Skip to main content

Two Pauls Outside the Walls

    Probably one of the most touching experiences I've had thus far in Rome would be our visit today at the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls. To put it mildly, it was an awe-inspiring experience.


    Today was the first time I saw the tomb of an Apostle. It was incredible to think that, after all his travels, I was merely a few feet away from the resting place of one of Christ's Apostles (though not one of the Twelve). Even now, I'm struck to think of how much history there was to put these two Pauls outside the walls!

    However, this was but one thing that I loved about this basilica. In one of our classes this week, we were told of how St John Paul II said that there are two lungs of the Church: East and West. (Although, our lecturer added a third: the Syriacs.) What amazed me was that here I could see both lungs breathing in the same place. This was undoubtedly a Roman Catholic Basilica—the names and faces of Popes adorned the walls here—and yet, behind the altar, there was a beautiful artwork of Christ as he appears in the icons of the Eastern tradition. We are here to study ecumenism, after all, so to witness the marriage of these two traditions here—which are, unfortunately, largely estranged from each other in today’s world—has inspired me in my studies and was a wonderful experience on a personal level.

    Seriously, if you’re ever in Rome, you need to see this.

- Paul

A picture of the dome behind the Altar and St Paul's tomb.

Names and pictures of the most recent Popes.

Two Pauls Outside the Walls.

A snapshot of the Basilica's interior.



Comments

  1. MelindaJune 29, 2023 at 9:36 AM

    I whole heartly agree that this is a church to visit. Standing so close to the tomb of St Paul is unbelievable. It speaks to the dedication of the faithful who have preserved and maintained this site for centuries.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Catacombs of Domitilla

The story of Christianity is awe-inspiring.  This is true whether you are a believer or not.  Within 50 years of the physical death of Christ, 12 believers had directly and indirectly converted thousands to the new faith.  Within 300 years, they had converted an empire. This tour begins at the walls of Rome within sight of St. John Lateran where we get our ride to the countryside of Rome.  Making our way outside the walls, the city changes to country quickly.  The Roman countryside is quite beautiful.  The hills begin to roll and the gated villas extend to farms of vegetables, rose hips, or barley.  The air cleaner and the sound clearer. Flavia Domitilla was the granddaughter of the emperor Vespasian.  As daughter of Domitilla "the Younger", Flavia was also the niece of the emperors Titus and Domitian.  These catacombs were founded on her property in about the year 120 A.D.  Flavia and her husband, Flavius Clemens, were likely ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Villa Borghese: Tainted Beauty

In the 17 th  century it was common for the pope to place a nephew in a key administrative role, for self-preservation.  Thus in 1605, at the age of 28, Scipione Borghese was made cardinal and papal secretary, head of the Roman Curia, by his uncle Pope Paul V, making Scipione the second most powerful person in the country.  Cardinal Scipione purchased a property in the north of Rome and began acquiring ancient Roman and contemporary Italian art.  The villa and its beautiful grounds were never a residence, only ever a gallery and conservatory. Cardinal Scipione became the patron of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, providing Bernini with the opportunity to cement his legacy as perhaps the best sculptor to have ever lived.  Though several pieces of furniture and adornment were sold off by the Borghese family in the 19 th  century to address fiscal problems, those have been replaced with copies, and the most famous and significant pieces of the original collec...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Trini - Canadian walks into a Mosque, a Synagogue and Several Churches

       During my last week in Rome, I had the honour of entering both a synagogue and a mosque for the first time in my life. After visiting what seemed like a million churches in Rome and, (as a Roman Catholic), loving every one of them, it was a nice way to end off the interreligious dialogue component of our course.     The synagogue is located in the old Jewish ghetto of Rome. It is in this area that Jews were forced to live and had many restrictions put upon them in the past. Our visit included the museum under the synagogue where we saw a copy of the declaration that announced forming the State of Israel. The Great Synagogue of Rome A picture I took of the beautiful square dome inside the Synagogue Declaration of the State of Israel           Our friend and classmate Oded, who was born and grew up in Tel Aviv, Israel, drew my attention to an extraordinary black and white photo of crowds of Jews in Rome celebrating this d...
Post a Comment
Read more