Nicola da Foggia, must be assigned the pulpit of the old cathedral of Ravello, characterized by the stairway enclosed between polychrome marble walls.

A separate group, on account of the luxuriance of its plastic decoration, is formed by the Romanesque pulpits of the Abruzzo, among which are remembered that of S. Maria in Valle Porclaneta near Rosciolo, by the sculptors Roggero and Nicodemo (1150), that of S. Maria del Lago at Moscufo, by the same Nicodemo (1159), of S. Pelino di Pentima and of S. Clemente at Casauria from the second half of the 12th century.

In Tuscany, then, strong plastic decorations also begin to prevail on the fronts of marble boxes supported by isolated columns or by columns leaning against the walls or resting on the chancel screens of the presbytery. One may recall those of the collegiate church of Barga (13th century), of S. Giovanni Maggiore near Borgo S. Lorenzo (12th century), of S. Miniato al Monte (13th century) and finally those of Nicola Pisano (v.), of the baptistery of Pisa (1260) and of the cathedral of Siena (1265-69), and of his son Giovanni (v.) for the church of S. Jacopo at Pistoia and for the cathedral of Pisa. In these last the reflections of Gothic taste begin to prevail, although in the other regions of Europe the most characteristic and beautiful examples reflecting such taste go back only to the 15th century. Thus in the very beautiful one of the cathedral of Strasbourg, all densely filled with carvings, tracery and statues. Like the French pulpits, there are also many in Germany, Spain and Portugal.

At that time the Italian Renaissance had developed the theme of the pulpit on its own account, keeping extremely simple the development of the architectural part that serves to frame reliefs and niches with statues, sometimes echoing ancient forms in the isolated structures or those set against walls supported by pillars or columns (cathedral of Cremona, the work of Geremia da Cremona; S. Lorenzo in Florence, the work of Donatello), while the type with a balcony or a nest set against columns or pillars spread more and more.

Characteristic in this sense are the pulpit of the cathedral of Prato, the work of Donatello and Michelozzo, and that in S. Maria Novella in Florence, designed by Brunelleschi and executed by Andrea di Lazzaro Cavalcanti. And it is precisely such a type, which generally rests with highly ornate brackets on the pillars or walls of churches, that spreads most during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries and is almost always in wood but often also with polychrome decorations and stuccoes. Notable examples from the period of the Catholic Reformation are found in the collegiate church of Manduria, in the church of S. Maria at Mosso, in the church of the SS. Martiri in Turin, etc., while in the 17th century notable is the pulpit built by B. Cavalieri and G. Neri for the parish church of Chioggia or that of Asso near Como, entirely in walnut, supported by massive caryatids.

During the 18th century, when decoration becomes more theatrical and sumptuous and sometimes inclines to the affectations of the Rococo, the most characteristic examples of such taste must be sought reflected in the pulpits of Germany and Austria. Almost always of painted stucco or with polychrome inlays, they are supported by groups and figures and have roofs and canopies with tall pinnacles where angels in flight and religious symbols appear among heaps of clouds and glories. The pulpits of the church of Ottobeuren (1760) or that of the Marienkirche in Berlin, the work of Andreas Schlüter, are characteristic examples of this.

In the 19th century there was a general return to Renaissance forms but with great simplicity of decoration, while in the modern age the taste for a certain architectural rationalism seems sometimes to wish to accord with the requirements determined by the laws of acoustics.

To be remembered in this regard is the pulpit of the church of S. Ignazio in Rome. Other characteristic pulpits of our age are in other Roman churches: in S. Paolo the wooden one by A. Foschini, in the church of Cristo Re the marble one by M. Piacentini and finally the others of the church of S. Maria Mediatrice, designed by the architect G. Muzio.

Guglielmo Matthiae - Emilio Lavagnino

III. LITURGY

As has been said, the pulpit in the presbytery was originally used for the sacred readings; in the Middle Ages two were made, one for the Gospel and for the Exultet, the other for the Epistle.

The present form, also called the ambo, came into use after the middle of the 13th century, with the spread of the Orders of the Preachers and of the Franciscans, and developed thereafter; it was generally placed on the Gospel side in the center of the nave so that the preacher's voice might be more easily heard, and therefore often with a kind of baldachin to improve the acoustics; on the side toward the altar or on the wall is the Crucifix. In the movable ones, besides the chair, a kneeler is provided. The word pulpit in liturgy is also used for lectern. - See plate IX.

Pietro Siffrin