Pope Alexander VI the "portico" of St. Peter's and commissioned a marble door. This door lasted until 1618, when another door was installed in the new basilica. In a ceremony similar to today's, Alexander was carried in the "sedia gestatoria" to St. Peter's. He and his assistants, bearing candles, processed to the holy door, as the choir chanted . The Pope knocked on the door three times, workers moved it from the inside, and everyone then crossed the threshold to enter into a period of penance and reconciliation. Thus, Pope Alexander formalized the rite and began a longstanding tradition that is still in
On Religion since the authorship of "On Religion" in the late nineteenth century. On Religion On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers (German: "Über die Religion: Reden an die Gebildeten unter ihren Verächtern") is a book written by the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834). Originally published in 1799, two further editions were released in Schleiermacher's lifetime in 1806 and 1831. Since the early age of 15, Schleiermacher had been personally grappling with the most significant issues of Christology, particularly his own doubt in regard to the problem of atonement. He entered a Moravian seminary in Barby, Germany in 1785, only to lead