Nikolaus Maniacutius: Historia Imaginis Salvatoris

The images in the Lateran Church and in the papal chapel showed who inhabited the sanctuaries. In a passionary preserved in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, we find a peculiar sermon concerning the most important image at the Lateran, which was the image of the Saviour in the oratory of San Lorenzo (c. 1145). The sermon is ascribed to Nikolaus Maniacutius and describes a vision of a most extraordinary procession of saints, confessors, martyrs and apostles, followed by the glorious mother of God, all of whom enter the papal chapel. The spectator, a penitent praying outside the chapel, is told by angels that what he is seeing is the return visit of the mother of God after her Son had visited her on the Feast of the Assumption. After the entrance of saints, a fire fills the palace as if it were being consumed by flames. The spectator is astonished and afraid, but the angels comfort him:

The vision described by Maniacutius is clearly modelled on the visions of God in his temple described in the Old Testament, especially in Ezekiel's vision of the return of the glory of God to the new temple. Maniacutius’ description seems to correspond with the idea that the papal private chapel can be regarded as the Holy of Holies in the temple of the New Covenant.

In the passionary the sermon is placed between other texts connected to the dedication feast of the Lateran Church: ‘Legend on the Church of the Saviour’ (‘Legenda Ecclesie Salvatoris’), the legend about the miracle of Beirut (‘De Passione Ymaginis Domini Salvatoris’) and ‘The Vengeance of the Lord’ (‘Vindicta Domini’).