All Roads Lead to Rome: Roma, Roma, Everywhere! And Still So Much More to See!

+JMJ+
Today has been a very full day. I love having full days here!

I left the villa at 5:45am for the station Mass, which was at St. Lawrence today. St Lawrence has a great saint story, so I will share it briefly. St. Lawrence was an early Roman martyr; his dedication to the Christ and His Church cost him his life. St. Lawrence was a deacon; a deacon is not a priest, but an ordained minister who assists priests and bishops in carrying out certain tasks, such as teaching and distributing food. Anyway, St. Lawrence witnessed Pope Sixtus II being arrested and led to his own martyrdom and begged to accompany the pope. Pope Sixtus II denied his accompaniment; instead, he instructed St. Lawrence to distribute the material goods of the Church to the poor. Pope Sixtus II also prophesied to St. Lawrence that his (Lawrence's) martyrdom would soon follow.

St. Lawrence did as Pope Sixtus II said and distributed the goods of the Church to the poor. Sure enough, he was arrested a few days later. The emperor demanded that St. Lawrence hand over the riches of the Church. When sent to gather the riches of the Church, St. Lawrence returned to the emperor with the poor and said that these, the poor, were the riches of the Church.

As you might imagine, the emperor didn't take to this too well. In fact, he didn't take to it well at all. Enraged, he ordered that St. Lawrence be executed by being burned alive on a grill. St. Lawrence faced his cruel martyrdom not only bravely, but also with a sense of humor. In the middle of being grilled, he called out to his executioners, "You can turn me over, I'm done on this side!" Joyful and *totally* (as you can see) in love with the Lord and dedicated to His Church, St. Lawrence gave his whole life for Christ to the very end of it.

The church I went to this morning was built at the site of St. Lawrence's martyrdom. There is a fresco painted behind the altar, the second largest fresco in Rome (after the Sistine Chapel) that depicts St. Lawrence's martyrdom. Mass was beautiful. It was especially wonderful to have a lot of American deacons there where St. Lawrence, who was a deacon, gave such a powerful witness and example.

Fresco depicting the martyrdom of St. Lawrence

After Mass (and after coffee, of course; this may be assumed from here on out), I was off to the Vatican Museum!! My classmates and I got a free tour because it is the Year of Faith! The sister that gave us the tour was SO GOOD. We only five or six things and were only able to go into great detail about two or three of them, but it was such a good tour, very focused on the faith, how it has been written into creation from the very beginning and how it is the same today. I could go on and on, but I already used up my on and on rant about St. Stephen, so I must move on. I have other work to do and I'm sure (I hope) you have other things to do besides read this blog.

The sister who gave us our tour

So, Vatican museum. We saw an early Christian sarcophagus from somewhere between 330-340 AD. It was around this time that Christianity had become legal in the Roman empire; hence, it was the first time the Christian faith was being expressed in art. This sarcophagus is decorated with the earliest explicit depiction of the Trinity that the world has, the banishment of Adam and Eve from the garden, Daniel in the lion's den (which represents Christ's crucifixion), some of the miracles Jesus performed during his public ministry, and the life of St. Peter. We know from this sarcophagus that the Catholic faith we profess in the creed today was understood from the beginning by the early Christians.

On to the SISTINE CHAPEL!!! This is one of a few things that I have seen that I have specifically noted is truly infinitely better than seeing a picture or poster. Too much for words on a blog post on which I've already used up my ranting space. It was especially cool to be there knowing that in a few weeks, that is where all the cardinals will be electing the next pope. Woah. I saw the door to the "Room of Tears" (the room where the new pope will dawn his papal vestments for the first time; it's called the room of tears because he usually cries. Being the leader of the Universal Church whose purpose is the salvation of souls is a great and serious responsibility) and the place where the wood burning stove will sit to send up either black or white smoke to tell the world the results of the conclave. I want to write so much more! Must limit self...maybe I'll do a post on special things having to do with the papal election that I'm learning...

This is the gallery of maps, the longest gallery in the Vatican Museum. There are maps of different parts of Italy along the walls and paintings of saints that correspond to those parts on the ceiling. You have to walk through this gallery to get to the Sistine Chapel.

You aren't allowed to take any pictures in the Sistine Chapel, so I stole this one off of the internet. Just so you know, it's not anywhere close to sufficient.

Next up, the Colosseum! I told you today was a big day! We followed a couple tour groups around just to listen to what the tour guides had to say and to try to get into the parts you had to pay extra to get into (which halfway worked, then we were found out). Here are some lovely pictures: