The tour began at the Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri which means Our Lady of the Angels and Martyrs. Inside there was a magnificent sculpture of the head of St. John the Baptist on the platter (see Matthew 14:1-12 if you don't know what I'm talking about). There was also a statue of St. Bruno which one of the Popes said is so lifelike that it would talk to you if it weren't for the rule of the order.
We then went to Santa Maria della Vittoria or Our Lady of Victory which I believe has something to do with Lepanto but I'm not sure - Uncle John if you know anything about that feel free to enlighten me! Oh and on the subject of Lepanto - one of the stops on the Metro was called Lepanto! So I found that rather exciting. If anyone doesn't know what Lepanto is please ask me about it and I will be happy to enlighten you! But, back to Our Lady of Victory! Inside the Church was Bernini's sculpture of Teresa of Avila in Ecstasy which was beautiful. Also housed in Our Lady of Victory is the incorrupt body of St. Victoria. I don't really know anything about her but she's the first incorruptible I've seen so that was kind of exciting.
On the way to our next stop I saw my first orange tree! Very cool!
Then we went to the Capuchin Franciscan Boneyard Church which was . . . an experience. I'm not very good at explaining what it is but I'll try. It sounds like it's just a graveyard but it's not. I mean I guess technically it is a graveyard but it's not what you would think of when you think of a graveyard. It's inside a building but the floor is just dirt and there are skeletons and bones everywhere. But it's not like the bones are just chilling there, no, they're arranged in works of art. Sort of. Like there's a giant picture of the Sacred Heart made out of bones. And then there's full skeletons clothed in monk's robes just standing there staring at you. And, no joke, chandeliers made out of bones. And these are all the bones of former Capuchin monks. And then at the end there's a little thing that says "What we were you are and what we are you will become." So, I know there's probably a really good theological explanation for this and any of you who know it please explain it to me cuz I can not understand it. It just seemed really morbid and depressing to me and that's not what the Catholic faith is the Catholic faith is joyful because of the Resurrection but I didn't see any sign of that in this boneyard. So I didn't enjoy that very much.
Then we went to the Spanish Steps which there isn't much to say about but they were pretty cool. They're just these random steps in the middle of Rome, they probably have some historical significance but I don't know what it is, but you can get some cool pictures. And at the bottom of the Spanish Steps is the Keats Shelley Museum dedicated to the authors John Keats and Shelley, I don't remember his first name but he was married to Mary Shelley who wrote Frankenstein and he was a really important author too. It's the house where John Keats died. And I thought that was kind of cool cuz I remember studying them in Mr. Huggard's class and they made me think of Mary-Kate cuz she's an English major.
We then saw Sant Andrea delle Fratte where St. Maximilian Kolbe celebrated his first Mass and the Trevi Fountain. Then we went to Santa Maria Sopra Minerva which means Our Lady Over Minerva because this Church was built over a temple to the goddess Minerva. Inside was a painting of the Battle of Lepanto and . . . the body of St. Catherine of Sienna! Which was very exciting for me cuz my middle name is Catherine after St. Catherine of Sienna so she's one of my patron saints! Outside of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva is a statue called Bernini's Elephant because it was made by Bernini and it's an elephant.
We then went to the Pantheon which I discovered is really cool! It was originally built as a pagan temple to all the gods (pan=all, theon=gods) but, when Christianity became the official religion of the empire it was turned into a Catholic Church! Which is really cool cuz it was built to be a temple to all the gods but then it became a Church for the one, true God! And then when Rome was being attacked by the barbarians the Christians were worried about the saints' relics that were on the outskirts of the city so they moved them into the Pantheon which, for this reason, has since been named Santa Maria degli Marteri or Our Lady of the Martyrs.
We then went to St. Agostino and then, on our way to Piazza Navona we saw Via S. Giovanna D'Arco which means St. Joan of Arc street which made me happy! In the Piazza Navona we saw one of the many obelisks which are in Rome and also St. Agnes Church which, unfortunately, was closed for the day but it was still nice to see it since St. Agnes is the patron saint of my diocese.
Amy and I then headed towards St. Peter's so we would be sure to be there in time for our Scavi tour. As we were walking over we saw the beautiful and impenetrable Castle St. Angelo. Once we got to the square we bought some pizza from a street vendor for lunch and then did a little souvenire shopping.
We then took some pictures in the square before meeting up with our group for the Scavi tour at the statue of St. Peter. The Scavi Tour is a tour of the excavations underneath St. Peter's which were begun during World War II. Pope Pius had asked to be buried underneath St. Peter's and so, despite the difficulties this task presented, the Vatican began work on the project. However during the excavation they discovered a pagan necropolis or burial ground. So the tour is firstly a tour of this necropolis. However, prior to the building of the necropolis Vatican Hill had been used as a burial ground for the poor. Now, there was a legend that St. Peter's body was buried directly underneath the altar of St. Peter's Basilica. When the archaeologists were excavating they found the tomb of St. Peter but St. Peter's body wasn't there. However, they also found the so-called graffitti wall and inside the graffitti wall, which by the way is directly underneath the altar of St. Peter's basilica, were bones. And when these bones were examined they were found to belong to an older robust man, which St. Peter would have been, however, the feet bones were missing. Which makes perfect sense because St. Peter was going to be executed by Crucifixion but he felt he was not worthy to die in the same manner as Our Lord and so he requested to be crucified upside down. Because of this, and because he died on the eve of the Sabbath, the Christians had to retrieve his body quickly and so they cut of his feet. Hence, it makes perfect sense that the feet bones were not with St. Peter's body. And yes St. Peter was buried directly underneath the altar of St. Peter's Basilica. So Jesus wasn't kidding when He said "You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church." Apparently St. Gregory the Great had had St. Peter entombed inside the graffitti wall. I don't remember why. So we got to see the bones of St. Peter! And then, at the end of the tour, God gave me another little miracle: the tour ended at the tombs of the Popes and so I had another, slightly longer, opportunity to pray at the tomb of Pope John Paul II! God is so good!
We then hopped on the Metro and headed to Mass at St. Paul's Outside the Walls. Mass was beautiful of course! And in St. Paul's they have the Tomb of St. Paul! Also in St. Paul's are mosaics of all the Popes and there are only a couple spaces left for mosaics. And legend has it that when all the spots are filled it will be the end of the world. And there aren't exactly a lot of spots left! Duhn duhn duh!
I was exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel so I ate dinner and headed to bed.
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