Vatican Necropolis

      Friday was a day of semi-rest in the middle of the weekend. Earlier in the week, I had signed up to go with the Religious Studies class at school to go on a tour of the Vatican Necropolis.The Necropolis lies underneath the St. Peter's Basilica, where there are mausoleums from pre-Constantinian times (before Constantine ruled the Roman Empire, when Christianity was still outlawed), as well as grottoes where some of the deceased Popes are buried, and supposedly where the remains of St. Peter are kept. It was a very interesting tour, as we went through the mausoleums of wealthy families of the pagan religion, saw what was left of the beautiful decorations of mosaic tiled floors, urns for a person's ashes, etc. We were also able to see the differences between those mausoleums that were pagan religion, and those that were Christian, built during/after Constantine's time.

Small layout of the Necropolis, the top map shows the new St. Peter's Basilica, the pink is the Grottoes, and the blue is the mausoleums underneath. In the times when the mausoleums were used, people could walk through the main "street" (the central long path in the middle of the lower picture) and look up and see the sky, so the entire Necropolis, at one point, was not all underground.  

      We were also able to see where St. Peter's remains were located, what little was left of it. It was humbling to think that those were the remains of the first apostle of Jesus, and to whom Jesus gave the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. 

      One of the most interesting things about the tour was definitely when we were in the Clementine Chapel below the floor level underneath the dome as well as Bernini's Canopy of St. Peter's Basilica. Our tour guide was informing us that in three places in the small Chapel, there are grate-like places in the ceiling of the Chapel, where you can see straight up into the dome and the canopy in the main of St. Peter's Basilica. While looking up into the beautiful church, canopy, etc. etc., a choir began to sing a beautiful song. It was fantastic to be there at that moment, so close to the tombs of many popes, and so much history. Wow!

      As we ended our tour with the guide, we were ushered through doors that led right to the tomb of Pope John Paul II. It was both a happy and sad sight to see people of all ages, races, religious-ness (word?), etc. kneeling down in front of the tomb, praying, crying, or both. 

      On a lighter note, after the tour we went to where the current Pope Benedict XVI used to get coffee and pizza near Vatican City, before he was ever Pope. Of course it was very expensive because of their claim-to-fame, but it was really cool to see! I still need to make it to see the inside the Vatican, as well as to see the Pope wave from his window some Sunday while I'm here, so hopefully that'll happen soon!

xoxo Erica