Rome

A Pilgrim's Guide to the Eternal City

James L. Papandrea

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781610972680, 9781498213646
• eBook ISBN: 9781621894797
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Rome: A Pilgrim's Guide to the Eternal City is not a travel book; it is a pilgrim's guide to the city of Rome and its most ancient churches. In addition to helpful descriptions of the primary monuments and churches of Rome, this book will give the reader just enough historical background to enhance the spiritual nature of a trip to the Eternal City. Along with the description of each church, Papandrea includes prayers from the ancient church, and across the span of the history of Christianity, in order to facilitate prayer and meditation in the very sites that have been considered holy ground for over a millennium. Over one hundred photographs are included, not only to help the reader use this book as a guide in Rome, but also to make the book a valuable devotional aid both before and after the trip. Coming back from Rome after using this book, the reader will find that Rome has become a second home.

Chapter 1

The Eternal City

Introduction

The best way to go to Rome as a pilgrim (as opposed to a tourist) is to make a conscious effort to connect with the roots of the Christian faith in the city. Human beings have always had a sense that some places are holy ground, usually because something significant happened at that site. There is no place on earth, apart from the Holy Land itself, that has a greater connection to the earliest Christians than the city of Rome. Our goal as pilgrims, then, is to be in those places, stand on holy ground, walk on their stones, touch their walls, and see some of the very same things that they saw. When you go to Rome, you will be in those places where the songs of the first Christians echoed. You will walk where the apostles Peter and Paul walked. And you will feel the presence of that great cloud of witnesses, many of whom died rather than give up their faith.

This book, therefore, will focus on the churches and important sites of the world of the earliest Christians. This is not a tribute to the grandeur of a triumphant church as an institution, it is more an attempt to make a tangible connection to the Christians themselves through the places where they lived, worshiped, died, and were buried. Consequently, the church with which we are connecting is the church that belongs to all Christians. This book, and the kind of pilgrimage it will hopefully facilitate, is meant for Christians of any denomination, because the early church of Rome is in many ways the roots of the whole Christian family tree.

Of course it would be impossible to survey every church in Rome, so I have chosen what I believe are the most important ones, based on my experience studying in Rome and leading tours in Rome. In order to facilitate the spiritual nature of a pilgrimage, prayers are included along with the description of each church. These prayers would be appropriate to help you connect with earliest Christianity in each space, and in many cases, the prayers themselves are prayers that might have been prayed by the first Christians in that place. In most cases, I have also included prayers for the intercession of the saints to whom the holy places are dedicated, for those Christians whose traditions include this type of prayer.

In this book I will usually refer to relative chronology by centuries. So it is important to keep in mind that, for example, the third century is the 200s, because the dates of the first century have only two digits. Therefore, the fourth century is the 300s, the fifth century is the 400s, and so on. I will use the abbreviations “CE” to refer to dates of the Christian, or Common Era, the equivalent of AD (Anno Domini, the Year of the Lord); and “BCE” for Before the Common Era. Most dates, however, are of the Common Era, and any date without a distinction can be assumed to be CE (AD). For the cases when we are talking of the time before the Common Era (BCE), remember that the years count down (backwards), so that the smaller numbers are actually later, counting down as they move toward the “zero” point (there is no zero year). This means that the fifth century BCE (the 400s BCE) is before the fourth century BCE (the 300s BCE). See the Rome timeline chart at the end of the book for an overview of important events related to the history of Rome and the Roman Christians.

It is my hope that you will read this book before you leave for Rome, and bring it with you for reference along the way. Also, take a look at the Romesick websites (www.Romesick.com and www.Romesick.org) to see color versions of the pictures in the book, as well as more pictures of Rome and its churches.

Christian Pilgrimage, Jubilee, and Holy Doors

The tradition of Christian pilgrimage to Rome goes back to the time when it was impossible for Christians of the west to travel to the Holy Land. In Rome, they could find important sites of the faith, including the places where the apostles Peter and Paul were martyred and buried. They could visit the places where the other heroes of the faith were buried, and in being close to their remains, they felt closer to God. Pilgrims to Rome were called Romei, as though they were somehow spiritually citizens of the city. In the Middle Ages, the tradition of the Jubilee year emerged, encouraging Christians from all over the world to journey to Rome. In the Old Testament, Jubilee meant the forgiveness of debt, and that idea came to be combined with the concept of pilgrimage as a symbol of return from exile. So the one who makes a pilgrimage in a Jubilee year is symbolically returning to God, like a prodigal coming home. Pilgrims arriving in Rome would enter one of the four main basilicas through a special door, called a Holy Door, symbolizing their “homecoming,” to receive forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Now there is a Jubilee year every twenty-five years, and the Holy Doors are opened to welcome pilgrims. There is a Holy Door on each of the four papal basilicas, Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major), San Paulo Fuori le Mura (St. Paul Outside the Walls), San Giovanni in Laterano (St. John Lateran), and San Pietro (St. Peter in the Vatican). The Holy Door on St. Peter’s is opened by the pope on Christmas Eve before a Jubilee year in an interesting ceremony that goes back to the year 1500; it includes knocking on the door three times with a special hammer. It is left open for the year of the Jubilee, to be closed (and bricked over) the next Christmas Eve. The other three Holy Doors are opened by cardinals. For those pilgrims who pass through a Holy Door, their pilgrimage is accepted as an act of penance, an outward sign of inward repentance for sin.

A Note on Almsgiving

Just like the ancient pilgrims, you will no doubt encounter beggars in Rome. Many of them seem as though they are homeless, though that may not be the case. There are gypsies and others who make their living begging and pooling their money at the end of the day. That in itself is not necessarily a reason to refuse to give; however, the point is that not everyone who begs is in danger of going without food that day. You may even notice some who carry signs in English—signs that were obviously printed from a computer!

Almsgiving is an ancient tradition in many religions, and in the earliest Christian documents almsgiving is praised as a form of ministry to the poor. Therefore, you are encouraged to make almsgiving a part of your pilgrimage experience. However, if you give money to every beggar you encounter (some of whom are sitting at the entrances to the churches) you would quickly run out of your vacation budget. Therefore, plan ahead for how you want to give to the poor of Rome. You are not a bad Christian if you pass up some opportunities to give. Plan ahead each day and keep some coins in a separate pocket, so that if you do choose to give, no one will see where you keep your money. You never know if a beggar might be working with a pickpocket. And under no circumstances should you ever buy anything from the vendors on the street who sell imitation designer purses, sunglasses, or anything laid out on cardboard boxes or sheets. Clergy in Rome are concerned that the vendors are being used to make money for organized crime and, thus, indirectly supporting the illegal drug trade and human trafficking.

Other Practical Considerations Regarding Travel in Rome

As the reader can see, the purpose of this book is not to tell you which hotels are the best, or where to find a good restaurant (though you should stay away from any restaurant with a laminated menu with pictures of the meals on it). This is not a travel book, in that sense. Still, there are a few things to keep in mind when you are in such a global city as Rome.

Violent crime is not a great concern in Rome, however you need to watch out for pickpockets. At the very least, keep your money in a front pocket, not a back pocket. Any time someone is in your “personal space,” keep a hand over the pocket with your money in it. Avoid crowded areas where you cannot control your personal space. Sometimes you can’t help it, like when you’re on the metro at rush hour (though avoid that if you can), but simply be aware that there are people who will take your money if you’re not careful. Especially watch out for groups of children who approach you, sometimes carrying a newspaper, cardboard or something else to shove at you, distracting you while their cohorts go through your pockets. Should this happen, yell at them to go away, and walk quickly away from them. Also, if you see a political demonstration, avoid getting into the crowd. These demonstrations are usually not violent, however it’s best to walk away from them and stay out of the situation.

Note that when you visit the churches, make sure to have some coins handy, since many of the churches are dimly lit, but have coin-operated lights so that you can see the artwork better.

Finally, if at all possible, make sure to attend church while in Rome. Roman Catholic Mass for English speakers is at Santa Susanna (the Roman Catholic church for Americans) and a few other places. There are Protestant churches in Rome as well, and a few minutes research on the internet should lead you to the church of your denomination in Rome (or the nearest equivalent). Some of the Protestant churches don’t look like churches from the outside, so be aware that you might be looking for a worship space built into an existing building. The Methodist church for English speakers is Ponte Sant’ Angelo. The Episcopal church is Saint Paul’s Within the Walls.

The Title Churches

The concept of a “Title Church” applies to the tradition that there are twenty-five oldest churches in Rome, each one the site of an original “title,” or property held by the early Christians of the city. These are believed to be the places where there were early Christian congregations who gathered for worship in a home, apartment, or warehouse space. We have to keep in mind that before the fourth century, there were no churches, no buildings built specifically for Christian worship. There may have been buildings converted into worship space, and there certainly were houses and apartments remodeled to accommodate Christian worship, but you could not walk down the street and see a church.

It is well known that the first Christians worshiped in homes. In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans (written in about the year 57), Paul seems to mention five house-church congregations in Rome, though there may have been more already by that time. Apparently, by the late first century there were twenty-five congregations, probably segregated by social class, language (Greek vs. Latin), and geographically within the city. According to tradition, Anacletus (bishop of Rome from 76–88) ordained priests and appointed them over the twenty-five churches. The number of house-church congregations then grew steadily until the middle of the third century when we hear that there were about fifty of them.

If a congregation was meeting in a private home, the owner of the home sometimes remodeled parts of the house so that it would accommodate more worshipers. In some places, baptismal fonts were added. The original owner of the property (the holder of the “title”) may have been the first “pastor” of the congregation, but in many cases, the owner of the property or some other prominent leader of the congregation was martyred for his or her faith. When that happened, the martyr was buried on private land, either associated with the house, or more likely on land owned by the church’s patron outside the city (there was a law against burials within the city walls). To honor the martyr’s sacrifice, the congregation (still not a building) was remembered as the church of that martyr. And since martyrs were considered to have guaranteed their place in heaven with a baptism in their own blood, they were called holy, so that a church associated with a martyr named Cecilia, for example, became the church of the holy Cecilia, or the church of Saint Cecilia.

Some of the martyrs, or their families, eventually left the property in question to the care of the Christian community. Even before the church as an institution could legally own property, the Christians controlled some house churches where no one actually lived (or perhaps the priest lived there), and even some land outside the city walls that became the Christian cemeteries, the catacombs. Someone who had been a patron of the church, once martyred, became a spiritual patron of the Christian community. Based on Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:19–20, the martyrs were believed to have been inspired by the Holy Spirit to witness to the faith at the risk of their lives. And since it was clear that they were living the life of the resurrection in the presence of their Lord, the early Christians asked for their intercession. Furthermore, it became desirable to be buried near the martyrs, and so the catacombs grew as the Christian community buried its beloved departed in close proximity to those who were considered the pillars of the faith. More will be said about the catacombs below, the point for now is that small chapels called martyria (singular: martyrium) grew up at the sites of important burials. The pilgrims would then visit these martyria to pay their respects to the martyrs, to pray, and to seek spiritual guidance for the journey of life.

The sites of earliest Christian worship in Rome, then, are the sites of some of the earliest house churches, and some of the martyria built at the catacombs. Over time, some of the original house churches were renamed for a later martyr who became more famous (which is why it is impossible to connect the congregations mentioned by Paul with any particular title churches). In the fourth century, the first Christian emperor, Constantine, gave money for the building of the first Christian basilicas on the sites of the catacombs, or the house churches. Later the popes of the fifth and sixth centuries embellished or remodeled the buildings. In the early Middle Ages, the martyrs’ remains were brought into the basilicas within the city walls, prompting the addition of side altars to accommodate the many saints. This was done for various reasons, including the threat of desecration by barbarian invasions, and to facilitate the visits of pilgrims.

The twenty-five traditional title churches are (in no particular order): Santa Pudenziana, Santa Prassede, San Clemente, Santa Sabina, San Vitale, San Pietro in Vincoli, Santa Cecilia, San Crisogono, Santa Maria in Trastevere, San Martino ai Monti, San Sisto, Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Quattro Coronati, Santi Marcello ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Forevertown
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1: The Eternal City
• Chapter 2: The Ruins of a Fallen Empire
• Chapter 3: Holy Ground
• Chapter 4: The Churches of Rome
• Chapter 5: Walking Tours of Rome
• Appendix A: Coming Back to the Twenty-First Century
• Appendix B: Chart: Rome Timeline
• Map: The Roman Forum and Imperial Fora
• Map: The Churches of Rome and Other Important Sites