I like to think that in Grado, once upon a time, the bells tolled slowly. They could be like mystical emanations to the rhythm of the lagoon sea. From the thuribles of the basilica of Saint Euphemia the incense wafted to the square. And the delicate smell of saltiness faded for a moment. The motifs of the Byzantine mosaics in the church evoked sensations of the Orient. A silent stillness took hold of consciousness. There, amidst the dancing fire of candles in the twilight, an arcane feeling was awakening, that profound nostalgia that we only feel before the sacred.
The schism
However, torments of faith afflicted the Christians of Grado when Elijah dedicated the most important building of worship on the Island to Saint Euphemia, martyr of Chalcedon. It was September 3rd, 5791, many had shouted “schism!” and some had actually made it; above all, it was the time of great theological disputes. On one side were the Monophysites, who claimed that Christ had a single nature, physis as the philosophers say. On the other side were the followers of Nestorius, who argued for the Savior’s dual nature, human and divine, but as if he had two distinct persons in himself.
The issue ended with a few councils. At Chalcedon (451) the Church accused Monophysites of heresy. However, some time later, they convinced Justinian to condemn the Nestorians. With the edict of the Three Chapters2, the Emperor attempted to soften the Church’s stance towards Monophysitism (543-544), to which, moreover, his wife Theodora3 belonged. When even Pope Vigilius was forced, under threat, to sign the condemnation of the Three Chapters (553), the schism was determined. Many people stood at odds with Rome and Constantinople, disagreeing with the edict. Among them there was the bishop of Aquileia, Paulinus I, who proclaimed himself as patriarch. Then, as if by divine intervention, the Lombards invaded Italy (568) and, to escape Alboin, the Church of Aquileia was transferred to the Byzantine territory4. Christe eleison, that is how the schism came to Grado.
Patriarch Elijah and the Basilica of Saint Euphemia in Grado
In the Anno Domini 571 Elijah became patriarch. Just eight years later he consecrated the new city basilica, which he had commissioned. The naming of the building in honor of Saint Euphemia of Chalcedon carried an explicit message: he wanted to emphasize fidelity to that Council which, from the perspective of the schismatics, was forgotten5. Since then, neither the dedication nor the architecture of the Basilica changed, not even when, in 607, the Patriarchate of Grado broke away from Aquileia to return to Catholic orthodoxy.
The pre-existing architecture and the chapel of Petrus
However, the basilica of Saint Euphemia was not built de novo. It arose on a pre-existing church, probably a cemetery parish church. This dated back to the years when Attila had besieged and destroyed Aquileia (452). Even then, the refuge of the Aquileian episcopate had been the island of Grado. Thus, Bishop Nicetas had the series of sarcophagi and funerary chapels, that had stood in the town square, incorporated into a larger building. A chapel was later added in the early 6th century to host the burial of a certain Petrus, son of the Jew Olympius. The archaeologists can still be trace it thanks to an inscription at the bottom of the Basilica’s nave:
“Hic requiescit / Petrus qui Papa/rio fil(ius) Olimpii Iu/daei solusque / ex gente sua ad Chri(sti) meruit / gratiam perveni/re et in hanc s(an)c(t)am / aulam digne sepul/tus est sub d(ie) pr(i)d(ie) / id(us) iul(is) ind(ictione) quarta“
G. Brusin, Grado. L’epigrafe musiva di ”Petrus”, Notizie degli scavi di antichità, 1947
Elijah reworked the building constructed at the time of Nicetas. He added an apse with prothesis and diakonikon, required the opening of two orders of monofora windows along the perimeter walls. Also, Elijah arranged the spaces as we see them today. Ten pairs of polychrome marble columns demarcate the nave and two aisles of the basilica. Capitals carved with phytoform motifs, dating from the 4th-5th centuries, surmount them.
The mosaic floor of Saint Euphemia
Elijah ordered the elevation of the Basilica floor, placing the new tessellated floor about a metre above the ancient opus signinum. From the chancel of the church, surrounded by plutei decorated with the Chi Rho and the peacock, a metaphor for Christ, a soleas probably started towards the nave.
The fine mosaics of Saint Euphemia are characterized by marine and geometric motifs, including the well-known symbolism of Solomon’s Knot. This is no coincidence, since the knot expresses, in the early Christian context, the inseparable union between God and man. Hence, it symbolizes the two natures of Christ, terrestrial and heavenly, converging into a single person. As such, the Basilica’s mosaic floor emphasizes the theological position that was the basis of the schism, and for which Elijah dedicated the building to Saint Euphemia. Moreover, the figurative centre of the mosaic attests the patriarch’s work. Here is a large clypeus with the inscription:
“Servus Iesu Christi Helias episcopus Aquileiensis, Dei gratia auxilioque fundator ecclesiae huius, votum solvit“.
The chancel frescoes and the Golden Pall of Grado
The precious fresco in the apse basin (15th century) shows a Christ Pantocrator seated in a mandorla. On its sides are figures of saints and a representation of the Tetramorph.
A little further below, the Golden Pall of Grado shines with refined beauty. By an unknown authorship, the precious artifact is made of gilded silver, using an embossing technique, on three superimposed registers. The panels, enclosed in polylobate frames, still contain a Christ Pantokrator, Saint Mark, an Annunciation, and the four Evangelists. A Venetian nobleman, Donato Mazzalorsa, donated the Golden Pall to the church in 1372.
The basilica of Saint Euphemia and its pulpit
Located on the left side of the nave, the high pulpit was carved in the 11th century. Nonetheless, some stylistic motifs suggest later additions. The ambo rests on six slender columns, two of them twisted, surmounted by capitals with plant motifs. Five convex panels, of admirable artistic workmanship, shows the symbols of the evangelists and a patent cross in relief.
A dome, evocative of Moorish architecture, covers the structure surmounted by sinuous arches. Among the decorative motifs in red and white, and the geometric alternation typical of the chessboard, the Flower of Life stands out. It is the Christian symbol of resurrection, the daffodil that signs the arrival of spring in the Alpine valleys.
The facade of Saint Euphemia and the Baptistery of Grado
A brick, tripartite, salient facade opens through two portals and three wide monofora windows. The cusped bell tower on the right dates to the 15th century.
Just north of the Basilica, on the left, the early Christian Baptistery, made of terracotta, faces the square, bare of superfluous ornamentation and architecture. It is octagonal in shape, as was the custom at the time, and eight windows open outward. This is a symbolic reference to the day of eternal life, which follows creation and its seven biblical days. The original entrance to the building is lost, as the portico, which once welcomed catechumens approaching baptism.
A deep apse enriches the interior of the Baptistery. In front of it stands the high altar enclosed by plutei and, on its axis, the hexagonal basin with marble facing.
The entire floor surface of the Baptistery hosts mosaics. This is mostly a reconstruction since only a few perimeter portions of the 6th century original have survived. The mosaics include four-petaled flowers, Solomon’s knots, peltas, and whorls6.
The construction works of the baptistery were begun by Probinus (569-571), as attested by a monogram carved on the marble altar7. Then they were completed by the well-known patriarch Elijah.
The Basilica della Corte
At the time of Elijah, when the patriarch decided to renovate the ancient basilica of Saint Euphemia, older churches already existed, here, in the ancient Roman castrum of Grado. The basilica della Corte, the remains of which can be found in today’s Piazza della Vittoria, was built in the second half of the fourth century8. When some citizens of Aquileia came to Grado to escape Alaric’s invasion (early 5th century) – they called the island ad aquas gradatas9, a nice description of the gentle sandy slopes projecting into the lagoon to the north – the church became an episcopal seat. Unfortunately, repeated fires destroyed the Basilica della Corte, originally with a single nave and rectangular plan, later enlarged. Today only ruins remain, including some portions of the mosaic floor.
Santa Maria delle Grazie
Instead, the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie arose in the 5th century. A portion of the mosaic extending on a lower level, near the right aisle, attests it. Nonetheless, it was soon subjected to the extensive architectural reconstruction commissioned by Elijah. Certainly the building, located on the Campo dei Patriarchi near Saint Euphemia’s, was renovated after 57910 and only then did it assume its present form, with a square plan, a nave and two aisles.
The presence of the iconostasis in front of the chancel acts as a sacred limen. It demarcates the space reserved for the priest. It is similar to the drape that in the Debir of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem hid the Ark of the Covenant. On the mercy seat of that precious relic, on the day of Yom Kippur, the Israelites poured out the blood of a worship sacrifice, of the scapegoat, so that Yahweh could grant them forgiveness for their sins. Now, however, there is no longer any need for sacrifice: Christ is the lamb without blemish, the one who redeems all humanity on the Cross. Christ, true God and true man in a single hypostasis.
Samuele Corrente Naso
Map of places
Notes
- Andrea Dandolo, Chronica per extensum descripta, VI, 1, 10. ↩︎
- The work of the Antioch theologian Theodore of Mopsuestia, master of Nestorius. Some writings of Theodoret of Cirrus. A missive from Iba of Edessa to the Patriarch of Persia Mari. ↩︎
- C. Diehl, Teodora: Imperatrice di Bisanzio (trad. di Angelo Fattorini), Castelvecchi, 2015. ↩︎
- Paolo Diacono, Historia Langobardorum, II, 10. ↩︎
- A. Previtali, Vicenza paleocristiana: cenni storici, Vicenza, 1991. ↩︎
- G. Ferri, La pavimentazione musiva del battistero di Grado: schemi geometrici e motivi riempitivi, in Antichità Altoadriatiche, vol. XCII, Editreg, Trieste, 2020. ↩︎
- P. L. Zovatto, Il battistero di Grado, RivAC 23-24, 1947-1948. ↩︎
- L. Bertacchi, Grado, in Da Aquileia a Venezia, Antica Madre, Milano 1980. ↩︎
- Andrea Dandolo, Chronica per extensum descripta, V, 1, 12: “ad aquas veniunt gradatas: et in litore castrum spectabile construxerunt, quod ab aquarum nomine Gradus appellatur“. ↩︎
- L. Bertacchi, Le origini del duomo di Grado, Aquileia nostra 42, 1971. ↩︎
