"La Festra di Cattreda, or commemoration of the placing of the chair of
St. Peter, on the 18th of January, is one of the most striking
ceremonies, at Rome, which follow Christmas and precede the holy week.
At the extremity of the great nave of St. Peter's, behind the high
altar, and mounted upon a tribune designed or ornamented by Michael
Angelo, stands a sort of throne, composed of precious materials, and
supported by four gigantic figures. A glory of seraphim, with groups of
angels, shed a brilliant light upon its splendors. This throne enshrines
the real, plain, worm-eaten wooden chair, on which St. Peter, the prince
of the apostles, is said to have pontificated; more precious than all
the bronze, gold, and gems with which it is hidden, not only from
impious, but holy eyes, and which once only, in the flight of ages, was
profaned by mortal inspection.
"The sacrilegious curiosity of the French, however, broke through all
obstacles to their seeing the chair of St. Peter. They actually removed
its superb casket, and discovered the relic. Upon its mouldering and
dusty surface were traced carvings, which bore the appearance of
letters. The chair was quickly brought into a better light, the dust and
cobwebs removed, and the inscription (for an inscription it was),
faithfully copied. The writing is in Arabic characters, and is the well
known confession of Mahometan faith--'There is but one God, and Mahomet
is his prophet.' It is supposed that this chair had been, among the
spoils of the Crusaders, offered to the church at a time when a taste
for antiquarian lore, and the deciphering of inscriptions, were not yet
in fashion. The story has been since hushed up, the chair replaced, and
none but the unhallowed remember the fact, and none but the audacious
repeat it. Yet such there are, even at Rome!"--_Ireland's Anecdotes of
Napoleon._