Underground Today (Day 8, Monday, October 28, 2013)

There is an unseen City of the Dead under Rome: the Catacombs, Christian burial places.  Of the 60 different catacombs, only 4 are open to the public.  Today we journey to St. Callixtus' Catacombs, outside the Old City walls of Rome.  An astounding 500,000 people were buried in all the catacombs!  Most were Christians, some were Romans, not all were martyrs.

Our comfy tour bus for Italy.  Since 22 more have joined our tour, we now fill up the bus with 52 (plus one or two or three guides!).  This group includes 5 priests and 2 deacons with tourists from all corners of America and several from Canada.

We must past through the walls of the Old City first.

 

Since photographs were prohibited in the catacombs, I will attempt to describe them for you.  Before we began the tour, our guide told us, "Be very careful to stay with the group.  We don't want you to get lost.  It takes three years for the catacombs to be checked.  It might take a while to find you."  (No problem, ma'am; we'll stay very close to each other and you!)

While there were handrails to help with ascending or descending the stairs. they seemed to be the original stone stairs, rough hewn.  It was quite a change going from outside in the sunlight to going down the first dark, steep stairways.  Passageways are very narrow, lit by single electric light bulbs, at intervals.  It is cool but not quite cold in all places.  There are five levels of the catacombs.  We go down two or three levels but it is hard to keep track of that because we walk up and down and turn corners frequently.  Some of the 'rooms' are large, with layers of empty tombs stacked up five levels.  The tombs were cut out individually, according to the size of the person's body, and placed randomly in the walls.  Some are lavishly decorated.  Many have Christian symbols carved out.  It is sad to see the many tiny graves, but the death rate for babies was high in Roman times.  Some tombs seem wider and were built for more than one person.

The catacombs were not used as places in which to hide.  We saw no bones!  The graves were plundered in past centuries.  There is one statue of a young woman lying on her side.  It depicts St. Cecilia.  Her crypt was found in the year 1598; after it was opened, her body was found 'incorrupt' (not decayed, not embalmed).  One of St. Cecilia's hands is pointing with one finger.  The other shows three fingers.  This is the symbol of the Trinity, God, three persons in one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  St. Cecilia was beheaded.

Our Mass today is in this small chapel above ground near the entrance to the catacombs.

Our priests and deacon (second from left) celebrating Mass. (Father Gilbert sat this one out, due to the small space.)

We drove around the old city and saw many of the Roman ruins.  

Rome at the time of Christ was a bustling city of more than 1,000,000 citizens.  The Romans constructed immensely large and grand public buildings.  The public baths were two stories high and featured hot water.  Circus Maximus was an arena which held 150,000 spectators.  The Appian Way was a cobble-stoned highway stretching from Rome to the far reaches of the Empire.  A legend says that during the time of the greatest persecutions, St. Peter, the first leader of the new Christian church, was walking the Appian Way away from Rome.  He met Jesus who was heading back into Rome.  Peter said, "Quo vadis, Domine?"  (Where are you going, Lord?) Jesus told him, "I'm going back to Rome to get crucified again."  Peter got the message, turned around and walked back to Rome where he eventually was crucified - upside down.  He  said he was not worthy to be crucified in the same way as his Lord.

Roman architecture is lovely everywhere.  There are many piazzas, or plazas.  Most have a graceful, working fountain.  There are also columns in many locations, some in the middle of a fountain, most topped by a religious statue.

The fabulous, renowned Spanish steps.  The lower levels were full of sitting tourists and locals.  But there were small spaces for climbing.  At the top is Trinity Church.

Ten years ago, Cathy and I climbed these same Spanish steps in 95 degree heat!  Today the weather is mid-70's, significantly more pleasant.  Ten years ago, the building at the top of the stairs was encased in plastic, undergoing renovation.  I had no idea what is was. Restaurant?  Store?  It is Trinity Church, another one of the unique, grand churches in Rome.

View of Rome and St. Peter's Dome from the entrance of Trinity Church.  There is a law that in the Old City no building may be tall enough to compete with St. Peter's Basilica.

The Trevi Fountain, one of my very favorite places in Rome.  Ten years ago, when I first saw this, illuminated at night, I prayed, "God, thank you for letting me see this. But I wish you would have let me seen this on the last day of my life.  Nothing will ever be more beautiful!"  There is so much water flowing, it is LOUD at times!  The fountain is actually the back of the City Water Works.  One of the old Roman Aqueducts was built solely to bring water to the Trevi Fountain!

Guarding the Trevi Fountain are 'real' Roman Soldiers, very willing to have their photos taken with us (for a slight fee).

We pass through a shopping/office mall with a center for Robert Kennedy Studies on our way to our next site.  (Ceiling detail)

The Pantheon, major Roman Temple for gods, changed to a Catholic Church when the Christian religion was officially approved.  It was built in 27 B.C.

The dome of the Pantheon is 142 feet tall, open to the air, an architectural wonder, and still the largest dome in the world built with unreinforced concrete!  Our guide told us that Michaelangelo studied this dome to get an idea of how to build the large dome in St. Peter's basilica.

All parts inside and outside of the Pantheon, are interesting.  A section has been left as it looked in pre-Christian times, with walls of bricks, not marble.  There are altars; at one a Mass is in progress.  Two kings are buried there in large black crypts.

The Pantheon's Portico's ceiling is wooden, one of the few wooden ceilings I've seen outside in either Rome or Israel.

Since I've told everyone how magnificent the Trevi Fountain is when lit up at night, 15 of our party opt to go out after dinner to see it.  The water from the fountains splashes even more loudly with fewer tourists present.

Jan and Theresa, following tradition, tossing coins over our left shoulders into the Trevi Fountain.  This means we'll come back to Rome some day!!

As the greater part of our group returned to the hotel after dinner (another memorable Italian banquet!), the rest of us are left to catch cabs.  Fortunately for us, our priests have been to Rome multiple times and know how to haggle!  After rejecting several 'crooks trying to take advantage of us,' Father Gilbert finds 'honest' cabbies, 3 of them, who will charge us only 15 euros (each cab) for the trip back to the hotel.  Frankly, it was a wild ride and I found myself praying that our cabbie wouldn't run over anyone, several times!  Another adventurous day in our trip. . .