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St. Peter's Basilica: Altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the right transept of St. Peter's Basilica. The central icon is a 12th-century fresco brought here by Pope Gregory XIII in 1578. The altar was designed by G. Muziano (1528-1592) and contains rare alabaster, amethysts and other semi-precious stones, and four columns of African marble and green porphyry. Below the altar in a porphyry urn are the remains of the theologian St. Gregory of Nazianzus (d. 390), one of the Cappadocian fathers.

Credit: Holly Hayes