Day 5 started with class discussions on the Incarnation, Rome under the Visigoths and Lombards, Pope St. Leo the Great, Pope St. Gregory the Great, the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, and the conflict between St. Cyril of Alexandria and Nestorius of Constantinople.
A few of us grabbed lunch at L'800 Caffe near the College. Their sandwiches were fantastic and very cheap. The man behind the counter is one of the few people that actually said something other than "Si" or "Bene" after I ordered a meal. I was pleased.
We finally made it today to the Basilica of San Clemente, a minor basilica of Rome, which is right down the street from the College. This church was particularly interesting as it actually sits on top of a 4th century version of itself, which sits on a 1st century house church, which contains a pagan "mithraeum" to the Persian god Mithra. This place didn't allow pictures, unfortunately, so I only snapped a few outside and a couple inside when I could.
The church of the 4th century contains the remains of St. Cyril of Alexandria, the Cyril who, along with St. Methodius, evangelized the Slavic countries and codified the Cyrillic alphabet.
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| Newer entrance to the basilica |
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| Old entrance to the basilica, about 8 feet down from the current street-level |
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| 4th century church corridor (the only one I could snap, and it's not one of the main church) |
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| A monument to the O'Connell who owned O'Connell House on BC's Upper Campus |
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| The tomb of St. Cyril of Alexandria, a pilgrimage destination for Slavs |
Following the visit to San Clemente, we finally found one of the Roman water fountains and I was abl to get a picture of it. In the photos below, Prof. Coolman demonstrates how the pipe supplying water can actually be used as a drinking fountain, like those found in schools. It's actually amazing how, throughout a rather dirty city, the water supplied by these fountains is crisp, cool, and clean. I've definitely thanks the Ancient Romans a number of times this week for the innovation!
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| Normal flow for drinking/washing |
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| The "drinking fountain" technique |
After a short walk from San Clemente, we came upon the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. One of the major basilicas of Rome, this basilica is the largest of the churches dedicated to the Blessed Virgin.
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| Mary and Jesus atop the basilica entrance |
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| Prof. Coolman makes some remarks by the Marian Column |
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| Mary and Jesus atop the Marian Column |
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| The Holy Door, opened on Jubilee years only |
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| Reliquary of the Holy Crib, said to contain fragments of the manger of Christ. Also, St. Jerome, the translator of the Bible into Vulgate Latin, is buried here |
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| Statue of Pius IX, who's devotion to the Holy Crib led to the creation of the chapel |
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| Glass above the entrance |
For those of you who don't know, I the guilty pleasure of loving "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown. His novel involves various pieces of Bernini's artwork. Below is the grave of Bernini. You will see many of his works on this blog, as I have mapped out much of my self-touring based on trying to see them all.
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| The tomb of the Bernini Family |
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| The Oratory of the Nativity, where St. Ignatius of Loyola first said Mass |
Following the end of the visit to Santa Maria Maggiore, we realized we had quite a lot of time before our dinner reservations. I have a running list of churches that I want to see, so I looked one up and it turned out we were close.
For those of you who don't know this fact either, I am absolutely obsessed with the time period of the Borgia papacy and the Borgia family. Many of the sites that aren't related to Bernini that I want to see have something to do with seeing something related to the Borgias. The street below was found by accident. The Sforza family was both an ally and an enemy of the Borgias at different points in their history together.
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| One of the streets on the way |
The church I led us to was the Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli, or Saint Peter in Chains.
The main reason I wanted to visit this basilica was actually due to the Borgias. Other reasons popped up left and right. For example, the photo below is the tomb of Pope Julius II, a creation of Michelangelo's. Pope Julius II was previously Cardinal Guiliano della Rovere, the main adversary of Pope Alexander VI, the "Borgia Pope", who constantly tried to depose the unjust and immoral pope. I had no idea that Michelangelo had anything to do with this until I looked it up. Frankly, I think people usually have it the other way around.
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| Tomb of Julius II |
I say that I believe people know of this as being by Michelangelo more than it is known for being the tomb of Julius II because of the figure sitting in the center. This is Michelangelo's "Moses", a statue that is well known. For some reason, Michelangelo decided that this would be a great place to plop Moses down. I'm certainly not complaining. Just to point out, you can see in the picture below, Moses appears to have horns on his head. Due to a biblical mistranslation, many centuries went by during which it was commonly believed that Moses descended Mount Sinai with horns on his head. Many sculptures and paintings of Moses have these horns as a result.
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| Michelangelo's "Moses" |
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| The chains traditionally believed to have bound Peter (like Paul's in Paul Outside the Walls) |
As we walked from the basilica towards our reservation destination, we stopped a number of churchs on the way. First was the Basilica di Santi Silvestro e Martino ai Monti (Saint Silvester and Martin in the Mountains).
After this stop, we continued walking and went into church of Sant'Eusebio. This was squeezed between apartment buildings in the last place we would have expected to see a titular Roman church. This is why I love Rome.
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| Sant'Eusebio |
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| Rosary being said prior to Mass at the side chapel |
Dinner was had, interestingly enough, just around the corner from the Via Machiavelli, another character connected to the Borgia family. I had to take a picture to continue my collection.
According to Prof. Coolman, our class officially broke the record for the greatest number of churches visited by the entire group at the same time in one day - 5. We told him that we could beat that easily. We will definitely see.
Tomorrow, we will visit the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran.
Thus ends the 5th day.
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