Day Nine - Rome

Today we officially celebrated the Year of St. Paul in Rome, with some other stops along the way. We began at the Church of Saints John and Paul, referring not to Paul the apostle but to 3rd-century Roman martyrs. The church that was built over the house of these two brothers is one of the oldest in Rome and is also one of the most popular wedding churches in Rome. After a brief visit to this church, we officially began a Pauline Pilgrimage.

The Pauline Pilgrimage began at the Abbey of Tre Fontane, or Three Fountains. There are three churches at this abbey, the church for the Trappist monks who live hear, a church called Stairs to Heaven dedicated to St. Bernard of Clairvaux who lived here while in Rome, and the Church of the Three Fountains. Our purpose for coming here was in this last church, for it was here that St. Paul was executed. After being held at the Mamertine Prison in the heart of Rome (which we visited two days ago), St. Paul was brought outside the walls of the city to be killed. Executions were always done outside the city walls for hygenic reasons and because death was thought to make a place unclean. Since St. Paul was a Roman citizen (unlike St. Peter), he was not crucified, a punishment reserved for non-citizens. Instead, he was decapitated by sword. Tradition says that his head bounced three times and that fountains sprung up at each place - hence the name of the church, Three Fountains, where these springs are preserved. Mass was going on as we visited the church, but we made a quiet visit inside and then gathered outside to read from St. Paul's Second Letter to Timothy, where he says that his departure is at hand and that he has run the good race (2 Timothy 4.1-8).

We then continued to the ultimate destination of our Pauline Pilgrimage, the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls. After being executed, St. Paul was buried less than a mile away from the place of his death in a small cemetery. When Christianity was legalized by the Emperor Constantine, he ordered a church to be built over the tombs of both St. Peter and St. Paul. The church built over St. Paul's tomb was rebuilt several times then destroyed by fire in the 19th century, so most of the present church is less than 200 years old. As we arrived at the Basilica, there were dozens of buses lined up outside - our guide, Sylvia, said that she had never seen this many buses. Our first stop on the agenda was a private Mass, which we had arranged ahead of time. Any group can arrange for a private group Mass at any of the Major Basilicas of Rome, and especially during the Year of St. Paul, many groups have been requesting private Masses in the church where St. Paul is buried. As it turned out, all those buses were carrying a group of 2,500 pilgrims who are members of a prayer group and had arranged for a private group Mass at the Basilica. Since the group was so large, they were given the main nave of the church for their Mass, which was being celebrated by the Cardinal Archpriest of the Basilica and several bishops and priests, all of whom were in the sacristy when I arrived to get ready for our small group Mass. We were assigned to the Chapel of St. Benedict - honoring the Benedictine monks who are responsible for the care of this Basilica. Another small group was also celebrating Mass in a neighboring chapel. Because of the large group Mass in the main part of the church, it was impossible for us to approach the tomb of St. Paul after our group Mass was finished. So we left the basilica to go to a local cafeteria-style restaurant for lunch, then returned as the large pilgrimage group was leaving. With the Basilica much less crowded, we were able to pray individually at the tomb of St. Paul and visit the rest of the basilica.

After leaving St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, we went to the Catacombs of St. Callistus for a tour. The largest of the many catacombs in Rome, this Christian cemetery is the final resting place of more than 500,000 Christians who died between the 3rd and 9th centuries. A local guide led us through the catacombs. We were then scheduled to visit a small church called Domine, Quo Vadis?, but it is closed for restoration, so our guide instead suggested that we visit Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, or the Church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. Located very near our hotel, it is one of the seven Pilgrimage Churches in Rome. Built at the request of St. Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine, it was built to house the relics of Christ's passion that she brought back from Jerusalem - a piece of the true cross, a nail, two thorns, and part of the inscription above the cross. These relics are kept in a chapel behind the main altar. After visiting this church, we returned to the hotel, where we are on a two-hour siesta before dinner. Tomorrow, we have the latest start time of the whole trip - 9:30 am! - and will visit the other two Major Basilicas, St. John Lateran and St. Mary Major, as well as some other important churches. It will be our last full day in Rome before we head back to Athens on Saturday morning.