Heritage Tour: Rome

Rome is impossible to blog about and do justice. So I'm not even going to try and say what we did. Instead, I'm going to tell you about the significance of Rome on our tour.  Because our tour was about Christian history, Rome is a pretty obvious place.  The whole Pope thing is important.  And both Peter and Paul ended up in Rome.  But Rome also was the center of the Roman empire.  So we have both emperors and popes in Rome's history.  And I was actually in charge of planning where we would go in Rome, what we would see, what order we would do it all, and what part of history we would talk about.  That was an impossible task!  So we essentially broke it into two halves:  Early Church and Vatican.

So in case you didn't know, it wasn't always cool to be a Christian, especially in the Roman Empire.  A lot of Christians were persecuted.  So we talked about persecution and martyrs.  Nero (an emperor) actually crucified Christians along major roads and then lit them on fire so they lit the road.  Others died in the Colosseum when they were eaten by lions and tigers. Some were simply beheaded.

But the stories of martyrs are absolutely inspiring. That they would give their lives rather than renounce Christ...wow.  One guy said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. That by killing Christians, the church actually grew.  And it makes sense. Wouldn't you want to know these people's secret that they are willing to be put to death, and are not scared of death?  A whole Colosseum full of people would see people die while singing hymns.  Don't you think God might stir up a little curiosity in those people?  I think it would in me!

We went to a church dedicated to St. Susanna in Rome for English language mass (it actually is an American congregation, some even work in things like Vatican radio).  And her story is pretty cool.  She was the niece of the pope or something like that.  She was beheaded, and her father was starved to death.  So there was a church in their home, and it has remained as a church on that spot for a long time, the current church is beautiful, and depicts her whole story (including where an angel helps her refuse a suitor which is a funny kind of thing to remember don't you think?)  But anyway, the church is beautiful and it was really cool to go to English mass and understand after going to Slovakian mass with Janka and having no clue what is going on.

As for the Vatican, we went to both the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica.  And it was really cool to see the Sistine Chapel. I appreciated our guide book alot because I actually understood what the ceiling is depicting, and what is on the alter piece.  And the story of the sistine chapel ceiling is really cool (we watched a movie on that too).  That Michaelangelo actually didn't originally want to paint the ceiling is crazy, because it is huge, and beautiful.

(the Sistine Chapel is a no picture place.... but this is from a poster out in the courtyard used by group tours)

The Vatican Museum is beautiful.  You could spend an entire day in there. I highly recommend not taking a tour, because there is no way that you can experience everything you will want to see.  Get a good Rome tour book, and you will understand enough to enjoy it more than being rushed through the entire museum.

They also have a super cool staircase in the Vatican:  Spirals anyone?

So then we went over to St. Peter's. WOW.  That is one amazing place.  Pictures don't do any justice at all. This is the central area, but there is a huge aisle on either side too with side alters.

And as we walked out of the church, God had set up the coolest sunset behind it.  It was pretty amazing!

But my definite favorite part of that day was sitting on the cobblestones in the middle of the square and just talking as a group and praying.  It was so very nice. 

There are so many more things we saw in Rome, and so many more stories of faithful Christians, but this will have to do for now.