Pilgrimage to Rome - Day 2

We needed the rest because Monday was perhaps the busiest day of our week in Rome. We began the day by taking the Metro to the Termini station and purchasing our tickets for our trip to Assisi later in the week.

Then we walked the few blocks to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. This church, dedicated to the Blessed Mother, was built after Pope Liberius had a dream indicating that a church should be built where a miraculous snowfall fell in August.

We then walked just a few blocks more, to the Basilica of Santa Croce in Jerusalem, where the relics of Christ’s Passion are adored. St. Helena brought these relics (and dirt from the Holy Land, which gives the Basilica its name) to Rome from Jerusalem. We were lucky enough to have Mass in one of the shrine’s chapels.

Stained glass window in Santa Croce with the motto of the Congregation of Holy Cross

Walking a few more blocks we arrived at the Sancta Scala, or Holy Steps – the marble steps of the Roman Praetorium, where Jesus would have been brought before Pontius Pilate. These steps were also transported from Jerusalem to Rome by St. Helena. Since these steps were scaled by our Lord during His Passion, the steps themselves are encased in wood to preserve them, and the faithful scale them only on their knees. I can now say I have done this once in my life, but am likely to skip it on any future trips to Rome. I limped around on my bruised left knee for the next few days!!

Directly across the street is the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral church of the Bishop of Rome, and until after the Avignon Papacies the residence of the Roman Pontiff. As the cathedral church of the Holy Father, St. John Lateran is “of all the churches in the city and the world, head and mother.”

"Of all the churches in the city and the world, mother and head."

The Holy Father's cathedra as Bishop of Rome

The Basilica's main doors are said to be from the Roman Senate

Above the high altar’s baldachin are the relics of St. Peter and St. Paul’s heads, and along the nave walls are huge statues of the twelve Apostles.

After time for lunch, and some relaxing in the gorgeous Roman sunshine, we proceeded to the Coliseum and the Roman Forum.

As Fr. Jim and I explored the area, we came across the Mamertine Prison where Peter and Paul were incarcerated before their martyrdom.

Our final church of the day was the Basilica of San Clemente. This ancient church was first a private home where Christians worshipped clandestinely as early as the first century. By the fourth century there was a public basilica on the site, which preceded the current church.

We finished our day by walking to the Trestevere neighborhood for dinner. That evening I enjoyed dinner with the seven men of Siegfried Hall who joined us for the pilgrimage. Fr. John Conley, csc our Rector-extraordinaire was generous enough to fund the get-together, and I immensely enjoyed the time to chat with such a wonderful group of guys.

The whole gang of Roman Ramblers in St. Peter's Square

(Greg, Andrew, John, Me, Stephen, Peter, Jake and David)