Today we visited San Clemente, an 11th century church built on top of a 4th century church on top of a Mithric temple from the 1st century. Now that’s not so special in Rome, but what’s special is that the Irish Dominicans (Fr. Maher withholds the usual Dominican boo because they’re Irish) had the bright idea to excavate the entire thing. We saw St. Cyril’s tomb (yes, like the Cyrillic alphabet) in the middle section and walked along alleys and floors from the days of Paul and Peter. An aqueduct still fed through the houses with fresh, probably drinkable water. We try to emulate the Romans for a reason.
Next we visited St. John Lateran, the oldest public church ever built. I kept wondering who St. John Lateran was, but really it’s called Church of Christ the Savior and to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Apostle. The Lateran part comes from the family that Constantine confiscated property from to build the church. One of 3 Constantinian basilicas, it’s the only one left in Rome (St. Peter’s got torn down and rebuilt and the other is in Jerusalem). It was incredible to think of this building as the mother of all church architecture throughout the world. It’s also where the Pope technically sits as the bishop of Rome – we saw THE chair. The baptistery, a separate building, is where every true Roman is baptized. Baptisteries were traditionally outside the church building because without baptism you weren’t a member and the church building was for members. A beautiful mosaic covered the apse with gold and bright colors, and the floor is intricately decorated with cosmatesque marble. The cloister was especially cool, with twisted columns reminiscent of the Book of Kells. The Irish had an impact here too.
On the way to these buildings we walked right past the Colosseum – it’s so strange to walk by one of the largest and most famous buildings of Western Culture and not even bat an eye, not take pictures, just accept that we know what it contains and are ready to explore elsewhere. Still pretty cool. We also saw the ruins of a gladiatorial school next to the Colosseum. It’s in the same neighborhood as St. Clemente, which Nero torched to clear out the rabble and make room for the Colosseum. He blamed the Christians, of whom there were a lot among the poor living in the bad neighborhood. I wonder what he would have thought of Pope Sixtus V’s plan to cut the Colosseum in half to make straight roads between churches and city centers. Sixtus died before his plan could be completed, but could you imagine driving through two halves of the Colosseum?
Next we visited St. John Lateran, the oldest public church ever built. I kept wondering who St. John Lateran was, but really it’s called Church of Christ the Savior and to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Apostle. The Lateran part comes from the family that Constantine confiscated property from to build the church. One of 3 Constantinian basilicas, it’s the only one left in Rome (St. Peter’s got torn down and rebuilt and the other is in Jerusalem). It was incredible to think of this building as the mother of all church architecture throughout the world. It’s also where the Pope technically sits as the bishop of Rome – we saw THE chair. The baptistery, a separate building, is where every true Roman is baptized. Baptisteries were traditionally outside the church building because without baptism you weren’t a member and the church building was for members. A beautiful mosaic covered the apse with gold and bright colors, and the floor is intricately decorated with cosmatesque marble. The cloister was especially cool, with twisted columns reminiscent of the Book of Kells. The Irish had an impact here too.
On the way to these buildings we walked right past the Colosseum – it’s so strange to walk by one of the largest and most famous buildings of Western Culture and not even bat an eye, not take pictures, just accept that we know what it contains and are ready to explore elsewhere. Still pretty cool. We also saw the ruins of a gladiatorial school next to the Colosseum. It’s in the same neighborhood as St. Clemente, which Nero torched to clear out the rabble and make room for the Colosseum. He blamed the Christians, of whom there were a lot among the poor living in the bad neighborhood. I wonder what he would have thought of Pope Sixtus V’s plan to cut the Colosseum in half to make straight roads between churches and city centers. Sixtus died before his plan could be completed, but could you imagine driving through two halves of the Colosseum?
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