Greece & Italy Day 8: Peter, Paul, and Rome

It was off to the airport first thing this morning for our flight to Rome. Upon arrival, we hit a snafu – our travel agency had sent enough bus that didn’t have a large enough trunk (or whatever you’d call it on a bus) to fit all our luggage. Granted, the extra luggage probably would have fit in the five or so empty seats on the bus, but apparently in Italy it’s illegal to put luggage inside the bus. Sigh…. Eventually they got somebody’s jeep to carry the remaining luggage and away we went.

Now it’s impossible to do justice to Rome since around every corner is another ancient building. So I don’t really know where to start. We drove past a lot of cool stuff and stopped at a couple places.

Our first stop was the Pantheon, which has been well-preserved because it was converted to a church in 609 A.D. Pretty dang cool and a disconcerting first stop (especially since we weren’t told that’s where we were going). We then broke for a quick lunch (pizza in Rome! Still need to get gelato!) before heading off on the Appian Way.

Pantheon outside (dome hidden from view)

Pantheon inside - Oculus in roof

Pizza!

The Domine Quo Vadis Church is on the site where (if I understood correctly) according to church tradition St. Peter met Christ as Peter was leaving Rome (in order to preserve his life) and asked Jesus, “Quo Vadis?” (Where are you going?). Jesus said he was going to Rome to be crucified a second time. As a result of that encounter/vision/whatever, Peter returned to Rome where he was eventually crucified upside down. They have a slab of marble which Jesus foot touched. Umm… yeah.

Domine Quo Vadis Church

The Catacombs of Domitilla are essentially a warren of tunnels (apparently among the most extensive, with 10.5 miles of galleries and corridors) including numerous alcoves in which people were buried. The size of the alcove reflects the size of the person, demonstrating that people were smaller back then. There are also numerous small alcoves in which infants were buried. In addition, there’s an underground basilica that was dug out of the rock there (it’s tufa, which is a relatively soft rock which hardens once exposed to oxygen or air or whatever). It was pretty dang cool. This was from the 4th century A.D. According to our guide, the idea that Christians used to meet secretly in Catacombs is just a romantic myth. That was disappointing to hear – I definitely need to have that verified.

Incidentally, if I heard our guide correctly, these catacombs were rediscovered and began to be researched in the 16th century. That was another “and America is how old?” moment.

Heather was excited about the catacombs - unfortunately we couldn't take photos inside

I knew there would be plenty of Peter on the trip, but I didn’t expect so much of Paul. We visited Tre Fontane, which included one sanctuary under which was a crypt and a cell in which Paul was supposedly imprisoned (his second Rome imprisonment) before his execution. And just a short distance away, a chapel over the spot where he supposedly was executed – according to tradition he was beheaded and his head bounced three times, causing three fountains to spring up (hence the name Tre Fontane). The latter chapel had a service going on with a priest blessing children, which was kind of cool and a reminder of the ongoing church life in these buildings. According to our professor the execution site is likely to be more accurate than the imprisonment site. Regardless of the likelihood, it was somewhat moving to stand in that chapel and think about Paul’s willingness to give his life for the Gospel.

Tre Fontane - Supposed site of Paul's beheading

Tre Fontane - supposed site of Paul's imprisonment

Tre Fontane - Paul's supposed cell

We then visited the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls – an impressive basilica built over the supposed site of Paul’s burial. You can see the end of the tomb and they also display a chain that supposedly held him when he was imprisoned. Interesting.

Basilica of St. Paul

Basilica of St. Paul (the sword is metaphoric)

Inside the Basilica of St. Paul

Inside St. Paul's Basilica

Paul's supposed tomb

Paul's supposed chain

While we encountered the active Orthodox church in Greece to some extent, it seemed like most of what we dealt with was simply ancient ruins, often of a pagan variety. Here in Rome, it feels like we’re encountering the active Catholic Church to a greater degree (go figure) and it’s really provoking me to once again think through Catholicism.

Not sure what’s on the itinerary for tomorrow, but should be fun!