Day 9- Big Churches Day

Happy Feast of St. Prisca Day!

Today we started off by heading over to Santa Croce in Gerusaleme. This church was built in the 4th Century by St. Helena (Constantine's mother). It was and is meant to be a pilgrimage church for people who will never make it to Jerusalem. In St. Helena's travels to the holy land she found a lot of relics related to Christianity and quite a few of them are housed in the church. These relics include: A piece of the cross on which Jesus was crucified, the cross beam of the good thief, the plaque above Jesus' head, the accusing finger bone of St. Thomas, thorns from the crown on Jesus' head, and a nail from the cross of Jesus. This church also has the personal chapel of St. Helena.

After that we went down the road to the official Cathedral of Rome called San Giovanni in Laterano. The land was originally owned by the Laterani family (who were really rich) and it was given to Maxentius when he married into that family. When Constantine won the Battle at the Milvian Bridge he took the land and gave it to the church. This site became the first papal apartments and were used until 1305. The church is dedicated to both John the Baptist and St. John the gospel writer and housed all 5 of the Lateran councils (pre-Vatican councils).

The church has 3 different parts, the Scala Santa (Holy Stairs), San Giovanni in Fontana (St. John's fountain), and the Basilica. The Scala Santa houses the stairs to the Pretorium (from the New Testament during Jesus' passion story) brought back by St. Helena. Of the relics brought back to Rome by St. Helena these are the most likely to be real. The 28 stairs are now covered by wood with slits to stick your hand in to touch the stairs. The only way you are allowed to climb the stairs is on your knees (as a penance). Most of us did climb the stairs and I have to say OUCH!!!! I understand why it is a penance, although it was a cool experience.

The next place we went to was San Giovanni in Fontana, which was the first stand-alone baptistery (as in a building meant only for baptisms). It was the only place people were allowed to be baptized in the 4th Century (and they were only allowed to be baptized on Easter).

The last part of the area was the Basilica. Above the altar was a piece of the wood from the table of the last supper. There were also pillars from the temple of Trajan under the organ. Above the bookshop was the tomb of Pope Innocent III who was the peak of papal power.

From there we had lunch at this little place called I Clementini (which is supposedly where all of the Irish priests go to eat… didn't see any sadly). It was across the street from San Clemente which was were we went next. This is one of Jim's top 5 churches and also one of his top 10 places in Rome. It is also a Title Church. It may have been named after the man Clement that was mentioned by Paul in the New Testament but it is unknown. What we do know is that the emperor Domitian's cousin and family were Christians who were martyred; one of the slaves of that family was freed upon the cousin's death and took the name Clement. This Clement wrote 1 Clement, was exiled from Rome in 98 C.E., and was the first bishop in Rome. Clement was martyred by being tied to an anchor and thrown in the Black Sea. In 861 C.E. his body was "found" on the beach by a guy named Cyril who then died. Both of these men are buried in the church.

Below the church there are 4 levels: a 4th Century church (used until the 11th century), 3rd Century remains of a Roman street and the house of Clement, a Mithraum (pagan temple), and finally remains of a 1st Century street with evidence of the fire of 64. The 4th Century church was probably built by Constantine and the top of the original basilica is cut off to build the modern church. A Mithraum is a temple to the God Mithras who is depicted as slaying a bull. The cult of Mithras was a very secret cult, sort of like masonry. Sadly it was really confusing to figure out anything but the 4th Century church and the Mithraum so I didn't realize when I saw the house or streets….

I have to say the San Clemente was probably one of my favorite places in Rome also. It was beautiful in the Scavi (excavations) and I could really feel the spirit's presence in that 4th century church.

After that we were done for the day so we had dinner and a few drinks and then went to bed.