mosaic on the high altar On the wall behind the high altar are three paintings made in 1803 by
Bernardino Nocchi representing (from left to right):
Saint Timotheus,
The Glory of Saint Pudentiana, and
Saint Novatus. The
mosaic in the apse is
late antique, from around the end of the 4th century; it is regarded by different groups of scholars as dating to either the pontificate of
Pope Siricius (384–399) or of
Innocent I (401–417), and was heavily restored in the 16th century. It is among the oldest Christian mosaics in Rome and one of the most striking mosaics outside of
Ravenna, deemed the most beautiful mosaic in Rome by the 19th-century German historian
Ferdinand Gregorovius. This mosaic is remarkable for its
iconography. Christ is represented as a human figure rather than as a symbol, such as lamb or the good shepherd, as he was in very early Christian images. The regal nature of this representation prefigures the majestic bearing of Christ as depicted in
Byzantine mosaics. Christ sits on a jewel encrusted throne, wearing a golden
toga with a purple trim (a sign of imperial authority and emphasizing the authority of Christ and his church). He poses as a classical Roman teacher with his right hand extended. Christ wears a
halo and holds in his left hand the text: "
Dominus conservator ecclesiae Pudentianae" (The Lord is the preserver of the church of Pudentiana). He sits among his apostles, two of whom were removed during restoration. The apostles wear senatorial togas. They all have individual expressions and face the spectator. The lower part of the mosaic was removed during the restoration in the late 16th century. The depictions of the apostles on the right side have been lost in the course of time and have been replaced by new, but rather blank, mosaics. Two female figures representing
Ecclesia and Synagoga ("Church" and "Synagogue"), here hardly differentiated, unlike later depictions, hold a wreath above the head of Peter and Paul. Above them the roofs and domes of heavenly Jerusalem (or, in another interpretation, the churches built by the emperor Constantine in Jerusalem) are depicted. Above Christ stands a large jewel encrusted cross on a hill (
Golgotha), as a sign of the triumph of Christ, amidst the Christian symbols of the
Four Evangelists. These
iconographic symbols (angel, lion, ox and eagle) are the oldest still existing such representations of the Evangelists. The backdrop is a blue sky with an orange sunset. One scholar has suggested that the enthroned figure in the center of the apse mosaic normally regarded as Christ, in fact represents
God the Father, which would be an extremely unusual depiction of
God the Father in art at this date.
List of Chapels • The “Chapel of Saint Peter”, on the left side of the apse, contains a part of the table at which
Peter the Apostle would have held the celebration of the
Holy Eucharist in the house of Pudens. The rest of the table is embedded in the papal altar of
Saint John Lateran. The sculpture on the altar depicts
Christ delivering the keys of Heaven to St. Peter (1594) by the architect and sculptor
Giacomo della Porta. In the same chapel there are two bronze slabs in the wall, explaining that here Peter was given hospitality and that Peter offered for the first time in Rome bread and wine as a consecration of the Eucharist. The pavement is ancient. A door opens into a
cortile with a small chapel that contains
frescoes from the 11th century. The famed wooden piece of the table belonging to the Pudente family is also preserved, purported to be used by Saint Peter himself during
Holy Mass. • Chapel of the Crucifix: contains a bronze crucifix by Achille Tamburini. • Chapel of the Madonna of Mercy: contains the painting
The Nativity of the Madonna by
Lazarro Baldi • Chapel of St. Bernard: contains a painting of
Saint Benedict of Nursia and Saint Catherine of Siena • Caetani chapel: This chapel for Caetani family (family of Pope
Boniface VIII) was designed by
Capriano da Volterra in 1588 and, after his death in 1601, completed by
Carlo Maderno. The mosaics on the floor are notable. The columns of
Lumachella marble. The relief (1599) above the altar is by
Pier Paolo Olivieri and depicts
Adoration of the Magi.
Giovanni Paolo Rossetti painted
St Praxedes and Pudenziana collecting the Blood of the Martyrs in 1621. He also painted the fresco of the Evangelist in the ceiling, to a design by
Federico Zuccari. The statue of Saint Pudentiana (c. 1650) in a niche is by
Claude Adam. The sisters’ well stands just outside the Caetani chapel in the left aisle, which is said to contain the relics of 3,000 early martyrs, many of which were brought here and hidden by Pudentiana and Praxedes. This is marked by a square
porphyry slab in the floor. Following the decline of popular
piety ushered by the ecclesiastical reforms of the
Second Vatican Council in 1969, the names of Pudentiana and her sister Praxedes were removed from the
General Roman Calendar. ==Titular church==