Last week in Rome!!

This week is our last week in Rome.  On Friday, we travel to Milan, Ravenna, and Florence for the final leg of the official trip.  Half of the students will be traveling with me to Paris to celebrate the Bastille festival after next week.  Last week was a very full week at four of the five major catacombs in Rome (Sts. Priscilla, Agnes, Callistus, and San Sebastiano).  St. Callistus' catacomb is the largest of the catacombs, but it was a bit of a disappointment.  It was much too crowded and our guide was not very qualified.  The students had been through the routine enough that they knew what he was saying was completely wrong.  Then one person in our group told him that we had a group of church history students.  He then put on his best face and his commentary was even worse!   No people did not live in the catacombs. 
We also visited the Pantheon, Capitoline museum, Ostia Antica and Nuova (the beach!).  Some of the things worn on the beach are an assault on the eyes.  As one of my students puts it, "Spandex is a privilege, not a right!"  There is nothing more frightening than a semi-clad person in their 60s who has experienced the onslaught of gravity.  These are the moments that I support the early church's emphasis on Neoplatonic spirituality and move away from corporeality. 
At the end of the week, we went to St. John Lateran, Santa Maria Maggiore, and San Paolo fuori le mura (St. Paul outside the walls -- the church over the supposed sight of the apostle Paul's death).  We enjoyed a wonderful mass there for the festival of St. Peter and St. Paul (a Roman holiday), had a little picnic, and then took the metro to St. Peter's Square to watch fireworks over Castel Sant'Angelo.  It was truly wonderful!

Castel Sant'Angelo (Hadrian's mausoleum)

Fireworks over Castel Sant'Angelo

St. Peter's basilica at night