Day 7 - Rome, Italy

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Thursday August 24th, 2006
Day 7
Rome, Italy

Started off early today; got up at 6:45am as Julia, Troy, Grant, and myself decided to go out to Vatican City.
We were going early to avoid the queues. This was a good idea for St Peters Basilica but not so for the Sistine Chapel. It was 8:30am by the time we got ready and got there and the line for the Sistine Chapel was already 3hours long to get in; this was not going to happen in 30°C heat!
So we made our way back around the corner to St Peters and on entry we were x-rayed and we had to walk through a metal detector. After some photo taking and adventuring in the yard, we walked inside St Peters Basilica.
St Peters Basilica ranks second among the four major basilicas of Rome. Possibly the largest church in Christianity, it covers an area of 5.7acres and has a capacity of over 60,000 people. One of the holiest sites of Christendom and Catholic tradition, it is traditionally the burial site of basilica namesake Saint Peter, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, first Bishop of Antioch, and later first Bishop of Rome. Although the new testament does not mention Peter either in Rome, or martyred there, ancient tradition holds that his tomb is below the baldachino and alter; for this reason, many Popes, starting with the first ones, have been buried there. There are over 100 tombs located within St Peters Basicilia. These include 91 popes, St. Ignatius of Antioch, and the Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. James Francis Edward Stuart and his two sons Charles Edward Stuart and Henry Benedict Stuart were exiled, Catholic English Royalty who are buried here after being granted asylum from Pope Clement XI. The most prominent woman entombed here is Christina of Sweden, who abdicated her throne in order to convert to Catholicism. The most recent interment was Pope John Paul II on April 8. 2005.
As you step into the entrance hall of St. Peters Basilica you see Bernini's Canopy, a dome overhead when standing in front of the Pieta and the fine alabaster window showing the Holy Spirit as a dove. After a look around, and getting into trouble for laughing (and various other we decided it was time to go and made our way back to the Termini for some lunch.
After our weird lunch in the termini (mine was some tuna pasta salad things, with carrots and some ham and salad) Julia and I decided to make our way on the train then on a bus to the Catacombs of Saint Callixtus.
It's one of only five catacombs open to the public in Rome. It cost us just €5 to get in. Our priest tour guide of the catacombs was from Australia, locally from Wheelers Hill in Victoria. I was talking to him about it, he was telling me that he did his training at Lysterfield then decided to move to the Holy city to continue and further himself. These catacombs are the first cemetery of Rome's Christian community, containing almost half a million tombs and they were the burial place of 16 popes in the 3rd century. They bear the names of St. Callixtus, the deacon hired to run the catacombs by Pope St. Zephyrinus, who was later elected Pope (AD 217-222) in his own right. The complex is a network of galleries stretching for nearly 19kms, structured in five levels and reaching a depth of about 20metres. Entering the catacombs you see the crypt of nine popes. Some of the original marble tablets of their tombs are still preserved. The next crypt is that of St. Cecilia, the patron of sacred music. This early Christian Martyr received three axe strokes on her neck, the maximum allowed by Roman law, which failed to kill her outright.
After the catacombs we headed back to M&Js for some dinner (half of a roast chicken from the supermarket at the termini for only €2) then freshened up before heading out to take some photos at night, very pretty. We came back and hit the hay not too late as it had been a very full day.

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