CATTEDRA

CATTEDRA. – From the Greek καθέδρα: a seat with a backrest, more or less high, often provided with a cushion. The c. could be made of stone, masonry, or tufa and thus fixed, or of wood or wicker and therefore movable; often covered with fabric. In the biography of St. Cyprian written by the deacon Pontius, the linen-covered seat (tectum) is mentioned (ch. 16), and Pacian of Barcelona recalls the linen-covered seat (Ep., 2, ad Sympronianum: PL 13, 1059). The c. is a privilege of the bishop (Ep., 67, 2); it can be an attribute of the dignity of the teacher, the judge, or the philosopher; sometimes it is also carved in some Christian cemeteries in Rome. As an attribute of dignity, it is given first and foremost to God the Father, to Jesus Christ, to the Madonna, to the Apostles, and to the saints.

God the Father is seated on a veiled c. in the act of receiving the offering of Cain and Abel (Wilpert, Sarcofagi, pl. CXCI, 5 and 9). Sometimes both Jesus Christ and the college of the Apostles are seated on a c.; examples in funerary paintings are found in the Basilica, in Domitilla, in the catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter (Wilpert, Pitture, pl. CLII; CXLVIII, 2; CLXXVII, 1-2); but only in sarcophagi, as for example in that of Rignieux-le-Franc (v. Apostoli); in Domitilla, besides the Lord, the Apostles Peter and Paul are also seated (Wilpert, Pitture, pl. CXCI); other examples instead show only the Lord seated on a c. (Wilpert, Pitture, pl. CXXV, 1-2; Sarcofagi, pl. XXVIII, 3; XXXIV, 2, 3; XLII, 3; XLIII, 3, 5).

Christ teaching from a c. with the Evangelists: a typical example is offered by the fragment of a sarcophagus lid found at Spoleto, now in the Lateran Museum (Wilpert, Sarcofagi, p. 107, fig. 52); Christ is seated on a c. in the boat, precisely according to the text of St. Luke, “sedens docebat de navi turbas” (5, 4-6).

In paintings, the scene of Christ teaching among the Evangelists is found in the cemetery known as that of Marcellinus and Peter (Wilpert, Pitture, pl. CLXII). Jesus Christ on a c. with martyrs in gold-glass (R. Garrucci, Vetri ornati di figure in oro, Rome 1864, pl. XIV, 4).

Christ on a c. among saints in the catacomb of Callistus (Wilpert, Pitture, pl. CCXLIII, 1) and in that of Pontianus (ibid., pl. CCLXI); among saints and the deceased (ibid., pls. CCXXIV, XXVI).

Christ the Judge. The most expressive scene is that on a marble funerary slab depicting the deceased Theodulus before Christ the Judge (ὁ κριτὴς τῶν αἰώνων) in the cemetery known as that of SS. Marcellinus and Peter (Wilpert, Pitture, p. 434, fig. 41); other scenes of Christ the Judge on a c. in funerary paintings are in Wilpert, Pitture, pls. LXXV, CXCVI, CCV, CCXLVII.

The Madonna on a c. in scenes of the Epiphany in paintings such as in Domitilla (Wilpert, Pitture, pl. CXLI), in Callistus (pl. CXLIV, 1), at the Maius (cf. E. Josi, Cosmotevium narius, in Riv. di archeol. crist., 10 [1933], pp. 7-16), in the catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter in several examples (the best in Wilpert, Pitture, pl. LX); in sarcophagi; the veiled c., as at the Lateran (Wilpert, Sarcofagi, pl. CCXXIII, 5), wicker (ibid., pls. XXVI, CCXIX, 2 and 3; CCXXII, 2 and 7; CCXXIII, II; CCXXIV, 5); simple c. (pls. CCXIX, 1; CCXXII, 6).

The Apostles Peter and Paul are seated on a c. in gold-glass (R. Garrucci, Vetri ornati di figure in oro, Rome 1864, pl. XIV, 4).

St. Peter is depicted twice on a wicker c. in Christian sarcophagi.

Saints seated on a c. are found in funerary paintings (Wilpert, Pitture, pls. CCV, CCXLIII, 1).

The bishop or the presbyter is seated on a c. in the marriage scene in Priscilla, in the cubicle known as that of the Veiled Woman (Wilpert, Pitture, pl. LXXXVI).

Also the judge seated on a c. is depicted ordering the three Hebrew youths to worship the statue of Nebuchadnezzar in the cubicle of the martyr Crescentio in Priscilla (Wilpert, Pitture, pl. CXXIII); likewise the judge seated in the trial of the two elders over Susanna in the reliquary of St. Nazarius (Venturi, I, pp. 446, 549-50), as is a merchant seated on a c. in the sarcophagus of Lambrate, now in the Sforza Castle in Milan (Wilpert, Sarcofagi, p. 335 and pl. CCXXXVII, 4).

Wilpert identifies as teaching scenes on a c. those on marble slabs found in the catacomb of Praetextatus (Wilpert, Sarcofagi, p. 193, figs. 114 and 115). An isolated c. on marble is in the catacomb of Praetextatus (ibid., p. 194, fig. 116). Finally, the mother with the child is seated on a c. in the aforementioned cubicle of the Veiled Woman in Priscilla (Wilpert, Pitture, pl. LXXIX).

Cattedra – A c.-reliquary, the so-called Chair of St. Mark, in Eastern cipollino marble with sculptures from the 6th-7th centuries – Venice, Treasury of St. Mark.

Regarding episcopal cathedrae, mention should be made of the wooden c. venerated as a notable relic near the confession of the Apostle in the Vatican. Its current form is certainly not the primitive one. Its ivory coverings are relatively late. But it seems to contain remains of a much older c., as was thought when in 1876 the bronze casing by Bernini was opened and the chair was publicly displayed. A definitive judgment is reserved for further examination. The Church of Jerusalem boasted of possessing the c. of the Apostle James: this according to Eusebius (Hist. eccl., VII, 19). Not usable, but rather a c.-reliquary, is the marble one in the Treasury of St. Mark in Venice. The cavity visible in it suggests the insertion of a relic, now lost. The strange reliefs visible on it (Agnus Dei on the mountain, symbols of the Evangelists with cherubic wings, etc., and then the images of the four Evangelists asleep)

A detachable round seat) speak of an imported work from the East of the 6th–7th century. A curious graffito in perhaps Oriental characters on the seat has not yet been satisfactorily explained. It would be erroneous to think of a cult of the *cathedra*. This proves that in Christianity the idea of what the *cathedra* represents in relation to the Church was present; but there was no adoration of the *cathedra*, as could have occurred in antiquity in Asia and Greece (cf. W. Reichel, *Über vorhellenische Götterkulte*, Vienna 1897, pp. 3 ff. and 88 ff.; and cf. certain, not always well-founded, connections made by P. Durand, *Étude iconographique sur l'Étimasia*, etc., Paris 1867). Even when a relic of a *cathedra* was preserved, the reverence shown toward it did not exceed, in the Church’s intention, the normal veneration.

The place of the episcopal *cathedra* in the pre-Theodorian *domus ecclesiae* of Aquileia is marked by a trapezoidal mosaic frame with sparse decoration at the bottom of the presbytery (Anon., *La Basilica di Aquileia*, Bologna 1933, tavv. XVII and CV). Evidently, a wooden *cathedra* was placed there during the synaxes. Later, in the basilicas, the place of the episcopal *cathedra* was ordinarily at the bottom of the apse, among the stalls of the clergy, and most often in a prominent position. The cemetery basilica of the Domitilla catacomb on the Via Ardeatina (390–95) has a niche at the bottom marking the place of that *cathedra* on which St. Gregory the Great delivered a famous homily (*Hom. in Evang.*, II, hom. 28: PL 76, 1210–16; O. Marucchi, *Catacombe romane*, 2nd ed., Rome 1933, pp. 148–51 and 158). The association of the memory of St. Gregory the Great with a classical *sella curulis* of St. Gregory at the Celian is purely legendary.

It would be lengthy to list the various episcopal *cathedrae* of basilicas and Christian churches, often adorned with mosaics and colored stones and enamel; marble *cathedrae* on which cushions were placed; but it seems worth recalling the papal *cathedra* of the Lateran (not the present one, which is modern, but the surviving medieval fragment preserved in the cloister). Here, on the first step, is a depiction of demonic beasts, intended to be trampled by the Pope. The *cathedra* is of ancient form. Above it is a Gothic tabernacle. It is known that there was an inscription in Leonine verse extolling the sublime presidential function of the Vicar of Christ and the legitimacy of the Roman See. The inscription ended: *“Nec debet vere nisi solus papa sedere. / Et quia sublimis alii subduntur in imis”* (O. Marucchi, *Basiliques et églises de Rome*, 2nd ed., Rome 1909, pp. 88–89). The verses must have belonged to an earlier phase of this *cathedra* (perhaps of the 11th or 12th century).

A grand Byzantine sense of splendor is found in the *cathedra* of the Eufrasian basilica in Poreč. It is of Greek marble. Above the backrest, the inlay forms a field decorated with mother-of-pearl crosses; on the sides, two candelabra (B. Molajoli, *La basilica eufrasiana di Parenzo*, Parenzo 1940, p. 44). The *cathedra* in the apse of San Vitale in Ravenna is modern and takes its inspiration from the Parenzo type. Of greater historical value, however, is the 11th-century *cathedra* in the cathedral of Salerno. It is certain that Pope Gregory VII sat upon it (the work has been well analyzed by Arch. A. Schiavo). Remains of an 8th-century *cathedra* with “barbaric” sculptures were used to encase a tomb in the presbytery of the oratory of the Lombard nuns in Cividale del Friuli (the so-called “Tempietto Longobardo”; cf. C. Cecchelli, *Monumenti del Friuli*, I, Cividale, Milan-Rome 1943, tav. LXII and p. 275, fig. 69). The episcopal *cathedra* of the basilica of San Clemente in Rome (12th century) is distinguished by a broad panel in the backrest (C. Cecchelli, *S. Clemente*, Rome n.d., pp. 96–98 and 166). This is a type that would be repeated many times in the late Middle Ages (e.g., in the cathedral of Anagni). It is curious that the backrest is a reused paleochristian marble with the inscription: *martyr* (from a dedication of the time of Pope Siricius, 384–98). The high-backed *cathedrae* of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura and San Balbina are rich in *cosmatesque* work (A. Muñoz, *Roma di Dante*, Milan-Rome 1921, pp. 126–27).

Among movable episcopal *cathedrae*, the most famous (after the Vatican one) and undoubtedly the most beautiful is the *cathedra* (covered with ivories) of Bishop Maximian of Ravenna (preserved in the local Archiepiscopal Museum). On the front of the seat is the figure of the Baptist and those of the Evangelists, along with rich decorative bands, one of which includes the bishop’s monogram. The front and back of the backrest have scenes from the New Testament heavens; the sides of the seat have stories of St. Joseph the Jew. It is also richly adorned with decorative bands. At the top of the backrest is a clipeus with the image of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Various opinions have been expressed about the character of these ivories, but it seems well founded that they come from Alexandrian workshops of the first decades of the 6th century.

Moving forward several centuries, a rare example of a wooden episcopal seat (still retaining its cushion) from the late 13th century is found in the cathedral of Anagni. It has Gothic arcading (A. Muñoz, op. cit., p. 327). A Romanesque abbatial chair is in the monastery of Montevergine (12th–13th century), but it is completed with side panels (ill. in P. Toesca, *Storia dell’arte italiana*, I, Turin 1911, p. 1101). It features wood carvings with animal figures that, though the work of southern craftsmen, draw on northern motifs. Of iron is the so-called “*cathedra* of St. Barbatus” in the cathedral of Benevento; it is a high seat perhaps of the 11th century (P. Toesca, op. cit., p. 1103). Skipping ahead several more centuries, one should recall a fine piece of furniture from the late 16th or early 17th century: the *cathedra* of St. Robert Bellarmine, preserved in Rome in the sacristy of Santa Maria in Via (C. Cecchelli, *S. Maria in Via*, Rome n.d., pp. 54–55). Another great saint, St. Philip

In the Coemeterium maius in Rome (via Nomentana), several cathedrae are noted, sometimes with high backs, other times with low backs rounded at the top, carved into the tufa and near tombs. Similar finds have been made in the cemetery of Panfilo (on the Salaria) and elsewhere. Bosio and Marangoni observed them within the hypogea of the Agro Verero on the Tiburtina. It was once believed that these cathedrae served a liturgical furnishing function, but various circumstances render this unlikely. Their use by an adult seems impossible. The idea that they were carved to commemorate the cathedra of St. Peter has also faded. A certain analogy with pagan funerary monuments has therefore emerged, suggesting a reference to the state of the deceased in the afterlife. Ultimately, this is the very conception that underlies the funeral banquet. The survivors dine by the tomb, mindful of the departed who thus enjoys refreshment in the hereafter. It is an assimilation and an act of propitiation.

Various are the representations of the deceased in cathedrae in antiquity (e.g., the relief from Chrysapha near Sparta preserved in the Antiquarium of Berlin; the relief from the Villa Albani in Rome, etc.). Sometimes the deceased, seated, raises the vessel for libation, and before him stands the table of offerings (e.g., the Hittite relief from Zengirli, now in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin). Subsellia, or cathedrae, are found within tombs (funerary chamber near Eretria in Euboea; Etruscan tomb of the "Chairs and Shields" near Cerveteri; Roman funerary chamber of Weiden, near Cologne, etc.). Some Christian scenes depicting the deceased libating while seated or standing do not differ from pagan ones (e.g., a figured titulus from the catacombs of Ciriaca and another from Anagni, originating from a Roman catacomb). Yet here one must distinguish between mere expressive means and what is instead the spiritual content. Even Jesus said that He would drink wine with His Apostles in the kingdom of His Father (Mt. 26:29), and mention is made of twelve thrones on which the Apostles would judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Mt. 19:28). Who would seriously assert that Jesus speaks of a real banquet and material thrones? The pagan tendencies of the people translated beatitude into material manifestations. Already in Jewish usage, the funeral banquet assumes a moral character. Among the salutary admonitions given by Tobias to his son is: "Place your bread and your wine upon the grave of the just, but do not eat of it with sinners" (Tob. 4:18). Therefore, if the cathedrae served in relation to the funeral table, they were meant to indicate that there was a person deemed "just" present. The cathedra was the place of the deceased, felt to be present and placed in the same dignity in which he was contemplated in heaven. — See Plates LXVI–LXVII.