2018 - Italy - Day 8 - Sunday Mass, Roaming Rome, and the Pink Panther

Walking to Mass... 30 minutes... in the rain, thankfully it wasn't too cold.

One of the 4 fountains (one at each corner of the crossroads.

View of the Piazza di Spagna from Pizza Trinita dei Monte. Once again this church was closed when we got there.

Trinita dei Monte

Up these stairs, next do the Church is the convent that houses Mater Admirabilis. It was at this painting that St. Therese the Little Flower (of Lisieux) prayed that the Holy Father would allow her to enter the convent at age 15.

Mater Admirabilis

Piazza di Spagna which is at the bottom of the Spanish Steps.

Ok, this restaurant was REALLY neat, we didn't eat here just walked by. HUGE statues inside, no idea how they got in.  Very interesting.

Rome has serious driving and serious parking... issues.

The Dyslexic eye chart.

twin churces Santa Maria Mantesanto and Santa Maria Miracoli. Very interesting read these twins. Opposite the piazza from these two churches is the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo. We did not go inside but it houses Caravaggio's AWESOME Conversion of St. Paul. I just have to mention this as I'm a big Caravaggio fan.

Conversion of St. Paul - Caravaggio

Anyway, back to the twin churches. We had a little time before we had to get to Mass we went into Santa Maria dei Miracoli.   Since Mass was going on we did not get many pictures. There is a miraculous image (not the original now) that save a baby who had been dropped in the Tiber River in 1525 (I believe), over the main altar. Due to flooding the miraculous picture was moved to San Giacomo and a copy remains in this church. In the back of the church was the remains of St. Candida within the waxen form.  She was a martyr whose relics were brought here from the Catacombs of St. Priscilla.

Gesu e Maria though before we entered this Church for a Traditional Latin Mass we scampered over to the one across the street. There is a very seriously amazing number of churches in Rome.

Here we are in time for the Rosary (said in Latin which is nice as we know the Rosary in Latin... but not in Italian!) And they also hear confessions in English so that was another plus. However, I did not comprehend but a handful of words for the Homily. He did speak about St. John the Baptist and penance for the remission of sins. :D

St. Lucy for Poppy who really likes St. Lucy... and also has her as her Confirmation saint.

Basilica of St. Ambrose and Charles.  

The heart of St. Charles is located in the Sanctuary behind the main altar

St. Olav of Norway. painting depicts the Viking king's victory over his own pagan past, which is represented by a dragon

Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina (St. Lawrence) 

part of the gridiron St. Lawrence was burned on "turn me over I think I am done on this side" (paraphrased)  haha  hence the patron of comedians.

We were truly trying to find the skull of St. John the baptist and seemingly the directions pointed here but it wasn't (it was the next block...)

Chiesa di San Silvestro in Capite. I initially thought St. Sylvester I (who Baptized Emperor Constantine ) was buried here but in fact he is actually buried in the Basilica over the Catacombs of St. Priscilla.  Anyway, this church was built by Constantine (if I have it correct) and houses the head of St. John the Baptist (hence "capite")

Head of St. John the Baptist

This is the only sign I have ever seen in Rome that actually mentions a relic. Rome does not advertise it's relics, you have to know where they are and find them... not an easy feat.

Basilica of St. Andrew delle Fratte

I learned of an apparition that happened in Rome so naturally I wanted to go to the church affiliated with it. In summary: Marie Alphonse Ratisbonne, an anti-Catholic Jew, befriended a baron in Rome and began wearing the Miraculous Medal as a simple test . On Jan 20, 1842 while waiting for the baron in the church Sant Andrea delle Fratte, Ratisbonne encountered a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He converted to Catholicism, joined the priesthood, and began a ministry for the conversion of Jews. You can read more HERE at The Miracle Hunter It's a fabulous story of conversion through the sacrmantal "Miraculous Medal".

There is a beautiful series of pictures of the crucifixion of St. Andrew.  (see video below)

Unique statue of the death of St. Anne

Just remembering the roasted chestnut we tried in 2015... we did *not* like them.

Chapel of the Madonna of the Well in the Church of Santa Maria in Via. In the 13th century, Cardinal Pietro Capocci had a house here, and there was a well in his stable yard. On the night of 26 September 1256, it overflowed. The horses were frightened, and when the domestics rushed out they found an icon of the Blessed Virgin, painted on a terracotta tablet, floating on the water.

Pope Alexander IV declared this event to have been a miracle, and ordered the construction of a chapel dedicated to the icon. The new chapel was erected over the well, as an annexe of the older church.

You can drink from the obviously somewhat newly constructed spigot from the well, cups are provided. I drank it right up.

The original bucket and well are off to the side

marble Column of Marcus Aurelius, AD 193, bronze statue of Saint Paul atop the column was placed in 1589, by order of Pope Sixtus V. 

After this we were so wet we went back to our Hotel Amalfi to dry off and have lunch.  After a cup of tea/coffee we resumed our walk... minus the rain. Thankfully that was the only rain we experienced for the most part.

This was a nice little park that had the Baths of Trajan and Domus Aurea ("Golden House") built by Emperor Nero after the great fire of 64 AD which destroyed the original enormous palace.

Alfredo Oriani, Italian author whose books were put on the Index of Forbidden books by the Catholic Church. (eek!) I had merely taken this picture to look him up later on. Not impressed!

I claim any sudden Romans who sign up at our Taekwondo school for this free ad (via my sweatshirt). HA! Anyway, he we are wandering around the Coliseum. We did not go in this year as we had gone in last time, 3 years ago. (Perhaps I will get those photos up as well)

Aragorn being swindled by a supposed African trying to get money for Africa. We came away with a little elephant (3 years ago we went away with a turtle) and a couple other little trinkets. He didn't seem to think the couple of coins was worth the exchange.  Typical swindling by the Coliseum... as is pick pocketing, though there weren't very many people in the area this time. Bit of the off-season.

Arch of Constantine. He's my hero, after all he did much for the Catholic Church back in the day.

Ruins of the Gladiator School

Ludus  Magnus - Gladiator Training School, it's connected to the Coliseum (Flavian Ampitheater). They were connected by an underground gallery.

Finding out where we are.

We quickly stopped into the Basilica of San Clemente which has a very interesting history and archeological area. There are several layers of building including the sound of a rushing water coming from a lost spring from the old aqueducts (neat-o!) but photos were not allowed so I don't have any!  We were near the Sts. Quartto Coronati but did not get there before we were picked up

Our gracious hosts picked us up along the street somewhere or other.  Here is the baptistery, possibly where Constantine was Baptized.  (We will enter it later) Massimo and Eda's 2 children were baptized here

One of the walls of Rome

St. Helen's palace (now Basilica Sancta Croce in Jerusalem (to be entered later)

More of the walls of Rome

Cemetery Verano in San Lorenzo.

Massimo's family's burial place

Eternal Rest grant unto them O Lord...

I love visiting cemeteries but this one was amazing! A regular work of art.

San Lorenzo (St. Lawrence) with a bird on his head

Basilica of San Lorenza fuori le mura (St. Lawrence outside the Walls) where St. Lawrence was martyred and is buried with St. Stephen.

Padre Pio

This basilica is extremely old and built one basilica upon another in seven (I believe ) layers!

Tomb of St. Lawrence and St. Stephen on the site of the martyrdom of St. Lawrence.

(video below)

St. Lawrence with the grid)

You can see one of the layers here and below is also another set of layers, very interesting.

Here you can see another layer, they aren't exactly in floors they are literally layered.

The church was bombed in WWII, killing a number of people who had fled to the church for safety. July 9, 1943. I wonder the story behind that!

St. Stephen

St. Lawrence

Tomb

The birds seem to like to stand on St. Lawrence's head!

I believe this is the wall of one side of the Praetorium but not sure exactly this one or the next one. Maybe Aragorn took the pictures...

Still driving around along the Tiber River, past the Vatican, through Trastevere and views of the Knights of Malta building... (Romans really know how to drive... or not...! I really should have taken a video of the feat!

St. Peter's ahead of us.

Knights of Malta are up there, I believe

Seriously, yes, there is a pyramid in Rome and no, it isn't new. The pyramid was built about 18–12 BC as a tomb for Gaius Cestius. There is an interesting article about it here (can't guarantee what is authentic!).

Up by the Knights of Malta

Next they took us to the Avatine Keyhole, there was a very long line..

to see this...

But we did not want to stand in this. No thanks. So Massimo took his phone out, ''googled" this site and held it up to the door, much to the chagrin of a man in line.  We got a hearty laugh. But for your sake, I will show snitched pictures here:

 So this is the famous Avatine Keyhole.

It's designed so as to be able to see St. Peter's through it.

Very neat.

The orange groves of the Knights of Malta are grown in such a way as to create a tunnel that opens to a view of St. Peters.

This is the church of Sant'Alessio all'Aventino, dedicated to St. Alexis. St. Alexis has an interesting story that took place under this Church. Alexis was the son of a Roman senator. He left home as a teenager in humility to become a desitute beggar. As such he returned later, to live unrecognized by his parents in a tool shed under a wooden exterior staircase at the family home on the Aventine near or under the present church. He died before they did, and they found a paper revealing his identity on the body.

The main altar in this church is dedicated to St. Boniface.

The Altar of St. Alexis. The stairs under which he died are encased in glass and the statue of him underneath is of him dying with the letter stating who he was. What an awful surprise for parents!

Panoramic views of Rome, you can see St. Peter's in the distance.

Panoramic video below

Eda and Massimo

Aren't they a cute couple?

NOT a selfie... 

A glorious sky!

I believe the old buildings are the Baths of Caracalla

Coliseum by twilight

Gelato shoppe that has been open since the later 1800's! And it was VERY delicious!

bottled water "no gas" (pronounced "gahs")

Our dinner that night was at La Pantera Rosa (The pink panther!)

Bruschetta with tomatoes

This was my pizza which was a surprise as I had said "Pizza margharita" which is basically a cheese pizza. However, they said that was boring and ordered this one with eggplant and I think ham. It was very good.

This is my empty glass which previously had lemon ice in it.  Definitely very good. But the hard little containers we get here of Italian ice is nothing like this as it was very soft, almost runny. And very lemony, the way I like it!

I had to take a picture of this picture as I don't speak Italian well and I couldn't follow most of the conversation so I looked at this picture for hours... and I mean for *hours* as this particular dinner lasted 4 hours.  Seriously. But this picture was one that could tell many tales and I made up many. I never did decide if the two on the far left were a couple to be married or brother and sister.  I knew that Eowyn would enjoy this picture and probably will have a story in a book before too long! HA!

Bottles of wine locked up so people don't steal them. Really?!

And here is the giant pink panther.

(and I literally have been working on this post hither and thither since the last time I posted about our trip. Yikes, where does the time go?!

On to some videos from this day in Rome... enjoy!

Gesu e Maria Church (Institute of Christ the King) Rome, Italy

Piazza Spagna

Square at the base of the Spanish Steps

Rome, Italy

Coleseum

Rome, Italy

Coleseum, Arch of Constantine, Roman Forum

Rome, Italy

Basilica of Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls

Rome, Italy

Tombs of St. Lawrence and St. Stephen

Basilica St. Lawrence Outside the Walls

AMAZING Cemetery of San Lorenzo (St. Lawrence)

Panoramic View of Rome

Another Panoramic View of Rome