Christian antiquities -- Italy -- Rome; Rome (Italy) -- Antiquities
"Ceadwalla's tomb," I quote from Tesoroni, "was not the only monument
of Anglo-Saxon interest to be seen in old S. Pietro. William of
Malmesbury and other chroniclers mention two other kings, Offa of
Essex, and Coenred of Mercia, as having renounced their crowns and
embraced the monastic life in one of the Vatican cloisters. They were
also buried in the Paradise near the Popes' Corner. It is doubtful
whether king Ina, who succeeded Ceadwalla, and his queen, Aethelburga,
were buried in the same place, or in the Anglo-Saxon quarter by the
church of S. Maria in Saxia, founded, probably, by Ina himself. It is
certain, however, that at a later time king Burrhed of Mercia was
entombed in the same quarter, and in the same church. The place is
still named from the Anglo-Saxons, S. Spirito in Sassia."
The threshold of S. Peter's once crossed, we hear no more of Popes
being buried outside, in the old atrium. The second aisle on the
left--that entered by the Gate of Judgment--was intended to receive
their mortal remains. Hence its name of _porticus pontificum_ (the
aisle of the pontiffs). On the day of his coronation the newly elected
head of the church was asked to cross this aisle on his way from the
chapel of S. Gregory to the high altar, that the sight of so many
graves should impress on his mind the maxim, "The glory of the world
vanisheth like the flame of a handful of straw;" and a handful of
straw was actually burned before his eyes, while the dean of the
church addressed to him the words, "My father, _sic transit gloria
mundi_."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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