Friday the 13th -- Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom

On Friday, 13 Sept 2013, the Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom,
I overslept, and after praying my morning prayer, and having breakfast, I left for St Paul outside the wall.

As I was walking to the Piazza del Popolo, I shot a picture of parking on a closed on-ramp.

Parking along the Tiber

In the picture you can see the Tiber on the left, and a smart car near the front of the picture.  The cars across the ramp have their right wheels on the curb.  There were many places where I saw smart cars parked orthogonally to the curb, with their rear wheels on the sidewalk.  At and near intersections there were clusters of scooters and motorcycles.

Piazza del Popolo

 

This picture shows Piazza del Popolo, which has an Egyptian Obelisk in the center.  You can see two domes across the piazza from where I'm standing.  They are two churches.  The one on the left had construction going on in and around the front and you couldn't enter it.  The one on the right is St Mary of the Miracle. I took this picture in front of Santa Maria del Popolo.

 

 



Santa Maria del Popolo  main altar

Above you can see the main altar in Santa Maria del Popolo.  Note the relief depicting the last supper on the front of the altar.

North entrance to Piazza del Popolo

This picture shows the north entrance to Piazza del Popolo. I think this used to be the northern edge of the walled city of Rome. Across the street from here (that is where I'm standing when I took the picture) is a Metro Stop. I took the Metro to go to St Paul Outside the wall. It's a Basilica, one of the four Cathedrals of the city of Rome. It is to the south of Rome, on the road to the port city of Ostia. 

St Paul Outside the Wall

When I reached St Paul out side the wall, there was a long line of guys going into the Basilica.

St Paul outside the wall, front.

St Paul outside the wall, Statue of St Paul

St Paul outside the wall, in the courtyard

 

You can see in the three pictures above the line of guys in black suits and white capes processing into the Basilica.  There are women with them who are dressed in black too.  You can also see the large statue of St Paul in the courtyard, and the facade of the Basilica.

Apse of the Basilica with the top of the papal chair visible.

 

To the left and right of the apse you can see a line of circular images.  This is a line of images of the popes from Peter to Benedict XVI.

 

Confessional under statue of one of the Twelve in a niche.

 

The confessionals at St Paul's are like the ones in St Peters.  However, they are arranged along the outer wall, frequently under statues of the Twelve.  Here we see a statue of St Bartholomew.

Final four images of Popes

This picture shows the final four images of the popes with Paul VI on the right and Benedict XVI to the left of center.  There are about a dozen unfilled places left in the line.

Recessional

 

The group that I saw processing into the Basilica were members of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher on their Jubilee Pilgrimage to Rome.  This was their Mass at St Paul's outside the wall.  There were thousands of them, filling the Basilica as you can see in the picture below.  I was there, not in a cape and black suit, but in jeans and a tee shirt.

 

In the picture above you can see the canopy over the altar, statues of St Peter (on the left) and St Paul (on the right), the golden mosaic in the apse, and above the columns and arches the line of images of the popes.

 

There were about a hundred Priests who concelebrated the Mass, with a dozen or more Bishops, and three Cardinals.  The main altar was used.  I had never seen the main altar at one of the four Basilicas used by anyone but the pope before.  The 1st reading was in English, and the homily was alternated between English and Italian.  The main celebrant and homilist was an American Cardinal.

 

Recessional looking toward the back of the basilica

 

 

When I left St Paul's I returned to Termini Station on the Metro, and ate lunch at this little pasta place called Pastarito.  Food was inexpensive and good.  It seems from google to be a chain restaurant.

 

Here's the URL: 

 http://www.pastarito.it/en/home/default.asp?lingua=en

 



It was between Termini and St Mary Major, my next destination.

St Mary Major

 

Pillar in front of St Mary Major

 

 

 

Facade St Mary Major

 

A Pillar stands in front of St Mary Major, topped with a statue of Madonna and Child.  The fence you can see in the picture above encloses the main entrance, and has gates that are open to enter through.

 

 

Ave Regina Pacis

Painting over side altar

Baptismal Font --  note relief on back wall.

Side altar -- you can see the entrance to the basilica to the right of the second pillar.

Nave of St Mary Major looking toward the main entrance.

There is a shrine below the main altar to pope Pius IX, with a large statue of the pope kneeling in prayer.  Additionally, Bernini is entombed here.

Corner of building

Corner of building

 

I returned to the Vatican to see if the Church of the Holy Spirit might be open still.  Along the way I passed two places with sides of the building adorned.  The wolf with Romulus and Remus was close to the Church of the Holy Spirit, and the Madonna with Child was on a street that runs along the one wall of the Vatican.  You can see that there were vendors along that street, along with panhandlers.

In crossing the Piazza I noted the length of the lines waiting to pass through the security checkpoint.  Below are two pictures that show the line going nearly across the piazza to the end of the other colonnade.

Piazza San Pietro

Piazza San Pietro

Basilica San Pietro

After lunch on Thursday 12 September, I returned to St Peter's, stopping along the way at Saint Maria in Transpontina.  The ceiling of which is shown below.

 

Ceiling of Saint Maria in Transpontina

Saint Peter's

The Piazza at St Peter's has two fountains and an Egyptian Obelisk.  The first picture shows the facade of the Basilica across the piazza with one of the fountains in the foreground.

Piazza at St Peter's

You can see along the base of the Colonnade on the right hand side the line of people snaking their way to the security checkpoint.  I was standing in the line at the time.

Piazza St Peter's -- renovations

Main Door to St Peter's Basilica

Holy Door to St Peter's Basilica

It was unsealed for the Jubilee Year 2000

 

Nave of St Peter's

The picture above shows the Nave of the Basilica.  On the left you see a large statue with a circular painting up above.  There are four such structures that surround the Baldacchio, the canopy over the main altar, and hold up the Dome.  The paintings represent the Four Gospel writers, Mathew, Mark, Luke and John.  The large statue you see is St Veronica.  The Baldacchio was designed by Bernini.  The columns were taken from the Temple of Jupiter in the Roman Forum.

Closer view of Statue shown in Picture above

 Statue of St Andrew the brother of St Peter, and one of the Twelve.

note the size with respect to the people below the statue.

 



The Vatican is a tomb for more than 100 Popes.  There are shrines to several as side chapels.  The mortal remains of two popes are available for the veneration of the faithful.  One of them has the incorrupt remains of Pope Innocent III who died in 1216 AD.

 

Placement of the incorrupt remains of Pope Innocent III

His remains are enshrined in an altar which is adorned with a Mosaic replica of Raphael's Transfiguration, as seen above.  Across the Nave from this altar is another altar which enshrines the incorrupt remains of Pope John XXIII, who died in 1963.  Blessed John XXIII looks as though he is sleeping.  He will be entered into the canon of Saints in the spring. 

 

There are several rows of kneelers in front of that altar so the faithful may pray.  Many were praying there.  I joined them.

Adornment of area around small cupola.

 

The picture above shows how thorough the decoration of the Basilica is.   This shows a side cupola, with a biblical figure in the 'corner' and panels of images adorning the arches.  There were many such figures and I could only identify a few of them.

Area where Sacrament of confession is held.

The picture above shows the area of the Basilica where the Sacrament of Reconciliation is celebrated.  The wooden boxes you can see spaced along the walls are the confessionals.  Confessions are only heard at certain times, and you can go into this region (the north transept of the Basilica), only for the Sacrament.  There are kneelers down the center where you can collect yourself and prepare for the Sacrament.  Each of the confessionals is labeled so that the penitent can know the languages spoken by the priest/confessor.

 

There are several chapels and shrines around the Basilica.  One is for Eucharistic Adoration, I prayed there too.  There's a shrine to blessed John Paul II, pope.  Some of the shrines are tombs.  The area in front of the altar of St Joseph, where the morning Masses are celebrated is set aside for prayer.  It has kneelers, and no photography is permitted.

 

Evening Mass (at 5PM) was at the altar of the Chair of St Peter.

Altar of the Chair of St Peter

 Similar to the altar of St Joseph, the altar of the Chair is set aside for Mass.  You can go in there only for the Mass.  I took the above picture after the 5 PM Mass ended, while the lights were still on.  In the picture you can see the Statue of the Chair of St Peter.  The Chair is upheld by four Fathers of the Church, two from the East, and two from the West (of the Church).  The ones from the West are wearing Miters.  In the window immediately above the Chair, and part of the sculpture is an image of a dove representing the Holy Spirit.

The Mass at the Altar of the Chair was in Latin with the Readings and homily in Italian.  After Mass I prayed at the shrine of Blessed John Paul II.  He will be entered into the Canon of Saints next spring with Blessed John XXIII.

A Tour of Monumental Rome

Thursday, 12 Sept, began with a Monumental Tour of Rome.  It began near the church of Saint Camillus de Lellis, but there was no time for a visit.  The bells from the church tolled just as our tour was beginning.

Fountain of Moses

 

Above is the fountain of Moses, which is across the street from Santa Maria della Vittoria, a church I visited the day before.  Moses is in the middle.  These pictures were taken from a moving tour bus.



 

Many buildings at intersections had plaques like the one shown above giving names to the streets.  Many did not.  It was difficult some times to know which street you were on.

 

Piazza Repubblica was about two blocks from the Fountain of Moses, and at the center of the Piazza is a very large fountain, seen below.

 

Fountain in Piazza Repubblica

 

When  mom and I were in Rome in 1996, we would catch the Metro at Piazza Repubblica.

 

 

Trevi Fountain

 

We walked to the Trevi fountain, seen above, and spent  several minutes there.  The water is piped in from 60 km away, and it was built by a wealthy family centuries ago.

 

The guide informed us that many people throw coins in the fountain, and that the money collected feeds 80,000 people a day.

There were also some Gypsies pan handling among the crowd.

 

 

Palace turned into a Galleria

We went through a building that had been a Palace and had been converted into a Galleria.  The picture above shows part of the interior of the Galleria.  The columns that you can see are marble, come from Egypt, and were made about 300 BC.  They were brought to Rome about 300 AD.  The Palace was built around 1600 AD.

 

Egyptian Obelisk in front of Parliament building

 

Above is an Egyptian Obelisk.  There are seven of them in Rome, brought to Rome in the 1st or 2nd century AD.  There's another at St Peter's.

 

PANTHEON -- St Mary of the Angels and Martyrs

 

Our next stop was the Pantheon, completed in the 2nd Century AD, as a Roman Temple to all the gods.  It has been converted into a Catholic Church.  It has a domed roof with a hole in the center of the dome.  On sunny days, the sunlight moves around the interior of the dome, as the sun progresses through the sky.  In inclement weather, not so much.

 

Raphael, the famous Renascence painter, is buried here, as well as the first king of Italy.

Pantheon with fountain in foreground

Interior of St Mary of the Angels and Martyrs, the main altar is still used.  It is an active church.

Side altar.  Note the roughness of the stonework.

Side altar.  Note the contrast with the picture above.

 

 

Piazza Navona

 

We continued walking from Piazza della Rotondo to Piazza Navona.  The picture below shows the Four Rivers Fountain in the Piazza, with the church of the agony of St Agnes in the background.

 

There were paintings of Roman sights being sold in the Piazza, and many cafes and such around it.

 

Piazza Navona -- Four Rivers Fountain

 

Piazza Navona -- Four Rivers Fountain

 

Piazza Navona -- Guitarist

 

Piazza Navona has two fountains.  The second is smaller than the Four Rivers Fountain and is called the Triton Fountain, shown below.

 

Triton Fountain Piazza Navona