The Basilica of St. Peter in the Golden Sky (Italian: Basilica di San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro) is an 8th-century Catholic basilica and monastery church served for centuries by the Augustinian friars in Pavia, in the Lombardy region of Italy. The basilica is noted for being the resting place of St. Augustine of Hippo as well as of the 6th-century philosopher Boethius. Its name refers to the mosaics of gold leaf behind glass tesserae that decorate the ceiling of the apse. The plain exterior is of brick, with sandstone quoins and window framing. The paving of the church floor is now lower than the modern street level of Piazza San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, which lies before its façade.
History
A church of Saint Peter is recorded in Pavia in 604; it was renovated by Liutprand, King of the Lombards (who is buried here) between 720 and 725. The present Romanesque church was consecrated by Pope Innocent II in 1132. The church is the resting place for the remains of Augustine of Hippo, who died in 430 in his home diocese of Hippo Regius, and was buried in the cathedral there, during the time of the Vandals. According to Bede's True Martyrology, the body was removed to Cagliari, Sardinia by the Catholic bishops whom the Arian Vandal Huneric had expelled from north Africa. Bede tells that the remains were subsequently redeemed out of the hands of the Saracens there—by Peter, bishop of Pavia, and uncle of the Lombard king Liutprand—and deposited in the church of Saint Peter about the year 720.
Monastery A monastic community was established in connection with the church by the 7th century, by Celtic monks who were actively evangelizing the Kingdom of the Lombards, with its significant Celtic native population. They established a string of monasteries, such as Bobbio Abbey. These monastic communities, following the Rule of St. Columbanus, were also centers of learning. An important scriptorium was established at the monastery in the 9th century as well as a school, led by the Irish monk Dungal. In the Olonese capitular a decree was issued by the Emperor Lothair in the royal palace of Corteolona in 825, requiring students from Milan, Brescia, Bergamo, Lodi, Novara, Vercelli, Tortona, Asti, Acqui, Genoa and Como to go there to study. From the 10th century the monastery enjoyed numerous privileges, including that of being subject only to the authority of the pope. Since the 11th century, the monks of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, who at least since 974 owned vineyards and winepresses near San Damiano al Colle, extended the vine culture in Oltrepò Pavese, producing wines that, thanks to the Po and Ticino, were then transported to Pavia, where the part not absorbed by the consumption of the monks was destined for trade. In 987 Majolus of Cluny stayed in the monastery and reformed its monastic customs, while, not many years later, in 1004, the monastery hosted the emperor Henry II. In 1022 an important council was held in the basilica (in which decisions were made on the celibacy of religious) presided over by Pope Benedict VIII. During the council (in which the emperor Henry II also participated) an exposition of the relics of Saint Augustine was also held, at the end of which an arm of the saint, thanks to a substantial donation to the monastery, was granted to Æthelnoth archbishop of Canterbury, while other small fragments of Augustine's bones ended up with other prelates present at the council, such as those of Montalcino, Piacenza, Ragusa, Valencia and Lisbon. The importance of the monastery is highlighted by the imperial donations received (between the 9th and 12th centuries) from the emperors Hugh, Otto I, Otto II, Otto III, Henry II, Conrad II, Henry III, Henry V and Frederick Barbarossa.
In 1221, Pope Honorius III transferred possession of the church and monastery to the canons regular of Santa Croce di Mortara. A century later, in January 1327 Pope John XXII issued the papal bull Veneranda Santorum Patrum, in which he appointed the Augustinian friars as guardians of the tomb of Augustine (the Arca di Sant'Agostino), which was remade in 1362 and elaborately carved with bas-reliefs of scenes from Augustine's life, created by Giovanni di Balduccio. Expelled in 1785, the friars returned in 1896 and continue to serve the church today.
Royal Pantheon In 1365 Galeazzo II Visconti moved his residence from Milan to Pavia, in the nearby Visconteo castle, where he installed his court, the Visconti, wishing to refer to the royal past of Pavia, he decided to transform the basilica into the burial church of the dynasty. In 1361 Galeazzo II in fact granted offers to the church and from the following year financed the preparation of the marble ark of St. Augustine. Since then, the privilege of burial inside the Lombard royal basilica became a status symbol of the court of Galeazzo II. Lionel of Antwerp was buried in the church, and the funeral of the Visconti condottiero Luchino Dal Verme, who died in 1367 in Constantinople, was held there. Galeazzo II himself, by his will, was buried in S. Pietro in Ciel d'Oro. The basilica remained the main sepulchral church of the Visconti court in Pavia until the foundation of the Certosa: between 1384 and the beginning of the 15th century, Francesco d'Este, the eldest daughter of Gian Galeazzo and Caterina Visconti, Violante Visconti and the condottiero Facino Cane. Also in the same years, the basilica was visited by diplomats and ambassadors visiting the court of Galeazzo II, such as Geoffrey Chaucer in 1378. In 1525 the Landsknechte captain Eitel Friedrich III, count of Hohenzollern and Richard de la Pole, pretender to the English crown, who died during the battle of Pavia, were also buried in the basilica.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
