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Session on Ongoing Formation - P 3 |
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Written by Daniel Gillier, A.A.
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Saturday, 13 September 2008 |
Rome, August 18 to September 6, 2008
Outings and Discoveries of the First Weekend
Saturday afternoon, we went to celebrate the Eucharist at the Catacombs of Priscilla, one of the many catacombs of Rome, where six popes of the 3rd and 4th centuries are buried. The catacombs are not, as is often said, the places where the first Christians hid themselves to celebrate during the persecutions, but cemeteries where beautiful testimonies to the Christian faith (especially frescoes) are still visible today. Likewise, faith in the communion of saints is clearly underscored here by a heavier concentration of tombs surrounding those of the martyrs.
Sunday, our attachment to Saint Augustine led us as far as Ostia, the
strategic port at the mouth of the Tiber at the time of Ancient Rome,
but completely abandoned before the end of the first millennium as a
combined result of the decline of Rome, the persistent scourge of
malaria, and the receding of the sea due to the alluvial deposits
brought by the Tiber. The ruins of this important city, exhumed in the
19th century, give a good idea of the life of a city under the Roman
Empire at the time of its peak. To be sure, we recalled the ecstasy of
Ostia recounted by Augustine in his Confessions as well as the death
here of his mother Saint Monica.
On the way home, we didn’t fail to stop at the Basilica of Saint Paul
Outside the Walls, one of the four major Roman Basilicas, which, in
this Pauline year, offers the possibility of receiving a plenary
indulgence. Reconstructed in the first half of the 19th century
exactly as it was before most of it was destroyed by fire in 1823, the
church is impressive by the majestic size of its unencumbered central
nave. One’s view is naturally directed toward the sanctuary where
there is an altar built over the tomb of the apostle under the
magnificent mosaics of the central arch and apse. In this basilica
consecrated to him, Paul, the Apostles of the Nations, is often
associated with Peter, the chief of the apostles. In addition to the
36 frescoes representing various episodes in the life of Paul, one of
the principal characteristics of the basilica is the series of
portraits of all the successors of Peter up to and including Pope
Benedict XVI.
Daniel Gillier, A.A.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 13 September 2008 )
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