had become Lombard, Paulinus transferred his seat to
Grado, thus putting himself under Byzantine protection. In 579 a synod
was held in the church. From 607 there were two patriarchs--one in Grado
and one in Aquileia--established for political reasons by the Lombards;
they were schismatical, that is to say, adherents of the "three
chapters." During the continuance of this schism, in 610, three Istrian
bishops were taken from their very churches by the military, and carried
off to Grado, where they were compelled to bend to the Imperial will in
the matter. Gregory III. sanctioned the division of the two
patriarchates in 731, both having become orthodox, Aquileia in 698 and
Grado in 715. In 1451 the patriarchate of Grado was transferred to
Venice, where the patriarch had been living for a long time.

The foundations of the cathedral were laid under Nicetas (456) by the
architect Paulus, who was sent to him by Pope Leo I. The plan is
Romanesque, a basilica with nave and aisles and no transept, the nave
terminating in an apse eastward. It has two western doors, which open
into a portico of almost the whole breadth of the church, part being cut
off by the campanile, which is nearly 20 ft. square and over 160 ft.
high. The clerestory and low-pitched wooden roof of the nave are
supported by two piers and ten columns on each side. The columns are
antique, but of varied material--cipollino, white and black and
white-veined marble, and granite; and there is one of a rosy and white
breccia. The caps vary both in design and size, and have been repaired
with stucco. Some of them are decadent Roman and the rest Byzantine: the
bases are hidden by a square wooden boxing. The eleven arches of the
nave arcade are round. The round-headed windows of both nave and aisles
had pierced slabs of stone in them, but in 1740 the openings were made
lunette-shaped. One pierced slab of the ninth century has been found,
and is now placed high up in the apse above the patriarch's throne.
Under Fortunatus and John the Younger, about the beginning of the ninth
century, the church appears to have been beautified; and again, in
the second half of the tenth, under Vitalis. It is related that the
relics were then provided with fresh receptacles and inscriptions. The
choir occupies three bays of the nave, with a modern enclosure raised by
several steps. Just outside the rail, by the fourth column on the left,
stands the interesting pulpit, which has a later c