Day 3- "...as the prophet Scott Hahn foretold it", or, "Marble is like wood here."

Today was a jam-packed day. We visited the major Roman ruins and a LOT of churches, including the titular churches of Cardinals Keeler and Weurl. We also had our first real Italian ristorante dinner. Molto bene!

We started the morning off again with Mass in the crypt chapel. A couple of us were late and a couple others slept in. No biggie! Then came another lovely traditional Italian breakfast with proscuitto, cheese, rolls, THICK coffee, yogurt, etc. (They eat a lot of meat and dairy in these parts!)

Once we got our stuff together, we headed out for another exciting day of adventure. First stop was Trajan's (Hadrian's) Forum, which houses Trajan's column. As with all other pagan things, one of the popes decided to Christ-ify it by sticking a bronze St. Peter on the top. It's just across the street from the National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II (called "the typewriter" or "the dentures" by the locals), as well as the main balcony Mussolini used to make his speeches from to the army, which would march down the via.

Fr. Frank in Tour Guide Mode

All the Carabinieri (police) cars were really nice, like this Alpha Romeo.

The Column of Hadrian, with St. Peter on top.

The Forum of Hadrian.

Trying to figure out where to go next.

Mussolini's window.

More of the Forum of Hadrian.

Obligatory tourist shot.

Next (just down the road), something funny happened on the way to the Forum. (If you don't get the movie reference, then you're missing out on a hilarious film.) After purchasing our tickets, we walked down the hill and into the ruins of the Forum. Not much to say about that... they're ruins, they're Roman, and they're kinda cool and very historic. We saw the bottom floor of the main temple (which was, naturally, converted into a church) and also some current excavations.

Walking to the Colosseum.

"What are we looking for again?" - the woman standing there

The Forum Romanum.

Walking down into the excavated Forum.

Looking like we're kind of a big deal. Which we are. ;-)

Matt, our resident Classics major, giving some historical lessons.

Fr. Frank, again in Tour Guide Mode.

The Arco di Costantino (Arch of Constantine).

Fr. Frank and Chris: aka, Jake and Elwood.

The Padres, reflecting on the history.

Entrance to the Curia (Senate House).

Many busts.

Excavations

Nick and David taking a load off.

More of the Arch of Constantine.

Nice view of the area around the Forum.

Arch of Constantine.

Then we walked a few blocks down the via and went to the Colosseum. Fr. Kyle was getting tired of being in the heat and direct sunlight all morning, so he actually bought something from a street vendor: a sweet white safari hat. Super classy.

Walking to the Colosseum.

Padre Kyle and his snazzy hat.

We went into the Coliseum and took in the sights. Again, it's ruins. And it's the Colosseum. Not a lot to say, other than it's much nicer in person. It brings you back in time to when they had tigers popping out of the floor to eat gladiators. Good times! Also, they even had part of the stage reconstructed to show what it would've looked like in ancient times; really helped paint the picture in your mind.

It was really tourist-y, but still an amazing site.

Chris and Dan

A nice big cross just inside the entrance. FTW!

You can see where the stage used to be, off to the left.

Anyway, we then also went up to the 2nd floor of the building. It was neat; great views of the city and the nearby Forum. While a few of the guys went into the gift shop, Fr. Kyle and Matt did a quick lap around the Colosseum while the rest of us took in the sights from that level.

Loving life here in Roma!

Nice big shot of the entire floor of the Colosseo.

View from the 2nd floor.

Fr. Frank and Matt, checking the map.

Next was the smorgasbord of church after church. Loads of fun!

First church on the agenda was San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains), the titular church given to Cardinal Wuerl. (For those of you that don't know, he's the Archbishop of Washington. Also, every cardinal is given a church to be in charge of when he's installed as a cardinal... one of the perks of being a Prince of the Church!) This church was gorgeous, as most in Rome are. It's the basilica that houses the chains that bound St. Peter while he was jailed in Jerusalem AND those that bound him before his crucifixion. As the story goes, when Pope Leo compared the second set to the first set, they miraculously fused together. The chains are now on display in a reliquary below the main altar of the basilica. Really cool church!

Outside of Vincoli

Cardinal Wuerl's crest on the front door.

Beautiful  fresco on the ceiling

View down the center aisle toward the sanctuary.

Cardinal Wuerl's cathedra, with the Chains of St. Peter in the back.

St. Peter's Chains

Really intricate organ, off to the left of the sanctuary

Off to the right, a famous scene by Michelangelo.

The baldacchino over the altar

Angel of Death?

Between Vincoli and the next church, we passed the old gate and the original wall to the city. Cool, historic, old, all that jazz.

Next on the menu was Santa Maria della Vittoria. This is one of the locations from Angels & Demons, all of which we will have visited by the end of the trip. The most famous piece in the church is Bernini's masterpiece, St. Theresa in Ecstasy. It's a really cool sculpture of an angel piercing St. Theresa of Avila with a spear. Her diary said that, in her dream, she felt on fire with love for God as the angel plunged his spear into her. Very interesting. Also in this church is a gorgeous piece behind the sanctuary. It's similar to the one in the back of St. Peter's, but smaller and with the Blessed Mother in the middle.

St. Theresa in Ecstasy

Next was the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri (St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs), the titular church given to Cardinal Keeler (Baltimore). This one was even bigger than San Pietro in Vincoli... felt like a miniature Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. It's built into the frigidarium of the Baths of Diocletian. The neat feature of this church is a little hole in one of the corners of the ceiling. It lets a beam of light into the church at solar noon every day. The beam of light lands somewhere on a line on the floor, which is  demarcated for every day of the year between the summer/winter solstice. This solar clock was used to set the official time for the city of Rome. WOW!

View from the entrance... woah!

The duomo with a big oculus in the middle

The big time line

It's a rather large church, even for Roman standards.

That's the light hole for the time line.

It crosses all the way across the church.

The sanctuary

Great view from the front door... you can see all the way down to the Typewriter!

After that, we went to the American church in Rome, the Church of Santa Susanna. This one didn't have many outstanding sculptures... what sets this church apart is the frescoes. Since there is very little sculpture, every wall has been painted to make it look like there are tapestries and columns sticking out of it. Really, REALLY, well-done artwork. Over in the attached convent is a little gift shop, which actually stands over the excavation of St. Susanna's family's graves and home. There are 2 sections of glass floor that you can look through to see the excavations. Way cool. We also picked up our tickets for tomorrow's Papal Audience!

Even the columns you see on the sides... all frescoes.

Again, (almost) all frescoes.

Yep, you guessed it... all frescoes (except for the statues up top).

A tomb... I think St. Susanna's tomb?

Next was the Spanish Steps, and we also peeked into the church at the top of the hill. Another pretty church, not quite as amazing as the previous ones, but still nice. The cool thing about this one was, of course, the steps. The view from the top is incredible, and the steps themselves are very majestic. I felt like I was in that Toto song, The Spanish Steps of Rome. Yeah, I like '80s music. What of it?

Walking the streets of Rome

The basilica at the top of the Spanish Steps

View from the top

Matt looking out over the city

We didn't ge tto walk around inside... Mass was going on.

Looking down on the street from above.

SO many tourists!

Anyway, the Steps are really cool. After we walked down, we all split up until dinner. The Fathers went to have some tea at the British tea house at the base of the Steps. Nick, Matt, and I went to go get stuff at the gift shops near the Vatican, and everyone else went to find a futbol gift shop. We didn't quite make it in time before the shops closed, but we got to chill a little bit in the Piazza, which is always a blessing. It's finally set in that I'm in the Eternal City, spending time in the pinnacle of Christendom. I LOVE it!

Castel Sant'Angelo

Ponte Sant'Angelo

THE VATICAN!!!

Matt was almost as excited as I was. But not quite. lol

Lots of nice cars in Italy, like this Maserati!

Some fool outside my window parking like, well, like a Roman.

For dinner, we went to a nice place about 10 minutes away from the house, across the Tiber. This was a genuine Italian ristorante with excellent food. The house wine wasn't amazing, but it was still very good (as all Roman vino is). I had the antipasti buffet, which had every Italian side dish you could imagine, followed by Pasta Carbonara. That stuff is delicious... spaghetti with a sauce made of eggs, cheese, and BACON! SOOO good; I was incredibly satisfied.

Sadly, no gelato today. Instead, a few of us just went up to Matt's balcony for a few drinks. We ended up staying up way too late, but it was well worth it to stay up solving the world's problems.

Ahhh, Roma... Tomorrow: Papal Audience (YAY!!!!!) and lunch at the NAC.