La Mia Dolce Vita a Roma: ChurchCrawl--Rome Edition: Part 1

Last year at SMC/ND, I did a "chapel crawl" with some friends where I tried to go to mass in all the different dorm chapels on the two campuses. I figure that this year, since I am living in the center of Catholicism, I should extend my chapel crawl to a church crawl around Roma! After being here for a few weeks, I have already wandered into several beautiful churches. At times, it seems one is essentially the same as the next. But I've decided to start keeping track of all the churches I visit and choose just a few things that stick out to me in each. They are really all unique in terms of art, architecture, size, design, and layout. When you look closely and read the stories and history behind everything, you can learn very interesting stuff! Here's what I've learned so far....

Gesu Church: This church is right in the neighborhood of our hotel and classroom building, and was actually the first in my explorations. It houses the tomb of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, who lived, worked, and died in the adjacent church. Having visited several Jesuit parishes and schools throughout the States, I thought it was so cool to see where the Jesuits got started.

Chiesa del Gesu

Tomb of St. Ignatius at Chiesa del Gesu

Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva: This church is about 30 seconds away from our classroom building. I went to my first mass in Rome there on Sunday and later came back to explore it more closely. In the square outside the church stands an obelisk with an elephant sculpture underneath by Bernini. Santa Maria Sopra Minerva is the only true remaining Gothic church in Rome (most of the others are Baroque in style). One of the most striking things about this church is the number of funeral moments it contains. The most prominent is that of Saint Catherine of Siena, whose body lies under the altar (her head is in Siena, which I will be visiting during spring semester). The Renaissance painter Fra Angelico as well as popes Urban VII, Paul IV, Leo X, and Clement VII. Another cool thing about this church is that it contains one of Michaelangelo's lesser known sculptures, Christ Bearing the Cross. In Assisi, there is also a church by this name that we visited.

The simple exterior of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva--nothing compared to what's inside!

Michelangelo statue of il Cristo

Saint Catherine

Church of San Ignazio: I don't know much about Baroque style, but after seeing this church and reading about it in my travel book, I can definitely understand what it is. The large ceiling fresco right when you walk in to this church has so many illusions in perspective. For example, the columns in the fresco look like extensions of the real architecture. Also, at the center of the church, if you look up into the central black dome, it looks 3-dimensional when in reality, it is just painted and flat. SO crazy.

San Ignazio exterior

Saint Paul Outside the Walls: One of the 4 major basilicas in Rome, this one is often overlooked in favor of Saint Peter's. But Paul was an equally important saint and his basilica is pretty impressive as well. It is huge and contains the tomb of St. Paul the Apostle. All around the basilica are images of the popes from Peter to Benedict. Aside from these, my favorite part was the outdoor courtyard and the beautiful mosaic facing it that said "Spes Unica" (the cross, our only hope).

St. Paul Outside the Walls

Mosaic facing courtyard at St. Paul Outside the Walls

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore: This was one of the churches that Deacon Doug and Deacon David, 2 more of the 6 deacons working with the SMC program took us to. It was a optional outing so it ended up being only me plus 3 other girls. The small group actually worked out really well because after mass, the deacons gave us some personal insights into the history and layout of the basilica. It reminded me of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in terms of size and the long rectangular layout lined with columns. It is the largest of the 25 churches in Rome specifically dedicated to Mary our Mother, so as you can imagine, there are images of the Blessed Mother everywhere. The highlight for me was seeing the encased remnants of the crib in which the infant Jesus laid after his birth. Talk about making faith come alive. What a real reminder of the fact that Jesus, just like each of us, was fully human. In all these other churches I have been very close to popes, saints, and other important church figures, but never before have I felt so close (both physically and spiritually) to Christ. I wish everyone who has ever had doubts in their faith (which, undoubtedly is everyone) could experience this as well.