A Christmas Pilgrimage in Rome
'Been to Rome have you? How's the Pope?' is the sort of comment I had on returning from a fortnight in Rome. Yes of course one goes to Rome to visit the Vatican, see the awe-inspiring St Peters and hopefully attend a papal audience. But what else? Two weeks is a long time, yet Rome is so huge, where to start? A friend of mine has been going there for thirty-five years and still claims there is always something new to see!
As I have spent most of my life writing about Christmas I decided to make a visit to all the places associated with Christmas first of all. I climbed up to the Ara Coeli it is situated on Palatine Hill, where Caesar Augustus- had his palace, and where the temples to the gods worshipped by the Romans were. Legend tells that this church was originally built by Caesar Augustus, after hearing the prophesy of the Sybil that a new King would be born greater than all the gods. Caesar built the temple to the unknown God whose birth had been seen in a heavenly vision by his Sybil. The Altar of Heaven. This Church has a famous 14th century carved image of the swaddled baby Jesus, carved by a Franciscan. Said to be miraculous, and the reason for many pilgrims, mostly Italians nowadays, climbing the many steps to the top.
Another significant place to visit whilst in the area is the International museum of Christmas Cribs, behind the Trojan Markets. Here you can see traditional Italian Cribs alongside unusual examples from all over the world.
Maria Maggiore is usually on the tourist route, but what most tourists don't know is that if you go on the 25th of the month, the gates to the crypt under the high altar are opened, and you can go down and see the huge silver gilt, crèche shaped reliquary which contains, according to tradition, pieces of the manger from the traditional site of the Nativity, brought back to Rome by St Helena, mother of Constantine the Great.
Helena spent her life and her fortune discovering holy relics from Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Whatever you may feel about such things, they serve to focus our devotion on an aspect of Christ's life on earth.
The place of the Nativity was preserved by virtue of the fact that the Romans, in an attempt to obliterate all signs of the site, which had already become a place of pilgrimage, built a temple to Apollo over it, and recorded the fact. Thus it was easy to find, safe and sound underneath.
Over the centuries many religious artefacts have been covered up by new factions, the Normans painted out the Byzantine influenced wall painting on our churches, just as five centuries later, the Puritans did the same in their attempts to obliterate all 'Romish images'. These were not destroyed but preserved underneath. Thus same happened with the site of the Nativity. What the Romans sought to destroy, later historians uncovered. So in Maria Maggiore you can see this important relic associated with our Christmas pilgrimage.
Whilst there take a careful look at the beautiful gold mosaics around the chancel arch. There is a series of pictures from the cycle of the Nativity, including a Birth of Jesus with the midwives in attendance, and a Circumcision, with old Simeon waiting by the temple for a sign from God, whose words are said by the Church every night in the office of Compline. " Lord let now thy servant departs in peace for mine eyes have seen my Salvation"..
Then I travelled across town on the very efficient metro system to the Church of St Gregory the Great. This Church is now part of a complex of charities run by various communities of nuns and monks. But in the 5th-6th centuries it was a great Benedictine Abbey, from which came Pope Gregory the Great. Gregory later in life sent the monks from that abbey, under St Augustine, to convert the Saxon people living along the south east coast of Britain. History says that they landed on Christmas Day 591, in a great storm, and were welcomed by the local people there. It is said (give or take a few!) that they converted 10,000 people to the Christian faith on that trip. Of course, oral tradition always exaggerates the facts, but the story itself has truth.
On a more secular theme, Piazza Navona holds the Roman Christmas Market. Stalls, colourful and tempting, are set up around the square. There you can sample local delicacies, and buy unusual gifts from the many artisans and craftspeople selling their wares. Often very inexpensively. I purchased an original acrylic picture, the like of which I have never seen before. The image sculpted onto the canvas with a palette knife, of two dancers so skilfully that the dancers seemed to flow and move together. And it cost just 20 Euros.
Many Churches have Nativity imagery, but my final stop on this Christmas pilgrimage was to Santa Maria in Trastevere. A wonderfully unspoilt Romanesque Church, with frescos and mosaics from the cycle of the Nativity. Travastere itself is a different world to Rome. On the far banks of the river, it is the area where the old merchants had their homes, and present travasterians swear they are descendants of those merchants. The churches, the town, has preserved its medieval quality. You can attend Vespers with the nuns of St Cecilia's convent, where there is a lovely marble of St Cecilia, sculpted just as she was found in the catacombs, on her side, with her head down. And after Vespers? What better that an open air supper at Pataccas. It has been there forever and is quite famous in Rome. And a wonderful way to end a day which is certainly different in terms of a Roman pilgrimage.
Copyright © 2003 Maria Hubert von Staufer. All Rights Reserved
An Alternative Roman Holiday
How many like me remember the 1950's films, 'Three coins in a Fountain', and 'Roman Holiday'? The sights of Rome, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, St Peters, romance and sunshine! What lovely films they made in those days, better advertisements for the countries filmed in that anything the Tourist Boards could do!
I have just spent a memorable month in Rome, and my memories are not courtesy the help from the Rome Tourist Board, rather from searching the internet, and a lot of walking around!
What do we go to Rome to see? St Peters certainly, perhaps, if we are lucky, a papal audience, a guided tour of St Peters itself - and maybe the tour guide will include a couple of other Churches such as Maria Maggiore, or Peter in Chains - as well as the tourist sites such as Spanish Steps, Navona Square and the famous Trevi Fountain where, if you stand facing away from the fountain and throw a coin in you will surely return - according to Roman legend!
But I spent the first week feeling distinctly disappointed. Reading about such gems as third century churches, etc to find when I got there they had all been 'restored' in the 17th-18th centuries and were awe-inspiring mausoleums filled with enormous statues and pillars, and not very prayer inductive.
There is so very much to see, that you have to be content to see a little - and having thrown your coin in the Trevi fountain, come back again for another look!
So I decided to devise my own pilgrimages based on the stories behind these churches. One, a Christmas Pilgrimage, I have written about elsewhere. Another, in the Footsteps of St Francis begins in Assisi and ends in Rome. The third I devised around Rome itself.
Possibly the most significant visit for me, on this pilgrimage, was the one which took us deep underneath the present St Peters, to the earlier churches on the site, and to the position of the actual tomb of Peter. This was discovered and identified back in the 1940s and given papal verification based of evidence of contemporary documentation stating where Peter had been buried.. Other early companions of Peter and early popes are also buried, but not identified, in the area. The present shrine under the high altar of St Peters is directly over the site of the tomb, but a visit to the earlier St Peters and the actual catacombe underneath is well worth while. You have to apply to the Swiss guard on duty at the left side of St Peters, walk up past the shops and post office and you will find the place, and ask him to direct you to the office through the gate. Be prepared to give several alternative dates, as they only take small groups of ten people at a time, so not many get to see this area.
Mass in St Peters is of course a must. Sunday Mass at 10.30 am is held behind the high altar in a small chapel, and much more conducive to prayer than the massive edifice in front. And to apply for an invitation for a papal audience, it is better to apply in writing before your visit. But if you go whilst there, the office is on the right of St Peters main entrance, just ask the Swiss Guard. Beware the peddlers in the square. Their merchandise is cheap and poor quality, and you can buy better for less in the many shops around the square.
This pilgrimage visits all the shrines and sites associated with the saints are buried. Rome is full of stories and legends of the saints, and each place has its own story. Whatever the truth, these stories and sites help us to focus and meditate on the lives of those holy men and women who gave their lives for their Faith. If you keep that thought in mind as you visit these places, you will not be disappointed, and it wont matter whether the stories are fact or fiction or a bit of both!
The churches, depending on your taste, range from baroche to, mostly baroche! All with ancient foundations and some where you can actually visit the earlier buildings underneath. But the top show is imposing, grand and very very Roman!
The metro system in Rome is, like the bus service,, excellent. However, you have to get your tickets in Tobacconist shops. The automatic machines at the bus stops more often than not are not working, and you cannot buy on board. Idf you are travelling around a lot, consider a weekly ticket, very cheap and saves a lot of footwork looking for a shop!
Following first the relics associated with Sts. Peter and Paul, just a short walk from St Peters Square in Via Conciliazione, is the small church of Sta Maria in Traspontina. Fairly unremarkable, it was believed to have been built over an ancient pyramid tomb thought to have been that of Romulus and Remus, the legendardy founders of Rome. In the third chapwel on the left there are two columns said to be those to which the saints Peter and Paul were bound before their deaths.
Built traditionally over the site where St Peter was crucified, is the Church of St Peters on the Golden Mountain. San Pietro in Montorio.. How this came to pass is not known, as documents show that St Peter was in fact martyred in Nero's Circus, which is just to the left of the present St Peters, and where the visit to the tomb begins.. Below this church is a chapel, where there is a hole where the cross of St Peter was supposedly fixed.. As legends are usually based on a truth, no matter how garbled, I wonder if maybe this was in fact the site of the martyrdom of another contemporary of Peters.. Worth a visit.
Another strange one is Santi Nereo e Achilleo. This was built on the site where the bandage covering St Peters woulds fell, when he ran from the city to escape his persecutors.! Far better and one of my favourites, is the 'Quo Vadis' Church, at the start of the Appian Way, close to the Catacombes, which of course you must visit for their associations with the early Christians who established the Church there. Quo Vadis is built where, tradition has it, Our Lord appeared to St Peter when he was fleeing, and told him to go back.
Near the Forum is the Church of St Pietro ad carcere. Where St Peter was imprisoned. I found this depressing, but thought provoking none the less. By now Peter was an old man, he was being persecuted, and his Lord had told him not to flee for his life but to go back and face his death, that others would follow in his example, and our great Church would grow.
Then comes the Church of San Pietro ad vincolo. This is where chains (vincoli) that bound St. Peter during his incarceration in Mamertine Prison . The chains were eventually taken to Costantinpole. During the 5th century, Empress Eudoxia put one of the chains in a church in Constantinpole and gave the other one to her daughter, Eudoxia, in Rome. Her daughter gave her chain to Pope Leo I, who built St. Pietro in Vincoli to house it. Many years later, the second chain was brought back to Rome! This church is best known for Michelangelo's breathtaking Moses, which was originally commissioned in 1505 for the tomb of Pope Julius II.
Whilst in the area, to save shoe leather, visit one of the oldest surviving churches - that of St Mark in St Marks Square. Close to the ancient Forum, Palatine etc.. Like all others, this church was restored in the 18th century, but the new church seems to have been built inside the original 4th century church, and you can see the old walls. Relics of St Mark the Apostle are under the high Altar.
My visit to Giovanni in Laterano was a surprise. Moving out of the orbit of the SS Peter and Paul, I came across this magnificent Church, very much on the main tourist route, I went to that area in search of another of St Helenas relics from the Holy Land. The Scala Sancta.The 28 steps, said to be those that Christ ascended in Pontius Pilate's house during his trial, were brought from Jerusalem by St. Helena in approximately 325 A.D
The steps are covered with boards, as noone may touch them. You may only climb the stairs on your knees in fact! Though there is a side stairways which you may walk up to reach the chapels at the top. An amazing number of pilgrims were ascending on their knees, a sign of great devotion for this day and age.
In the chapel at the top is an icon of Christ, according to tradition, the work of St Luke, assisted by an angel. Called the Acheiropoeton.
In the same area, is the Church of Santa Croce. This is a Cistercian Church, Great feelings of peace are here. The pilgrims who find this site do so in silece and venerate the relics of the Cross with great reverence.
This church was built by St. Helena, in 320 AD on the grounds of her private palace. She brought back many relics of the Crucifixion from Jerusalem, which are on display in this church. The shrine dedicated to the relics are located on a staircase going up to the second floor. Among the most important are: the crossbar of the Cross of the Good Thief, which is under glass on the wall in the hallway going upstairs to view the relics of the Crucifixion, and part of Pontius Pilate's inscription in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek, "Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews". Ascending the staircase you enter this magnificent room with five or six rows of very old pews. On the far wall as you enter the shrine is a beautiful cross embedded in lapis lazuli. On the vertical part of the cross just under the crossbar, is a crystal section that houses one of the nails that held Jesus's hand to the cross. Also here are a few of the thorns from the Crown of Thorns.
The final church on this tour is San Paolo fuori de mura. St Pauls without the walls. Again, the good old metro will get you there. From wherever you are get the metro to Termini, and then one direct to San Paolo. and it is across the street. Nothing really remains of the original basilica which was destroyed by fire in the early 19th century. It is however, one church is one of the four patriarcal churches of Rome (the other three are St. Peter's, San Giovanni in Laterano, and Santa Maria Maggiore). It is important to this pilgrimage because under the high altar is the Tomb of St Paul.
Yet another tour completed! And there are still 'themed' areas to visit in Rome, a city of, I am told, some 900 churches! Rome is expensive. I stayed in an apartment close to the Vatican, but it was only just adequate really, though cheap at 1300 euros for the four weeks I spent there. Another option is to try one of the many convents now offering guest house accommodation to fill the places left by the dwindling communities. They start at around 59 Euros a night for a double room with breakfast, and are clean free of bed bugs (unlike my apartment!) and the food is good.
Copyright © 2003 Maria Hubert von Staufer. All Rights Reserved.
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