Subterranean Stroll
After years of missionary work, some of the Apostles arrived in Rome, and walked the very stones that today still line the Via Sacra in the Roman Forum. Three centuries later, after Emperor Constantine's 'Edict of Milan,' Christianity began to legally flourish, and with it, the beginning of the end for the catacombs. Meeting beside the Colosseum, the stone witness of Christian marytrdom, we will begin our tour at the medieval basilica of San Clemente, archaeologically once of the most astonishing basilica's in Rome. With two excavated levels existing below the medieval church, the site includes an earlier 4th century church discovered by Dominicans in the 19th century. Learn the history of the ancient domus ecclesiae (house church) and how the first public churches were built in the 4th century after Constantine's liberation of Christianity from persecution. Later, we will travel down the oldest highway in the world, the Via Appia, location of the Spartican crucifixions and ancient Roman home to hundreds of pagan mausoleums and Christian catacombs. You will learn of how the Christians came to own land, and how these privileges of a 'burial society' helped them start the catacombs which surround Rome at different locations (see below). We will finish off the tour by visiting the traditional place of St. Peter's incarceration, where you can enter into the area where he was confined and hear the story of his release and vision of Christ.
Catacombs
A trip to Rome without the catacombs is unthinkable. So why do so many people make that mistake? The primary reason has to do with Ancient Roman law--all the dead, regardless of religion, had to be buried outside the city walls, and therefore, the catacombs are outside of the city center. Needless to say, they are still one of the most intriguing aspects of Christian history. Built during the 1st thru 4th centuries, the catacombs were created by the 'fossores,' or grave-diggers, carving miles in an elaborate tunnel system, later being transformed in galleries of tombs for those awaiting the resurrection. Learn how the natural surrounding were perfectly suited to the building of these tunnels, and learn about the early Christian art that adorned some of the tombs, and how and why the catacombs were eventually abandoned.
