Today in History—November 18: The Consecration of St. Peter’s Basilica

On this day in 1626—exactly 400 years ago—Pope Urban VIII consecrated the largest church in the world.

The building stands on one of the holiest sites in Christianity, the sacred nature of which dates to the first Christian century: It is the reputed place of martyrdom (and the subsequent burial) of Peter, one of Jesus’ 12 disciples.

With the consecration event, one pope paid tribute to another, as St. Peter is known as history’s first bishop of Rome.

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The consecration ended a process of planning and construction that had lasted 120 years—although the building’s history extends much further than that. In 1506 Pope Julius II laid the first stone for the new basilica. He did not, however, choose open ground to do it.

A building, known as Old St. Peter’s, had occupied the site for centuries, and it had fallen into disrepair by the 15th century.

Many of the greatest Renaissance artists and architects were involved in the construction of the new St. Peter’s. The original design was entrusted to Donato Bramante, but after his death in 1514, a series of other architects took up where he’d left off, including Raphael and Michelangelo. Additionally, artists such as Gian Lorenzo Bernini added notable Baroque elements.

The vast expense of construction had some ironic political consequences. One way funds were raised was through the selling of so-called indulgences: In exchange for a penitential act (or money), remissions issued by the church were held to reduce the temporal punishment associated with sin.

An Augustinian friar named Martin Luther was so angered by the extravagant cost of the construction of St. Peter’s—largely financed by the sale of indulgences in Germany—that he started what eventually grew into the Protestant Reformation, the greatest challenge to Catholic authority in history.

Today, thanks to the Lateran Treaty of 1929, the world’s largest church (as measured by interior floor area) is located in the world’s smallest country (Vatican City).