It's been quite a while since I've blogged about Rome! There is this one and then one more day so stay tuned!
After the Deaconate Ordination we had some free time, so Tyler and I went on an adventure. Really the only thing that I wanted to do in Rome that wasn't on our itinerary was to see the catacombs (where the early Christians were buried.) I had heard about them from others who had traveled to Rome and I was fascinated by the thought that we could actually see them.
The early Christians had to bury their dead outside the walls of Rome so the catacombs are all on the outskirts of Rome. It was so peaceful and beautiful!! Especially compared to the hustle and bustle of the city. Lots of trees, beautiful flowers, and an amazing skyline of the city.
Tyler flagged down a taxi and we started our adventure. We didn’t know where we were going or what we would do when we got there, but we went for it. We told the cab driver we wanted to go to the catacombs on the Via del Appia (I had read about them before and the Appian Way is the road that all the early Christians walked when they entered or left Rome, and is also the road Paul traveled.) The cab driver started naming some of the specific catacombs, and I chose the one that sounded the most familiar.
Here is a map of the three catacombs close together. We went to the one in the middle.
He took us to the catacombs of San Callixtus. It took about 30 minutes to get there, and wow, that was an adventure. While in Rome we had walked everywhere or took a huge tour bus and had always looked on in amazement at how people drove. I don’t know how they don’t get into hundreds of accidents everyday. The streets were so narrow and the drivers didn't really follow street signs, or if they did they had their own way of doing it that I didn't understand. Anyway, after lots of Angel of God prayers we got there.
We got there and looked around and it was perfect timing because there was a tour starting in a half hour. So we got tickets, went to the gift shop (bought a little pamphlet on the catacombs) and then Tyler got an cappuccino from a machine (like a vending machine only it came out in a little Dixie cup with a straw to stir it.)
The tour was very interesting. Starting in the first century, the early Christians used the underground tombs as meeting places (but risked their lives because if the guards went down and found them they would execute them that day) places to pray, and a place to bury their family members.
We saw a very small part of the catacomb, but the tour guide said there were about 5 or 6 acres of underground passageways and that over half a million Christians were buried in the catacombs.
Later when the catacombs were not being used, barbarians came and stole the marble tombstones and the bones. Plus they were abandoned for over a 1000 years After Christianity became legal church buildings were built and Christians moved the relics of the saints to the churches so they had no =reason to go into the catacombs to pray or venerate their dead.
When they started to excavate whatever was left in the catacombs, sometime in the 1800s or so, they moved what ever was found to a special place and so we didn’t see anything except empty places where we knew Christians had been buried.
When we came up out of the catacombs I took a picture of where we had been (no photographs were allowed underground).
One thing that I will always remember is we got to go into a room in the catacombs that was where around six of the early Popes were buried. We also went into a room where there was the bottom part of an altar and that was a place where the early Christians celebrated Mass. I can't describe the feeling of standing in that room, knowing the early Christians celebrated Mass right there, in danger of being killed...it was amazing. We also got to see the place where St. Cecelia was buried.
The biggest blessing of our adventure was God leading us to the Domine Quo Vadis Church. I had read about this before coming to Rome, had no idea where it was (although had heard it was on the Appian way near the catacombs) and as we were leaving the Catacombs, we literally walked right up to this church!
This is where tradition says that Jesus appeared to Peter as Peter was fleeing Rome. Peter asked Jesus, "Lord, where are you going? (Domine, quo vadis in Latin) And Jesus said to Peter, "I am going to Rome to be crucified again." Then Peter went back to Rome and was crucified.
This was both Tyler's and my favorite church. It was beautiful. It was very small, old, and not very ornate. But the paintings were beautiful!
As we entered, there were footprints in a marble slab that is said to be a miraculous sign left by Jesus.
Here are some of the beautiful paintings.
Jesus being crucified:
Peter being crucified upside down (by his request because he said he wasn't worthy to be crucified like Our Lord):
Out of our whole visit to Rome, these two experiences (the catacombs and this Church) really stand out to me. What a blessing that God took us on this adventure and we will never forget it!
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