As I descended those brick steps of the Juniculum Hill... more slowly than usual, I recalled my friend referring to them at one point in Italian as the 'Scale dall'inferno': steps from hell.
What I noticed, though, at the foot of the steps and out onto the path beside the Tiber was that at some point during my week off the trees had budded and the little leaves were giving a shade of light green to my morning walk.
That's the Tiber River on the left, through the new leaves. Spring has sprung in Rome... although to be honest, it was 18*C and sunny pretty much since I got here. This week has been cooler and rainy - so not quite as pleasant. I know you folks in Canada don't really feel that sorry for me.
So, like I said, I wound my way through multiple back streets to get to the Church of Sts Cosmas and Damian this morning. The church is very old, of course, and it is situated in a marshy, flood-prone area of Rome, so at some point the floor was actually raised 20 feet so today it was really interesting to sit in 'choir' because we were sitting close to the original ceiling! You could really see the beauty and detail in the mosaics when you are 20 feet closer to the top of the building.
The church is tucked in behind this magnificent building, that I showed you before:
So, walking in between the Vit.Emmanuel monument and Trajan's column, amidst other ancient ruins of the Roman Forum... and before you get to the Colosseum, you discover the Church of Cosmas and Damian. So, in this pic you are now behind the Vit Emmanuel monument - see it in the background - and the ancient ruins are at your feet in front of you, and the Church is still a little farther to your left (not in the pic yet):
If you do a 180* turn and look behind you, you will see the Colosseum in the distance (being restored -hence the scaffolding on the far left):
Looking at the picture above, today's Station Church is just on your right, but not yet in the picture (again!)
Yep, that's it. Not much to look at from the outside, eh? See the pilgrims waiting to get in? Also, notice the yellow police tape? That's right, Obama... again. I was happy to see his helicopter leave this afternoon from the Vatican. Remember I am close to the Vatican, so I saw it go. Now they can take down all that tape.
Meanwhile, the Mass inside the Church with the raised floor was quiet, intimate and very peaceful. There were two Cardinals with us, Cardinal O'Brien who has been with us every day, and another one who celebrated the Mass but I didn't get his name. The music by the seminary schola was excellent and added a very solemn mood to the Lenten spiritual reflection.
See what I mean about being close to the ceiling? Usually that apse is waaaaay above your head. Those wooden benches that follow the rounded wall of the Apse is the 'choir' where I sat this morning... behind the main altar, so I couldn't actually see what was going on.
It wasn't hard getting a picture of the main ceiling (above) in the nave. It was like you could reach out and touch it.
In a manner similar to my method of getting to the Station Church this morning, I took a series of back streets home. Honestly, there was a church every second street... back street. Churches that would be like cathedrals back home are tucked into the corners of little piazzas (squares that aren't square). I stopped in at about 6 of them and took a few pictures. I can't remember the names of them all. Its really quite amazing.
The exterior
The interior space
Same church... the altar piece - a little bit like the sunburst at St. Peter's.
Another church, I liked the painting of St Michael the Archangel.
The choir loft and pipe organ. You can't see it very well, but painted all across the balcony of the loft are a multitude of the heavenly host praising God on a variety of musical instruments.
Yet another church in the corner of a small piazza on a backstreet in Rome. That is a pulpit on the left, halfway up the wall. Many of the churches still have these... kind of different and perhaps not really needed in a church that is not the size of a basilica.
This is the altar piece of that same church... Mary and Joseph with Jesus and a Levitical priest (probably Simeon) in the temple in Jerusalem. In ALL these churches, the biblical record is preserved and proclaimed through art for those who could not read... which was most people at the time. Now-a-days, you often can't tell what a modern or post-modern artist is trying to communicate. Here, art is in the service of the gospel and is meant to convey truth and reality as beautifully and as clearly as possible.
While I was in this church a man walked in, stopped at the open Bible and read the Scripture readings for today, and then went on his way to work. What a great idea... which was probably more common when not everyone could afford a Bible. Don't believe that nonsense that Catholics weren't allowed to read the Bible. After the disaster of the Reformation where each man interpreted the Bible for himself (resulting in 30,000+ Protestant denominations and counting), Catholics were not encouraged to make themselves into the sole interpreting authority of the Scriptures, but rather were encouraged to seek the mind of the Church (which wrote the Bible, BTW) on how it had historically interpreted difficult passages... but were they permitted to read the Bible, yes.
The Church near my house is 'Holy Spirit Parish' and it has a place for a round Rose window (as they are called). Since the church is new, there is just clear glass there now. I took this picture to show the Pastor there.
If I can get inside this church, I will get a picture of how the light shines through the window and take a picture of the details of the window.
I don't know how many pictures of Churches you can take. I saw lots... I am posting a fraction of what I saw. I can't describe the insides of each church... they are full of wonderful art, sculptures, mosaics, etc. and it gets to be overwhelming after a while.
If the door is open, I go in. I can't help it.
Ah! Below is the exterior of the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere.
The oldest, or nearly the oldest surviving mosaics in Rome:
And then... this. Can you figure this one out?? Click on it to enlarge (like all pics)
No, this is actually of the Council of Trent and that is holy Wisdom in the foreground.
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