Pilgrims and visitors can now behold this storied relic directly in front of the basilica's main altar, just above the tomb of St Peter, where it will remain on display until Dec 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

The last major public viewing of the chair occurred in 1867, when Pope Pius IX exposed the Chair of Peter for the veneration of the faithful for 12 days on the 1,800th anniversary of the martyrdoms of St Peter and St Paul.

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The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter has also had a five-acre property, worth $NZ6 million, donated to it next to its principal church in Houston, Texas, on which to build its first chancery.

Pope Benedict XVI established the ordinariate — which is equivalent to a diocese — on January 1, 2012, for former Anglican groups and clergy seeking to become Catholic while retaining aspects of their Anglican heritage and liturgy.

Its ordinary, Monsignor Jeffrey Steenson is a former Episcopal bishop who became a Catholic in 2007 and a Catholic priest in 2009.

Among those who have joined the ordinariate recently is Laurence Gipson, 70, a former Episcopal priest who before he retired was rector of St Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston. His parishioners included former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura Bush.

Gipson sees the ordinariate as "advancing the cause of unity in the Church".

"It offers Anglicans a way to affirm the Catholic faith, that is, a way to affirm orthodox or right belief, while at the same time being able to worship God and practise the Christian life according to the Anglican tradition and patrimony," he said.

Gipson said he was drawn to the Catholic faith in part because of the Church's "clarity" in teachings and the "unity of faith amongst the faithful".

"What I yearned for and sought was a more centralised understanding of authority, the magisterium, the teaching authority, which could much more quickly and much more definitely interpret Scripture and decide on the faith when it was in dispute and settle those issues," he said.

Sources:

Catholic News Agency

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter

Image: Seward's Folly