The Dickinson press., 1910-11-26
THE DICKINSON PRESS, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER, Is 1910

tian churches of the city Rome) and of
the world" Under the hiah altar are
entombed the heads of St. Peter and St.
Paul. The tomb of Leo XIII is there and
there his remains will rest until the
last trumpet sounds. The Lateran pal
ace adjoining the church was Tor CEN
turtles the usual residence Of the popes,
and all belonging to. the Lateran Hill.
and by Italian law it still pertains to
the pope, just as the Vatican does.
On the Lateran Hill is the SCALA
Santa OF Holy Stairs. There are %
steps of the marble stairs brought from
Pilates palace in Jerusalem. 1t was on
these steps that our Divine Lord COM
menced his WAY of the Cross" They
are at present under the care of the
Passionist Fathers. Here too is the font
where Constantine was baptized.
The Lateran fill has more of an
American aspect than any other part
of Rome that l have seen.
" Another of the great Basilicas is St.
Paul's outside the walls. 1t is q work Of
exquisite design and beauty with charm
ing proportions and most beautiful exc
cutlon. There is every variety and color
ing of stone work and mural decorations
and paintings. In all this it rivals and,
according to some good Judges, v e sur
passes St. Peters in many respects but
somehow it does not inspire the solemn
awe and veneration of the older
churches. for 81. Paul's is comparatively
modern. indeed the decorations are yet
far from being complete.
We must finish our descriptions Of the
churches with the Pantheon as it is COM
monty called or Santa Maria Rotunda''
to Give it its true ecclesiastical name
The Pantheon was originally a pagan
temple built and dedicnted to Jove. ~
years before Christ by Augustus in honor
of his victory gained over Mark Antony
and Cleopatra. Those. learned in pagan
mythology discuss profoundly the.name
and objects of the Pantheon in pagan
times, but this I@pass over. 1t is a
prodigious building, a marvellous monu-
ment of exquisite architecture. No de-
scription could give any idea of its
massive greatness, and wonderful
architecture. 1t is perfectly round or
circular and the roof, as you see it,
both exteriorly and interiorly, but the
latter particularly. is only a continual
ton of the circular walls drawing to an
apex in the center of the roof. In this
apex, which corresponds with the center
of the floor below. there is spherical
opening. eight meters in diameter which
Eliminates the whole. There is not
another window in the church. eve the
door is always closed or shaded, yet
there comes down through that central
opening above a stream of light that
seems to. fill and flood the entire church
with glorious sunshine. Raphael, the
first of modern painters, is buried in
this church SO is King Victor Emanuel II
and his son, lambert l, who was ASST
mated in 1900. rye,
must pass over the many other
churches that vi visited, it would be
too long and wearisome to 60 info them:
in detail or even briefly.
Of the catacombs, I prefer those of ST.
(. Agnes, outside the walls, that is, te-
yond the old Roman walls. Of these
you get q perfect idea of what the cata-
combs were. They are cut out of solid
rock, ''stuffa" the Italians called it. It:
seems to be a sort of sand stone that
grows harder and harder with time and
exposure to the air. and the blocks that
are placed side by side seem to knit
together as if cemented. This is seen
particularly in the Colosseum, where
the blocks that composed it had to be.
originally held..together by iron bind
ings, but are now n firm solid wall
without bindings at all.
A few hours spent in the catacombs
is a most instructive lesson. We saw
the Wondering ashes, the bones. the
skulls. the perfect skeletons, as they
were laid in their graves nearly two
thousand years ago. We read the cpl
taphs and had them translated into
English. What faith and trust in a
glorious resurrection through Jesus had
these primitive Christiansl !;
There are family tombs in the cata-
combs and the white bones are still
resting side by side as they were laid
two thousand years ago. The epitaphs
tell you who they were. All these
graves. on both sides of the very narrow
passage way, are RANGED one above the
other and cut out of the solid rock and
with no room for collins. There are
about Two miles of catacombs at ST.
Agnes with chapsls and affairs, here
and there as you pass through. What
their depth under the earth are l cannot
now say, but their turnings and twist