Day 5
Tuesday, April 9
This is one of the most important days of the Pilgrimage. We spent most of the day exploring St. Peter's basilica, ascending the cupola and taking a tour of the underground excavations beneath St. Peter's Basilica. The Scavi tour takes us very close to the burial site of St. Peter.
We took a bus to St. Peter's Basilica from our hotel and arrived early to beat the long lines.
We walked along the Tiber River to visit the nearby Chiesa Sacro Cuore del Suffragio where the students love to sing and ended our day in the Piazza Navona.
1. St. Peter's Basilica
Architecture, sculpture, and painting, represented by some of the mightiest geniuses the world has ever seen, have done their utmost to make St. Peter's a worthy house of God, a temple of unrivalled splendour. On advancing up the navel under an arcade of stupendous arches, one is impressed by the beauty of variegated marbles underfoot, the splendor of the golden vault high overhead, the lofty Corinthian pilasters on either side, the richly- gilded entablature, the colossal statues of saints, founders of Religious Orders, the glowing mosaics above the altars.
Everything is rich, colossal, impressive, overpowering; the eye is bewildered at this vision of splendor seen through the sunlit atmosphere and gazes in wonder at the glorious lines of arch and roof that follow on and on to the distant choir. At certain hours of the day, the brilliancy is wonderful, all the marbles and sculptures seem as fresh and new as though they had only just left the workmen's hands, and the atmosphere beneath the dome and in the choir seems laden with a mist of gold
The great Obelisk in the centre of the piazza is the one referred to above as formerly occupying the centre of the spina or middle line of Nero's circus, close to the spot where St. Peter is said to have been martyred. It is one of the most remarkable monuments of antiquity in Rome, and one of the most venerable, because of the crowds of martyrs who suffered near it in the persecution of Nero. (Pilgrim Walks in Rome)
2. Excavation Tour to the Tomb of St. Peter (Scavi)
Father talks about the importance of visiting the tomb of St. Peter in a recent episode of What Catholics Believe.
The first thought of every Catholic pilgrim in Rome naturally turns to St. Peter's tomb, and only when he is kneeling beneath Michael Angelo's wondrous dome, and looking down into the oval space in front of the high altar, does he realize that he has reached the goal of his pilgrimage.
In front are two brass statues of SS. Peter and Paul guarding the bronze doors that conceal a niche, the grated floor of which stands immediately over the Apostle's tomb.
As we kneel in front of this holy spot, illumined by the mysterious splendor that streams from above, a feeling of intense awe overpowers every other emotion; we realize the dread majesty of the place. “This is truly the House of God and the Gate of Heaven.” How many saints have knelt here since the dawn of Christianity! Here St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Philip Neri, St. Dominic, and others prayed in ecstasy and bedewed the ground with their tears. Here kings and emperors have come to lay their homage and even their crowns at St. Peter's feet. Here in the dark days of persecution, both Pontiffs and the faithful came to implore St. Peter's help and protection. Here in the present troubles of the Church, countless pilgrims have bent down, while from countless hearts the prayer has gone up to Heaven, that God would "preserve the Holy Father and give him life, and make him blessed upon earth, and not deliver him up to the will of his enemies". (Pilgrim Walks in Rome)
3. Chiesa Sacro Cuore del Suffragio
"Adoramus Te Christe" sung by the Immaculate Conception High School choir.
The church was built for the Association of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by the French Bishop of Marseille. This confraternity was founded by Victor Jouet, a French priest from the same city, who had been impressed by a miracle which had allegedly occurred on the site of the present church.
A small chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary had burned down in 1894, and the only item to survive was a fragment of a mural or a scorch mark (sources differ on this point), showing the face of a soul in Purgatory.
The purpose of the church and the association is to give aid to the souls in Purgatory. Source
4. Santa Maria in Vallicella
It is said that while the new church was being built, St. Philip Neri in a vision saw our Lady preventing a heavy beam, one end of which was detached from the wall, from falling and crushing some of the workmen. Here the Saint spent the last twelve years of his life, his beautiful soul living in perpetual communion with our Divine Lord, His Blessed Mother and the angels. He could scarcely restrain his raptures and ecstasies in presence of the Blessed Sacrament, and at Holy Mass he seemed like a seraph descended from Heaven.
The exterior of the church is of the barocco style, and unattractive. The interior is richly decorated, the paintings on the ceiling and in the dome being the work of Pietro da Cortona. The high altar, which has four columns of pietra santa, covers the remains of SS. Papias and Maurus, martyrs, translated from S. Adriano in the Forum in 1590, St. Philip being almost beside himself with joy at this translation.
The pictures above and on the sides of the altar were painted by Rubens in his youth — our Lady, with angels, being represented in the centre ; SS. Gregory, Maurus, and Papias on the right ; SS. Domitilla, Nereus, and Achilleus on the left. The heads of the two last martyrs are preserved and venerated in this church. On the left of the sanctuary is the Chapel of St. Philip, where the Saint’s body lies in a rich shrine of lapis lazuli and gold. (Pilgrim Walks in Rome)
5. Sant'Agnese in Agone & Piazza Navona
The Via Agonale connects the Piazza S. Apollinare with the Piazza Navona (or Circo Agonale), a vast oblong square occupying the site of Domitian's Circus Agonalis, and decorated with three handsome fountains. The Church of St. Agnes is its most conspicuous building and stands on or close to the site of the young Saint's martyrdom.
The interior, which has the form of a Greek cross, is rich in marbles, sculptures, bronzes, and antique columns. The high altar has four columns of verde antico, two of which belonged to the Arch of Marcus Aurelius in the Corso, taken down by Alexander VII. All the altars have statues or marble reliefs of exquisite beauty.
The Crypt. —Beneath the church are some vaulted chambers, part of Domitian's Circus Agonalis, in one of which St. Agnes was exposed to insult before her martyrdom, but miraculously protected by an angel, and in another was imprisoned. (Pilgrim Walks in Rome)
7. Basilica of St. Augustine
The architect was Baccio Pintelli, whose other works are the Sistine Chapel & S. Pietro in Vincoli. The cupola was the first of its kind constructed in Rome. The façade and broad flight of steps leading to the entrance are said to have been built with stones fallen from the Colosseum.
St. Philip Neri, who studied theology in the adjoining Augustinian monastery, was often seen in this church, his favorite place of prayer being the chapel of the Crucifix.
The church is rich in important relics, the chief being: The body of St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine, under the altar of the Blessed Sacrament (at the end of the left aisle). (Pilgrim Walks in Rome)
