The Humanity of Rome
This fact of the Church being such an integral part of the culture is manifested in many ways which we can see. Architecturally, there are over seven hundred Catholic churches in Rome of every age that provide a chance to witness the progression of sacred architecture through history. The presence of the Vatican draws an abundance of priests, religious, and pilgrims that give one a sense of the universality of the Church. The Catholic world is, indeed, small, and this is truer of Rome than anywhere else. On any given day, we can walk through St. Peter’s square and run into first a cardinal than a group of people from a parish up the street from St. Thomas. A quick look at our own academic calendar shows that the major holidays for the Romans are actually the many “Holy Days”. Christmas and Easter, the Immaculate Conception and St. Stephen’s Day. The feast days of Rome’s patron saints - Peter, Paul, and Laurence – remain days of major festivities. There is no doubt that the Eternal City is alive with an abundance of opportunities for us to study what was truly a Catholic culture.
More numerous are the relics of the saints. The chains that held St. Peter. The prison in which both St. Peter and Paul were held. Every few blocks there is a church with the remains of a saint who I have prayed to at one time or another. Here a forearm, there a thumb, there a disembodied head. It seems almost gruesome at times, but somehow it seems easier to pray to a saint whose physical remains are right there in front of you. Their humanity supports my prayer and strengthens my faith in the Church. With so much of the humanity of the Church having passed through Rome, I certainly have enough sight-seeing to keep me praying for an entire semester.
