Santa Prassede (Praxedes)

Art History

Early Christian

Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus
Santa Sabina
Santa Prassede (Praxedes)
Santa Maria Maggiore
The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna
Lindau Gospels Cover

Santa Prassede (Praxedes) Mosaics, Santa Prassede, Rome, early 9th century Mosaics from the early 9th century, under Pope Paschal. The church is dedicated to Saint Praxedes and her sister Saint Pudentiana, daughters of Saint Pudens. The sisters were martyred because they provided Christian burials for martyrs, against Roman law. A Smarthistory video with Richard Bowen (courtesy of Context Travel, and Drs. Beth Harris and Steven Zucker)

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Santa Prassede (Praxedes)

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This is Steven Zucker and Beth Harris with Richard Bowen, art historian
and or other historian in Rome at Santa Prassede
So, we`re walking down the side street and what`s interesting is that
you have really no sense that you`re about to walk into a major church.
We`ve come through a courtyard and we`ve come into a church and this is the thing that grabs our attention the most.
It`s a beautiful 9th century mosaic which this church is rightly famous for.
It`s completely laden with the decorative...
The jewel-like colors in the apse are just stunning!
And I think you`ll find that many medieval churches tend to have this way of trying to draw you to the high altar.
Into the apse where you`d have a great theological moment happening.
Saint Praxedes or Santa Prassede, she and her sister, Saint Pudentiana
were daughters of a gentleman here in Rome in the 1st century A.D. , Saint Pudens,
who is actually mentioned in the Bible.
So they ascribed, if you like, to the earliest times of Christianity here in Rome.
According to tradition they are understood to be martyrs...
Not only martyrs but also those that helped the Christian community here
from at least the second half of the 1st century A.D.
I would imagine that the mosaics are actually quite old.
Yes. Those are 9th century. So these are 9th century.
Maybe we ought to start with the apse mosaic. Shall we go closer to the mosaic so we don`t upset the...
What we`ve got here in the apse is we`ve got a simple figure here of Jesus Christ
and then we have the heavens at the top here with God`s hand coming down here with a crown
...the hand of God...fabulous...
then ve`ve got this river behind, which is the river Jordan,
in which Jesus Christ was baptized.
And then here we`ve got some very interesting saints over here to our left.
We`ve got Saint Paul, who has his hand around Saint Praxedes, here,
embracing her...and introducing her to Jesus..exactly, introducing her to Jesus.
And the bit that probably, the thing that is the crowning glory in many ways
of this apse mosaic is we have Pascal I here.
But is he representing the Church itself? He`s representing the Church himself but not only that.
He also, see, has a square halo. Yes. Now this is very very rare in Christian iconography
because what you see here is a saint still alive at the time of his depiction.
Had he been canonized? He`s been canonized. It was one of the perks of the job.
Then we`ve got the palm here which can be a symbol of Paradise and also of martyrdom.
Then we`ve got this little phoenix here which is obviously a symbol of the resurrection
as well as also the peacock can be a symbol of resurrection as well.
And resurrection is something that was in Christianity of the utmost importance. Absolutely.
Perhaps today, in the 21st century, we tend to forget the importance
of the resurrection`s place, certainly within Christianity here, and if you think
that probably people who came to this church in the ninth century A.D. may not
all live beyond the age of 40 or 45, then the idea of a better life
afterwards is of the utmost importance. Death was a far more immediate experience.
Exactly. And then this is marvelous row of lamb?
These are lambs here that are coming out to the two holy cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem
and these are like a representative if you like of the...faithful?...all the apostles.
And of course like Jesus, the lamb of God, if you like.
So we`ve got this symbolism here, Jesus not only being passed as the shepherd
but also the flock of the faithful, if you like.
And of course I noticed right above Pascal`s name. Yes, Pascal`s name there.
We have a lamb on an altar. That`s right. In a medallion above.
And the cross and almost like a chair waiting for the Second Coming.
And then of course obviously you`ve got these angels here
and then you`ve got the candles, the seven candles...
And I see the Evangelists, in the corner as well...
The Evangelists, the symbols of the Evangelists..
and then the Elders of the Apocalypse, here. This is the Byzantine style of art.
In some ways, it`s quite flat, in some of the mosaics so we can see...
Oh, it`s incredibly flat!...Which I quite like to be honest with you.
And the references for instance to the folds of the cloths are...lines...
are really just lines. But my favorite part is always when I look at
Byzantine mosaics like this or that are those feet that seem to sort of dangle down
and don`t really seem to have contact with the earth.
These are kind of floating, ethereal figures. And that`s the critical issue.
Here`s a really, a kind of, really direct rejection of so much of...
What`s around us...that`s right...of the classical...that`s right, of the pre-Christian..
And to see it in this context really makes sense,
the kind of reinvention and a kind of abstraction of the physical. Right.
The artificial lights went off just a moment ago and the ambient light
from the sky coming in from the windows from the nave
were illuminating glass tiles beautifully and the gold was incredibly reflective
and the spirituality is so powerful!

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