November 2016
It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Church, and an enclave in Rome, situated on the west bank of the Tiber River. Vatican City is the world’s smallest fully independent nation-state.Its medieval and Renaissance walls form its boundaries except on the southeast at St. Peter’s Square (Piazza San Pietro). Of the six entrances, only three—the piazza, the Arco delle Campane (Arch of the Bells) in the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica, and the entrance to the Vatican Museums and Galleries in the north wall—are open to the public. The most imposing building is St. Peter’s Basilica, built during the 4th century and rebuilt during the 16th century. Erected over the tomb of St. Peter the Apostle, it is the second largest religious building (after Yamoussoukro Basilica) in Christendom. (britannica.com)
It's our second day in Rome and we are set to explore the Vatican. Everyone's excited because aside from going around we will also attend the general audience of the pope.
How crazy is that?!
We went inside St. Peter's Square and looked for a nice place to see the pope during his General Audience. The square itself is magnificent. This is my second time in the Vatican but it never fails to mesmerize me. Magnifique!
From aviewoncities.com:
As soon as Alexander VII was elected as the new pope in April 1655, he commissioned sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini to create a new square in front of the St. Peter's Basilica. Following Alexander's detailed instructions, Bernini came up with an elliptical shaped square.
St. Peter's Square is bordered on two sides by semi-circular colonnades which, according to Bernini, symbolize the stretched arms of the church embracing the world.
In the center of the square stands an Egyptian obelisk. The obelisk was originally located at Heliopolis in Egypt and was built for Cornelius Gallus, the city's prefect. In 37 AD Caligula decided to transport the obelisk to Rome with a specially constructed ship. It was installed at the spina of the Circus of Caligula.
In 1613 a fountain designed by Carlo Maderno was installed on the square, to the right of the centrally located obelisk. To maintain symmetry, Bernini decided to install an identical copy of the fountain on the left side. The fountain was created in 1677 by Carlo Fontana.
From aviewoncities.com:
In 1613 a fountain designed by Carlo Maderno was installed on the square, to the right of the centrally located obelisk. To maintain symmetry, Bernini decided to install an identical copy of the fountain on the left side. The fountain was created in 1677 by Carlo Fontana.
As we try to find our seats, you can't help but notice the Swiss Guards inside the square.
From britannica.com:
Often called “the world’s smallest army,” they serve as personal escorts to the pontiff and as watchmen for Vatican City and the pontifical villa of Castel Gandolfo.
The general audience of the pope will take place in front of the basilica. A lot of people are entering through different portas to get inside the square.
From the square, you can also get a glimpse of the papal apartment.
From britannica.com:
Vatican Palace, papal residence in the Vatican north of St. Peter’s Basilica. From the 4th century until the Avignonese period (1309–77) the customary residence of the popes was at the Lateran. Pope Symmachus built two episcopal residences in the Vatican, one on either side of the basilica, to be used for brief stays. Charlemagne built the Palatium Caroli on the north of St. Peter’s to house his subjects during their visits to Rome. Other buildings added by Leo III and Eugenius III were modernized by Innocent III, who gave them added protection when he built a second fortified wall within that of Leo IV. Nicholas III began the first of the many buildings known today as papal palaces.
After queuing to enter the square, we were able to find a strategic place for the general audience. Excited kami! Hehehe!
With my co-pilgrims and seatmates. :-)
When we thought that everything was going fine, it was announced that the general audience will no longer be held in the square. There was some kind of security alert. Oh, oh!
We were transferred to Paul VI Hall.
From arcvision.org:
Commissioned by Pope Paul VI in 1963, the Papal Audience Hall in Vatican City was inaugurated in 1971. Shortly thereafter both the hall and the architect achieved such a worldwide fame that the auditorium came to be called familiarly Aula Nervi. It is one of the last great works of Pier Luigi Nervi, an engineer by training as well as a skilled entrepreneur and unsurpassed interpreter of cement as form and structure for architectural and infrastructural works where it is impossible to distinguish the design project from structural computation.
(Main photo is from irishtimes.com)
And so, just like obedient lambs, we all headed to Paul VI Hall. This is my first time to be in this hall. Magnificent architecture. I discovered that the entire roof of this hall is covered by solar panels. Awesome!
Though we were protected now from whatever security threat there was and from the cold temperature, we were far from the stage. Yon nga lang, ang layo na namin kay pope.
Then he gave the papal blessing to everyone.
After our audience with the pope, we all headed inside St. Peter's Basilica (our 3rd basilica, isa na lang kumpleto na ang listahan, hehehe!)
This is my second time inside the basilica. Words are not enough to describe what you see inside it.
From rome.net:
St. Peter’s Basilica is one of the holiest temples for Christendom and one of the largest churches in the world. Besides, it is where the Pope presides many liturgies all year round.
The construction of the new basilica began in 1506, when the old basilica had been torn down, and was finished in 1626. It was consecrated on 18 November, 1626. Several renowned architects designed the temple, highlighting the works of Bramante, Michelangelo and Carlo Maderno.
The basilica was called St Peter’s after one of Jesus’s twelve disciples known as Saint Peter, who became one of the founders of the Catholic Church and was executed in Rome and buried where the Basilica now stands.
We entered through the basilica's Porta Sancta.
From stpetersbasilica.info:
Michaelangelo was only 24 years old when he carved it, and it is the only one he ever signed. The beauty of its lines and expression leaves a lasting impression on everyone.
With this magnificent statue Michelangelo has given us a highly spiritual and Christian view of human suffering. Artists before and after Michelangelo always depicted the Virgin with the dead Christ in her arms as grief stricken, almost on the verge of desperation. Michelangelo, on the other hand, created a highly supernatural feeling.
As she holds Jesus' lifeless body on her lap, the Virgin's face emanates sweetness, serenity and a majestic acceptance of this immense sorrow, combined with her faith in the Redeemer. It seems almost as if Jesus is about to reawaken from a tranquil sleep and that after so much suffering and thorns, the rose of resurrection is about to bloom. As we contemplate the Pieta which conveys peace and tranquility, we can feel that the great sufferings of life and its pain can be mitigated.
Here, many Christians recall the price of their redemption and pray in silence. The words may be those of the "Salve Regina" or "Sub tuum presidium" or another prayer. After Peter's Tomb, the Pieta Chapel is the most frequently visited and silent place in the entire basilica.
It is said that Michelangelo had been criticized for having portrayed the Virgin Mary as too young since she actually must have been around 45-50 years old when Jesus died. He answered that he did so deliberately because the effects of time could not mar the virginal features of this, the most blessed of women. He also said that he was thinking of his own mother's face, he was only five when she died: the mother's face is a symbol of eternal youth.
We were given time to explore the basilica. I cannot help but marvel at the ceiling, the sculptures, the art work, etc. Such splendor and grandeur.
I did not miss visiting Saint Pope John Paul II's chapel. I suddenly missed him. He was the very first pope I loved dearly.
There were other chapels dedicated to saints and popes inside the basilica such as Pope John XXXIII.
How can you not regard the greatness of this place?
It's breathtaking!
Whether it's from above or below, all you see is beauty.
I am at the main altar of the basilica. It is called St. Peter's Baldachin. This is Bernini's first work in the basilica. It took him nine years to complete it. Directly beneath the baldacchino is the tomb of St. Peter.
You cannot and should not miss the statue of St. Peter.
"This ancient statue of St. Peter, portrayed as he gives a blessing and preaches, while holding the keys to the kingdom of heaven is famous throughout the world."
The idiom ‘all roads lead to Rome’ has been in use since the 11th century, which is based on the excellent road system where all the roads from different provinces did lead to Rome.
We stopped for a while and admired the Sant' Angelo Bridge.
"Sant'Angelo Bridge was initially known as the Pons Aelius, after the second name (nomen) of the emperor who built it - Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus Augustus (or 'Hadrian' for short)."
At the opposite of the bridge is the famous Castel Sant' Angelo.
(Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the one mentioned in the novel of Dan Brown, Angels and Demons.)
Known as Hadrian's Tomb, the Castel Sant'Angelo is a fortress located on the right bank of the Tiber River. Construction of the building began in the year 135 under the direction of the Emperor Hadrian, who intended to use it as mausoleum for himself and his family.
In the year 590, while a great epidemic of plague devastated the city, the Pope Gregory I had a vision of Saint Michael the Archangel on top of the castle, announcing the end of the epidemic. In memory of the apparition the building is crowned with a statue of an angel.
(From www.rome.net)
We walked further and chanced upon a group of grooms and brides in their wedding regalia. Where to? To the Vatican to receive the blessing of Pope Francis.
I discovered that newly weds (or even those who are already married for years) may receive a papal blessing within two months of the date of the Papal Audience in the Vatican or on a Wednesday. Just secure a ticket (it's free, BTW!) and go, wedding gown and all!
Ang galing, no? Bait talaga ni Papa Francesco.
At bilib din naman ako sa mga Italyano, lakad galore kahit naka-wedding gown sa kalsada! Havey na havey!
And so, our "lakad" continued... sige, lakad pa... konti na lang at nasa Piazza Navona na kami. I have been longing to go back to this place. :-)
I longed to see the Bernini Fountain once again.
From rome.info:
Pope, Innocent X Pamphilj (reigned 1644-1655) eventually commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to sculpt Rome’s greatest achievement in this genre, the Fountain of the Four Rivers, located in Piazza Navona, the ancient stadium of the Emperor Domitian and the site of the Pamphilj family palace. As early as 1647 Innocent had decided to erect an obelisk as a central ornament for the piazza in tandem with a fountain, as he methodically cleaned up and beautified what was one of Rome’s most squalid neighbourhoods!
The Fountain of the Four Rivers depicts Gods of the four great rivers in the four continents as then recognized by the Renaissance geographers: the Nile in Africa, the Ganges in Asia, the Danube in Europe and the Río de la Plata in America.
Each location is further enhanced by animals and plants of that country. The Ganges carries a long oar, representing the river's navigability. The Nile's head is draped with a loose piece of cloth, meaning that no one at that time knew exactly where the Nile's source was. The Danube touches the Papal coat of arms, since it is the largest river closest to Rome. And the Río de la Plata is sitting on a pile of coins, a symbol of the riches America might offer to Europe (the word plata means silver in Spanish).
Each River God is semi-prostrate, in awe of the central tower, epitomized by the slender Egyptian obelisk (built for the Roman Serapeum in AD 81), symbolizing Papal power and surmounted by the Pamphilj symbol of the dove.
The Fountain of the Four rivers is a theater in the round, whose leading actor is the movement and sound of water splashing over and cascading down a mountain of travertine marble. The masterpiece was finally unveiled to the world on June 12, 1651, to joyous celebration and the inevitable criticisms of the day. Then as today the Fountain of the Four Rivers continues to amaze and entertain visitors to Rome. Bernini triumphs yet again.
We ended our afternoon by celebrating the Holy Eucharist inside the Church of Sant' Agnese in Agone.
After the mass, we headed to our last stop for the night, the famous Pantheon of Rome.
From ancient.eu:
The Pantheon (Latin: pantheum) is the best-preserved building from ancient Rome and was completed in c. 125 CE in the reign of Hadrian. Following Hadrian’s usual practice of dedicating rebuilt buildings and monuments in honor of the original dedicator, the Pantheon is dedicated to Marcus Agrippa.
The Pantheon of Agrippa is the best preserved Roman building in the world, it is a perfect synthesis of harmony and constructive intelligence and nobody dared to perform a similar work until the Renaissance, fourteen centuries later. Michelangelo referred to the Pantheon as the building that had "an angelic and not a human design".
Nowadays, this building still retains its original marble pavement and in the inner chapels, where formerly the statues of the divinities were found, today there are chapels with numerous works of art. Since the Renaissance period, the Pantheon has been used as the seat of the Academy of Virtuosos of Rome serving as tomb to great Italians such as Raphael of Urbino and the kings Vittorio Emanuele II, his son Umberto I and his wife Margherita.
Even though the Pantheon is a historical monument, it still remains a church in which masses and especially marriages are celebrated.
What is that big hole on top of the Pantheon?
It is called oculus. Sometimes, it is called the Devil's Dome.
The dome was so great that it was considered impossible that had been created by human hands for this was also called the Devil's Dome. (http://www.cosavisitarearoma.it)
From rome.info:
The oculus was an engineering gem of the Roman world. No oculus had even dared come close in size to the one in the Pantheon. It is still lined with the original Roman bronze and is the main source of light for the whole building. As the earth turns the light flows in to circle the interior making the viewer aware of the magnificence of the cosmos. The oculus was never covered and rain falls into the interior and runs off the slightly convex floor to the still functioning Roman drainpipes underneath.
The Italian kings Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I as well as the famous Renaissance painter Raphael and his fiancée are buried in the Pantheon. It is a wonderful example of second century Roman architecture. It boasts mathematical genius and simple geometry that today still impresses architects and amazes the eyes of casual viewers. (www.rome.info)
At last, pauwi na kami... kapuy gid na talaga. Pero wait! There's more! Hahaha! Napadaan lang sa isang simbahan na nasa pangangalaga ng mga Agustino.
This is the Augustinian church of Sant’Agostino in Rome, where the sacred relics of St. Monica are kept. It's a pity we were not able to enter. Sayang! (Next time na lang... so it means, babalik ako!)
The Augustinian College to the immediate right of the church is where St. Philip Neri studied.
Hindi lang pala kami ang pauwi na. Pati mga Swiss Guards, pauwi na rin. :-)
We witnessed the changing of the Swiss Guards inside the grounds of the Vatican. The uniform they are wearing in the picture is the kind of uniform they wear at night and when it is cold.
It was just one day inside the Vatican and there was so much more to cover and see. Our hearts are full and our spirits energized. We've seen the pope and listened to him; marveled at the grandeur of churches and St. Peter's (the best!); celebrated mass; experienced the culture and heritage of Rome in a different perspective, and walked and walked and walked.
We were all tired, but nonetheless, we were all happy. Elated. Overjoyed. Jubilant. At peace. Grazie, Vatican! Grazie, Papa Francesco!
At a loss for words...
Touch, see, breathe, experience
Oh, the face of God!
- At yan ang sabi ni Manang
Vatican City
November 2016