My apartment in Rome is located in The San Giovanni district, which is one of the most ancient area of the city. According to my city guide, San Giovanni is the definition of “authentic Rome.” The neighborhood is replete with Renaissance buildings and home to San Giovanni in Laterano, the first church in the city of Rome, which opened in 318 A.D. The church used to serve as the center of Catholicism and the home of the popes until the renovation of St. Peter's and the expansion of the Vatican. So as you can imagine, to Romans and Catholics everywhere, this church is a big deal, rich with history.
Even now, San Giovanni in Laterano serves as the home to the Bishop's Chair, known as the "cathedra." When a new Pope is elected, he's not officially the Pope until he sits in this chair within one month of his election. The current Pope, Francis, sat his holy rear-end there on April 7, 2013 and became Pope Francis. Before walking into the the church, I noticed the large bronze door depicting the Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus. Mary's pinky finger and Jesus' foot are so worn from people touching them, that they glow in gold, a sign of those who believe touching the representations of these figures can bring them whatever it is they've been praying for.
An interesting and slightly creepy fact about San Giovanni in Laterano is that above the main alter, there's a cage containing silver statues of St. Peter and St. Paul. Within those statues are pieces of each of their heads. (Yes, you read that correctly.) According to my guidebook, archaeologists gossiped that the Vatican tested DNA from St. Peter's head (located here) and his body (which is buried at St. Peter's at the Vatican) and they didn't match. So either this is not a piece of St. Peter's head, or that's not his body. Why hasn't there been an episode of CSI centered around this yet?! I guess, what matters is what people choose to believe and to Catholics who come here from around the globe, St. Peter (and his head) will always be a big deal since he was known as the first bishop of Rome and the first Pope by the Roman Catholic Church.
There were several confessional booths within the church, and each one had office hours and a list of languages spoken by the priest on duty who was taking confession. We all sin in different languages, I suppose. It's nice to know that between the hours of 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. the Polish speaking priest will hear your sins while the English speaking priest takes his break. All sarcasm and jokes aside, this was a beautiful church and even though I'm not Catholic, I always like spending time in churches. I especially like when mass is going on and you hear the hymns or the large organ playing. The echos leave me feeling like there truly is some kind of great presence looking down from the tall, golden ceilings.
There were several confessional booths within the church, and each one had office hours and a list of languages spoken by the priest on duty who was taking confession. We all sin in different languages, I suppose. It's nice to know that between the hours of 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. the Polish speaking priest will hear your sins while the English speaking priest takes his break. All sarcasm and jokes aside, this was a beautiful church and even though I'm not Catholic, I always like spending time in churches. I especially like when mass is going on and you hear the hymns or the large organ playing. The echos leave me feeling like there truly is some kind of great presence looking down from the tall, golden ceilings.
Regardless of my religious background, or lack thereof, I like the ritual of lighting a candle for the deceased and making an offering in the memory of those I've lost. However in San Giovanni in Laterano, there aren't candles but boards that contain small lights that flicker on when you make a donation. Not sure if they're worried about a fire hazard, but in my opinion, these lights just don't have the same mystical effect. The candle lighting will just have to wait...
A few days after visiting San Giovanni in Laterano, I went to St. Peter's Basilica. (I mean I visited St. Peter's head, I figured I should go pay my respects to his body as well.) The Vatican as a whole is a lot to take in but for now, I was just there to see St. Peter's. The Sistine Chapel and the Museum will be for another day. (Stay tuned.) My focus was the basilica because I was continuing to think about faith. Only here, all I saw was metal detectors, thousands of tourists doing their best impressions of the paparazzi and a giant gift shop. This was nowhere near the experience I had at other churches throughout the city. I understand that the Vatican and St. Peter's are a huge tourist attraction here in Rome, but all of those things really took the sanctity of faith and religion out of the experience. No offense to anyone, but I felt like I was there to see a show. Like I wasn't in a church but an auditorium of some kind.
St. Peter's Square is a beautiful work of art in itself. There's an Egyptian obelisk in the center of the square, one of dozens throughout Rome, which is made of solid granite and weighs over 300 tons.
St. Peter's Square is a beautiful work of art in itself. There's an Egyptian obelisk in the center of the square, one of dozens throughout Rome, which is made of solid granite and weighs over 300 tons.
On this particular day, there were thousands of chairs set up, probably for one of the Pope's upcoming addresses.
In order to enter the basilica, you have to wait in line and go through metal detectors. Not a normal church-going experience. Although I noticed that some people were setting off the metal detectors and no one was checking as to why. Maybe a bit counterintuitive, but who I am to judge. The line seemed long when I got in it but later I realized that it could have been a lot worse. After I walked in, with what seemed like thousands of other people, I couldn't deny the grandeur of St. Peter's. It's breathtaking. And very very big. The golden window at the far end is two football fields from the entrance! The church covers six acres and has a capacity of 60,000 worshippers. (And it seemed like there were close to that many people in there with me.)
Towards the end of high school and in my early college years, I had a love of art history. I considered studying it for a hot second and when asked what other professional I'd love to be doing I still say I'd be an art historian and restorer because I love art (and I love to clean). That can always become my fall back career, I suppose. Michelangelo's story was always a favorite of mine and so it's one of the main reasons I wanted to visit the Vatican again. His work is everywhere. Starting with Pietà his statue of Mary holding the body of Christ after his crucifixion. He was only 24 years old when he completed this remarkable piece. Apparently in 1972, a crazy person came in with a hammer and began hacking away at the piece. The damage was repaired but since then the Pietà has been behind protective glass. I couldn't get too close because there were a ridiculous number of people taking series of pictures on their cameras, iphones, ipads, etc. It was like being in front of the Mona Lisa again. In my opinion, the Pietà is truly something special! (No offense, Leonardo Da Vinci.)
A new addition to St. Peter's is the Tomb of Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005. I remember I was in Switzerland for work when he passed away and it was the only thing on the news for days. His tomb was moved from the Chapel of San Sebastian in 2011 after he was considered blessed by Pope Benedict XVI and in 2013 he was elevated to the level of sainthood. Apparently the process of declaring someone a saint usually takes a long time but for Pope John Paul II, the process is moving very quickly. Last time I was here, this was just an alter with a painting of St. Sebastian but now it's this beloved Pope's tomb.
The whole time I was here I got to thinking about experiences. I was looking around and really trying to take it all in, but I noticed that most of the people around me weren't doing the same thing. They were just going from monument to monument, sculpture to sculpture taking an endless number of pictures. I kept wanting to shake them and say, "Stop! Take a minute and really LOOK at what you're taking those pictures of! Take it in! Savor it! Live in this moment! What's the point of taking those pictures? So you can see something later that's in front of you now?!" Every picture I took inside, only the few you're seeing, I took after I spent a few minutes just staring.
As I scanned the faces and gestures of the (few) believers who were actually there for the afternoon mass, I started thinking about faith. People have debated the pros and cons of organized religion for centuries but what I chose to see here, is faith itself. In my opinion, there's no right or wrong answer as to whether practicing a specific religion is beneficial to people. I believe that having faith is beneficial. I honestly didn't feel a strong presence of faith around St. Peter's. And that's ironic for such a grand church with such a rich religious history.
So what does faith mean to me? I think faith is hard work. It's a practice and a habit. Faith is placing trust in the knowledge that something much bigger than you plays a role in your destiny and admitting that neither you nor that entity is completely in control of all the things that occur in your life. I think when you have faith, you also have to act. The act of recognizing that you need to do something and then doing it. There's a God complex in all of us. And as they say, "God helps those who help themselves." To me, faith is a personal journey.
I believe in a higher being and I respect the choice that people make to go to church and pray and participate in any ritual that brings them enlightenment and peace. But to me, it might just be as simple as that. As Douglas Adams once wrote, "Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" As I see it, the garden is beautiful and that's enough for me.
I don't often visit churches when I'm home, unless I'm attending a wedding or a funeral. I feel like with the exception of a rare few, churches, mosques and other religious buildings in the US aren't really considered tourist attractions. But being in Europe, I can't help but venture inside to admire the architecture, the stained glass, the paintings and frescos, and I choose to see the positives of all they represent. Faith. Belief. Unity.
I believe in a higher being and I respect the choice that people make to go to church and pray and participate in any ritual that brings them enlightenment and peace. But to me, it might just be as simple as that. As Douglas Adams once wrote, "Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" As I see it, the garden is beautiful and that's enough for me.
I don't often visit churches when I'm home, unless I'm attending a wedding or a funeral. I feel like with the exception of a rare few, churches, mosques and other religious buildings in the US aren't really considered tourist attractions. But being in Europe, I can't help but venture inside to admire the architecture, the stained glass, the paintings and frescos, and I choose to see the positives of all they represent. Faith. Belief. Unity.