A Guide to
​St Peter's Basilica

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Chapel of the Choir

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The Virgin Immaculate

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Chapel of the Choir

The chapel takes its name from the time when the canons of the basilica met here to sing and celebrate the liturgy of the Canonical Hours (Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline).

The altarpiece, a copy of a painting by Pietro Bianchi (1694-1740), depicts the Virgin Immaculate. 

​The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary was declared in the Chapel of the Choir by Pope Pius IX (r.1846-78) on December 8th 1854. The crown of diamonds was added in 1904 by Pope Pius X (r. 1903-14) to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the promulgation of the doctrine.