Day 4 - Catacomb of Priscilla

Moving right along, Day 3 class time brought us through Rome under Diocletian and Galerius, Constantine's rise to power, Christianity under Constantine, the Council of Nicaea, and the "Trinitarian theology" and nature of God.

Our site for the day was the Catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria, north of the College. Getting there involved a two train rides and a lengthy walk. Due to it being so far out of the way, this particular catacomb is usually passed over by the average tourist. Many people are much more interested in seeing the Catacomb of Callixtus, which lies in the heart of Rome, is larger than the Catacomb of Priscilla, and functioned as the tomb of many popes until they started being interred in the Vatican Grottos beneath St. Peter's Basilica. The Catacomb of Priscilla, however, is much older with its use as a burial site starting in the late 2nd century and gives us an insight into early Christian art.

Unfortunately, a group of sorority girls from SMU decided that they too should visit the catacomb on the very day at the very time that we went for our tour. They showed up in a coach bus (remember, we walked) and 30 or so of them entered the tiny aboveground building. The Benedictines of Priscilla were not pleased by their arrival, particularly because they had made no reservation prior to showing up. We had to tag along with this big group because the regular tour guide could take only one group at a time and the sorority girls were first to the desk. For the most part, a large number of the girls were completely disinterested in seeing the site and were verbally expressing that disinterest. At one point, someone stated that they preferred the "Powerpoint slides" to the actual site and how this was their least favorite part of their Roman tour. The coordinators of their group were also not only rude to the guide and the Benedictines but also to us. The whole experience made me once more grateful for the kind and considerate people in our group.

Unfortunately (also), the tour prohibited camera use in the catacomb, so all of these pictures I had to grab off the Internet.

The first level of the catacomb is actually an old Roman quarry. Beneath the quarry level, the catacomb has two additional levels, each structured like a fish spine and ribs (one main, straight tunnel with regular branches on either side). The catacomb held 40,000 bodies of the rich, poor, and everyone in between. Many early martyrs were buried here, along with seven popes, from the 2nd through the 4th century. A number of chapels can be found within, over or near the graves of martyrs. Many Christians longed to be buried close to the bodies of martyrs because they believed that those who paid the ultimate price for their belief in death could help after death.

A tiny fragment of the immense underground tunnel system of graves

Importantly, the catacomb contains many remnants of plaster frescoes and paintings of early Christian symbols, saints, and religious figures. In fact, the catacomb contains the first known portrait of Mary, (which is also the first ever "Madonna and Child" due to the presence of the infant Christ). Interestingly enough, the catacomb artwork shows an early-Christian connection to pagan symbols which have evolved into Christian symbols today. Early Christians were not so easily capable of creating new imagery that everyone in the church could grasp the meaning of; they often picked already existing symbols that could be interpreted in a genuinely Christian way instead.

First portrait of Mary with Jesus

Tomb of the Veiled Woman, which gives a sense of how the catacomb used to look 

Ceiling of the Tomb of the Veiled Woman

"The Breaking of the Bread", showing early Christians sharing in a sacred meal

Something I took notice of while walking through the catacomb: Italians are way more acclimated to the heat then us foreigners. How did I come to that conclusion while walking through tunnels that used to hold 40,000 dead faithful? The tour guides were all bundled up in winter clothing - wool hat, scarf, big jacket. In the 60˚ catacomb, they were actually really cold and had to put on layers. I just thought that was interesting.

The tour was altogether a good one. The temperature was almost chilly underground, which was a welcome respite from the 94˚ temperature of the day.

Dinner was taken at a café near the College which serves a nightly buffet for 8 euro with one included drink - definitely the place to go for people on a collegiate budget.

The night drew to a close in an unexpected but fantastic way. Because of the fact that I lack a roommate, my room works well for getting the group together for movie night without being cramped. We actually carried one of the other twin beds from another room into my room, forming one large bed with it and the other two beds already in there. We set up the movie "Gladiator" on two laptops with Netflix and had popcorn while we commented on all of the places in the movie that we'd been to so far in Rome. It was a great way to end the day.

Tomorrow, we will tour the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore and, because we missed it today, the Chiesa di San Clemente.

Thus ends the 4th day.