Day 10- Ostia and St. Paul

Today was another bus day. We got on the bus and headed out to Ostia Antica which has remains of an old port city. The city is between the Mediterranean and the Mouth of the Tiber river (although the water is a little further away from the city now. This is the place where Augustine and his mother Monica went to wait for a boat to take then back to North Africa. In his confessions, Augustine tells us that his mother came down with a fever there and died. There is a memorial near the theater for her.

The city was built around 600 B.C.E. and was used until around the 6th Century C.E. when the port was no longer in use and the city fell into disuse. Amazingly, the city was never built over so the city has been sitting there in ruins for about 1500 years. We saw a lot of cool things, including some of the oldest public toilets ever (and I have some great pictures of this!) On the site is also the remains of a 4th Century Christian Basilica that is probably where Augustine and Monica worshiped while in Ostia.

After lunch and some exploring we boarded the bus and went to Tre Fontana which is the site of 3 churches that surround the area where Paul may have been beheaded (although there are 2 different spots that claim this). The first church we went to was called the Stairway to Heaven, the second was called Vincenzo and Anastasia which has 3 fountains inside (legend say it was where Paul's head bounced but was later disproven). The last place was the Basilica of 3 Fountains… which does not have 3 fountains.

The last place we went to was called St. Paul outside of the Walls. This is the site of St. Paul's tomb and is the other place that claims to have been where Paul was beheaded (Note: Paul was a Roman citizen so he would have been beheaded while Peter was not so he was sentenced to crucifixion-Peter asked to be put upside down because he was unworthy to die in the same way as Christ). This church was absolutely beautiful! Words are difficult to describe what was going on in this church but I had a lot of time for spiritual reflection and it was wonderful!

When we got back we relaxed and had an early night.