Day 22: Church Crawl

If you haven't ever heard of a bar crawl, basically its the act of traveling from bar to bar buying a drink from each one visited. Ashley and I went on a church crawl today.  Along with three others and the Campus Ministry priest, Father Al, we went to four different churches. However before we went on this church crawl, we had laundry to do. 

Doing laundry

We also grabbed a bite to eat at a local pizzeria and bought some fresh green apples from a nearby farmer's market.  It was a pretty tasty and cheap lunch! We then met up around 2pm in the lobby with our small group.  Just about everyone is away traveling this weekend except for a few of us so it has been nice a quiet here one campus.  Last night as we came back to campus Father Al was exiting as we were entering the door.  He told us that him and a couple other students were going to see a couple of a churches the following afternoon and he invited us to join him.  So we did. We took the 913 bus to the Chipro metro station.  Along the way, Father Al asked me where I went to high school in DC. I told him Bishop Ireton.  He told me he knew Bishop Ireton very well.  He said he taught for several years at DeMatha high school and he always watched their basketball teams beat Ireton.  Father Al is originally from Baltimore, Maryland.

St. John Lateran

The first church we stopped at was The Basilica of St. John Lateran. While many think that the Vatican is the official church of Rome, it is actually St. John's. It is also the oldest church in Rome. The church was huge and extremely beautiful. It had an extremely ornate ceiling. There were six popes buried throughout the church including Martin V and Innocent III. There were many side chapels as well. In the middle of the altar was a decorated tower that contained relics of St. Peter and St. Paul.  What was really interesting was across the street from the church was another part of the church.  It had been disconnected over the years. Inside the were the Holy Steps or the Scala Sancta.  They are the steps that once led up to praetorium of Pontius Pilate. Jesus Christ stood on these stairs while he was on trial before his Passion. They were brought to Rome by St. Helena, the mother of Constantine in the early 300s. St. Helena went to the Holy Land in 326 A.D. to search for relics of Christ. When she returned, she found the True Cross, the nails, Jesus' tunic, among other important artifacts including the steps. We as a group did not go up the steps because you have to go up them on your knees to show how humble you are.  There was already a large crowd anyways.

The tomb of Innocent III, the most powerful pope in the history of the papacy

The ornate ceiling and reliquary of Saints Paul and Peter

The Holy Stairs

The next church we went to was the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major. It too was a very beautiful church.  According to tradition, during the humid month of August, the Virgin Mary appeared to a couple in a dream and told them to build a church where it snowed. The next day it snowed on a nearby hill, and the church was eventually built on the site. 

Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major

The church is known for two important relics. One is it contains the oldest known image of Mary in Rome.  It has been carbon dated to 2000 years ago.  The second important relic is the supposed actual crib that Jesus Christ was placed in in Bethlehem. It too has been carbon dated to the same time period.  It was carried to Rome in the 7th century by Christian refugees from the Holy Land during Muslim conquest. The crib is contained in a golden reliquary in a chapel beneath the main altar.  Unfortunately, the area beneath the altar was closed because mass was starting.  We plan on going back later this week to see it.

Below the front altar was the reliquary containing the crib

The next church we went to was The Basilica of Saint Praxedes. It was built in 780 A.D and built in commemoration of Saint Praxedes, whose tomb we saw underneath the altar. Her and her sisters and brothers were early martyrs of the Church.

The entrance

The ceiling above the altar

What was really amazing was to see another relic of Christ brought to Rome by St. Helena. It is part of the Pillar of the Flogging, part of which was where Jesus was flogged and whipped before being led to his crucifixion. Regardless of whether one believes these relics are authentic or not it is quite an amazing experience to see them! You just have to have faith.

The pillar of the flogging

The next church we walked to was San Pietro in Vincoli or Saint Peter in Chains. It was for the most part a very simple church. It is known for housing a statue of Moses by Michelangelo which was originally intended to be Pope Julius II's tomb.

Moses

 The central part of the church underneath the altar houses a reliquary containing the chains that held Saint Peter in Jerusalem. As seen in the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible, Peter was put into prison by King Herod.  However, the night before his trial an angel came to him an freed him from his chains. These were the chains that were in the church. They were given by an Empress from Jerusalem to Pope Leo I in the early 400s, and this church was built to house them.  According to tradition, when Pope Leo was comparing them to the chains that bound Saint Peter in Rome before his death, the two miraculously fused together.

The chains of St. Peter

After leaving the church, we were on our way to eat at a restaurant by the Vatican. It was quite a long trek to get there.  On our way we passed THE COLOSSEUM and some other Roman ruins that Ashley and I still haven't fully toured yet, but plan to go back later this week.

THE COLOSEUM!

Roman ruins

From there we were all tired of walking and took the bus to the Vatican. We took a group shot in front of it on the bridge.

Our group

The restaurant we ate was not too bad. Ashley and I both got lasagna. We have officially decided to not get here in Rome anymore because it's always a disappointment.  Olive Garden officially makes the best!

lasagna

We were both extremely full but we still all got some Old Bridge gelato before we went home.  It was an extremely tiring day.