Lots of stuff over three days

I haven't had time to update for a few days, so here goes...

We had gotten in late from Assisi on Friday so everyone slept in a while on Saturday. Since most places close for a few hours of siesta in the afternoon we tried to schedule our remaining time to the fullest.

We started with the basilica of St. Peter in Chains, which houses the chains which held St. Peter in Jerusalem, fused together with chains that held him in the nearby Mamertine prison. The church is also famous for Michelangelo's statue of Moses. The church is not far from our apartment, but it is in an out-of-the-way location and the hills confused us, so we wandered and backtracked a few times until we located it. This was one that we did not visit during our last time here, so we're glad we were able to.

From there it was down the street to St. Mary Major, with a brief stop (before we were kicked out for siesta) at the nearby Santa Pressede with its exquisite Byzantine mosaics. Our last time at St. Mary Major we did not have a chance to really explore, so we were glad to have another opportunity there. Previously when we visited we were not able to descend to the confessio under the main altar, but it was open for us this time. The principle relic located there is some large fragments of the manger, which was very cool to see and venerate just two days after Christmas!

After lunch we headed to St. Paul Outside the Walls. Pope Benedict has declared this to be the Year of St. Paul, so it was a great honor for us to be able to visit this basilica during this special year. We lit a cande for our pilgrimage intentions from the "Pauline Flame" which Pope Benedict lit when he inaugurated the Pauline Year, and entered through a special "Pauline Door" which was designed and decorated for the occasion. In the confessio we could see the end of the sarcophogus holding St. Paul's headless body. (The head resides along with St. Peter's in the Lateran basilica).

We finished off this busy day with a visit to the Capuchin Crypts, which are lined with the bones of 1000's of Capuchin monks as a way to remind us of our own mortality (Beth didn't care for this at all!) and then went to visit the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, which houses several remarkable relics of Christ's passion, including the True Cross, one of the nails from the crucifixion, two of the thorns from the crown of thorns, and the finger of St. Thomas.

And that was just Saturday.

On Sunday we got up early so we could make it to the Mass at St. Peter's Basilica. We got there in plenty of time to get a good seat. The mass was in Latin with all of the major prayers done in Gregorian Chant. Pretty cool. Immediately after mass we had to rush outside because the weekly Angelus was already in progress. We were not able to get anywhere near as close as we were previously, but still it was cool. It was also cold, wet, and rainy!

We decided to see the neighborhood of Trastevere, which is located south of the Vatican. The bus ride there took us through some beautiful areas high on a hill with some incredible views of Rome. In better weather it would have been nice to get off the bus there and have a picnic. We found a good place to eat with a friendly waiter and then visited the church of Santa Maria in Trestevere, which is the oldest church to be dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

We didn't have much time left before things shut down, but after returning to our apartment we did get to visit the Mamertine prison, which is right next to the Roman Forum. This is where Peter and Paul were both held prior to their executions. We saw the pillar to which Peter was chained while he was a prisoner there, as well as the spring from which he baptized his fellow prisoners whom he preached to.

Today (Monday) we first visited the Catacombs of San Callisto, which is where 16 of the early popes were buried, as well as St. Cecilia. The priest who led our English-speaking tour was very good, and included the theological significance of the symbols which we could see on the walls.

Then we headed back to the Vatican to tour the Vatican Museum. The clear high-lights for me were the Raphael rooms (a series of rooms containing frescoes by Raphael) and the Sistine Chapel, with Michelangelo's famous ceiling and fresco of the Last Judgment. Our feet were killing us by the end of the day.

We only have a couple days left before we have to return home. It has been a great trip so far.

Urbi et Orbi

Merry Christmas!

Today we went back to the Vatican for the Pope's Urbi et Orbi blessing. This was a very solemn affair, preceded by a parade of the Swiss Guard and the various Italian military forces. We got there a little after 11, and were able to stand fairly close, but St. Peter's Square was totally filled by noon. The Urbi et Orbi (to the City [of Rome] and the World) is delivered from the central loggia above the main doors to St. Peter's Basilica. The address was given in Italian but the translation is available on the Vatican web site. After the address he gave a brief Christmas greeting in over 60 languages, including English, Russian, Vietnamese, Thai, Swedish, etc, concluding with the solemn blessing. It was a pretty cool way of recalling how the church is "catholic" (or "universal") in the true sense of the word.

The metro stopped running at 1:00, so we decided to walk back to our apartment. It was only about 4 km and there was not much traffic on the roads, so it was a pleasant walk. When we reached the stretch between Piazza Venezia and the Colosseum alongside the Roman Forum the road was closed to cars, so hundreds of people filled the street. It was breath-taking to be able to enjoy the ancient sights without the usual traffic congestion. Fortunately for us the rain which was forecasted didn't materialize until much later.

For now, ciao!

Day 2

Yesterday was mostly spent traveling and sleeping, with just a brief venture out to walk around the Colosseum and get some pizza and gelato, so this was our first full day.

Our apartment is just a block down the street from the Basilica of San Clemente so we started our day with mass at there. The mass, of course, was entirely in Italian, but we followed along as best we could. After mass, while looking around the basilica, the priest greeted us, When we told him we didn't speak Italian he immediately switched to English with an unmistakable brogue. It turns out that San Clemente has run by the Irish Dominican Friars since the 17th century, so we talked with him for a few minutes about the basilica and the excavations beneath. We plan to return there to tour the excavations of the older 5th century basilica and the 2nd century pagan temple found below it.

After a typical Roman breakfast consisting of cornetti from a next-door bakery and cappuccino, we spent the rest of the morning waiting for Rebekah's arrival. She got in around noon, and we enjoyed some time catching up with her before heading out for some more sight-seeing.

We then walked down to St. John Lateran, the "mother and head" of the church, and one of the four major basilcas in Rome. It is dedicated to both St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist. This was the home of the popes for many centuries, and is the actual cathedral of Rome, and therefore, the Pope's cathedral. The structure is massive and we spent a long time exploring the many side altars and the incredible mosaics, frescos, and statues. The elaborate canopy structure over the high altar is actually a reliquary containing the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul.

Dorene was particularly intrigued by the intricate mosaic floors found in both San Clemente and John Lateran, and took several pictures with the thought of some day making quilts inspired by the floor patterns.


Tomorrow we plan to visit St. Peters for morning mass and hope to see Pope Benedict during his weekly public Angelus.

Enough for tonight -- it's time to see if we can get some sleep with a loud karaoke party in the apartment above hopefully winding down.

Ciao