Bryce & Damon in Europe
by Pertinax Carrus
Chapter 24: Rome Again, Part II
Wandering around Rome
By the time Bryce and Damon exited the Sistine Chapel, it was early afternoon. Once again, their curiosity and their desire to see everything had caused them to miss lunch, which is a major tragedy for two nineteen year olds. Even so, rather than again splurge on the over-priced offerings along the Via della Conciliazione, Bryce led the way to the south, to the Janiculum. Like the Vatican, the Janiculum is a hill on the right bank of the Tiber, and so is not among the famed seven hills of Rome, all of which are on the left bank. A significant part of the area is a green space, which provides a welcome change from the bustling city. Wandering down the Via delle Mura Aurelie, following the by now familiar Aurelian Walls, they arrived at the Piazzale Giuseppe Garibaldi, which features an equestrian statue of (guess who) Giuseppe Garibaldi, perhaps the most famous hero of the Italian Risorgimento, the nationalist movement of the nineteenth century leading to Italian unification. There, they mused on the fact that, prior to 1870, the last time the Italian peninsula had been a political unity was prior to the Lombard invasions in the sixth century. Linguistic and cultural unity does not automatically involve political unity. Witness the division of German speaking people today in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Luxemburg.
A short distance south of the Piazzale Giuseppe Garibaldi they encountered the Porta San Pancrazio. This gate had a long history. Well, not this gate exactly. The original gate at this point had been a gate in the Aurelian Walls. As that fell into disrepair, in the seventeenth century there was a new gate constructed under Pope Urban VIII, the great patron of Bernini. Then, it too, became unusable, and was replaced in the nineteenth century by the present gate, even though no wall then encircled all Rome, and it was not much of a gate to anything. Such are the peculiarities of history. A short distance from the Porta San Pancrazio, they encountered the Fonte Aqua Paola. This was a lot like the Trevi Fountain in central Rome, but was revived much later. Originally, it was the aqueduct constructed under the Roman Emperor Trajan, and so called the Aqua Triana. But it was cut during the Gothic siege of 537. Different set of Goths, Bryce explained, from those who cut the Aqua Virgo in 410. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Pope Paul V convinced the Roman municipal authorities to fund a revival of the aqueduct, as the area of Rome on the right bank of the Tiber was having problems with the water supply. The basic work was completed in 1612, and named for the Pope, although additional work was done in stages throughout the seventeenth century, ending with the impressive monument visible today. It’s a kind of elaborate triumphal arch, with much of the material purloined from the Forum of Hadrian, but not as impressive as the Trevi.
Next they came upon the Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, believed to be the site of the oldest Christian church in Rome. In 220 Pope Calixtus, the same fellow who earlier made the arrangements concerning the catacombs south of town, opened what was called a “house church” as a place of Christian worship. But in the twelfth century the original structures were razed, and a new church built. The remains of Pope Calixtus I (217-222) are housed in the church. Some of the columns of the twelfth century structure came from the Baths of Caracalla. The guys made a brief stop, encountering a typical basilica interior, with a wide nave, side aisles, and the altar in the apse.
Near Santa Maria in Trastevere, they paused in their wanderings and had something to eat. They missed lunch, and it was far too early for dinner, but this meal, consisting primarily of spaghetti a la Bolognese, hit the spot. Damon asked whether there were a connection between what they were eating and the sausage called boloney. Bryce said he did not think so, but the meat sauce was probably so called because that kind of sauce was developed in Bologna, so there was that connection. Two different comestibles, both coming from Bologna.
Leaving Trastevere feeling much better after eating, they crossed the Tiber by way of the two bridges linking the island in the river to either side. On the left bank of the Tiber was the Theater of Marcellus completed in 13 B.C. and named for a nephew of Caesar Augustus. This was not a site for the bloody ‘games’ of the gladiators, but for theatrical and musical performances. Originally faced with travertine marble, like so many ancient structures it lost many of its amenities over the centuries. During the middle ages, it was used as a fortress by competing Roman noble families, finally falling into the hands of the Orsini. In the later sixteenth century, a bad period for ancient edifices, the Orsini built a palace within the ruins, which today is a series of apartments. Even so, it was an interesting structure, or rather combination of structures.
Passing down the Via del Teatro Marcello, they came to the Campidoglio, or what was known in ancient times as the Capitoline hill. On the site of ancient pagan temples sits the present church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, the word ‘aracoeli’ coming from the Latin for ‘altar of heaven.’ Like so many others, the church went through many phases during its long history. Relics of St. Helen, mother of Emperor Constantine I, are housed here. Of particular interest was the celebration there of the commander of the Roman or papal forces participating in the Christian victory over the Turks at Lepanto in 1571. This was a member of the great rival noble house to the Orsini, Marcantonio Colonna.
Earlier in 1347 the Roman citizen Cola di Rienzi launched from the Campidoglio his effort to restore the glory of Rome, and specifically to oust the factious nobles. The ancient Capitoline Hill was the site of the government of the medieval commune of Rome. In the process, he changed the orientation of the location from one towards the forum, as in ancient times, to one in the opposite direction, towards the Tiber. Initially successful, he adopted the title of tribune. Cola even attempted to pass judgement on the Holy Roman Emperor as a usurper of the authority of the Roman people, and invited all the cities of Italy to band together to support him. No wonder he was a hero of the Risorgimento in the nineteenth century. But Cola’s dreams were not accompanied by any practical experience or action, and brought ridicule on him and his government, which collapsed in less than a year.
Much later, Pope Paul III commissioned Michelangelo to redesign the entire area, which design was developed between 1536 and 1546. This work completed the reorientation away from the forum begun under Cola di Rienzi. Michelangelo’s design does not exhibit the tensions of his Mannerist works from this period, but imposes order on a series of medieval, and partly crumbling, civic buildings. New façades were provided for the buildings making up the three sides of the piazza, with the fourth side open to the sloping approach. In the center is an equestrian statue of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Emphasizing the new orientation is a long ramp called the Cordonata leading up to the trapezoidal piazza from the base of the hill. Actual work continued into the next century before all this design was realized. The Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli sits next to the foot of the ramp, approached by a long, steep staircase.
At the top of the Capitoline Bryce insisted that Damon accompany him into a museum, although his boyfriend preferred staying outside on such a fine day.
“Believe me, you will appreciate this,” Bryce insisted. Then he giggled. “I only got in here one afternoon when my parents were distracted elsewhere.”
He led Damon into the Pinacoteca Capitolina, explaining that the term “pinacoteca” essentially meant a picture gallery, as distinct from any other kind of museum. He led Damon to what is perhaps the most well-known work in that collection, ‘Saint John the Baptist’ by Caravaggio, dating to 1602.
Damon took one look, and exclaimed, “Wow! Don’t tell me there is any doubt about the sexual orientation of Caravaggio. That’s as hot as anything on line.”
“I thought I remembered you being kind of partial to Caravaggio when we were in Paris,” Bryce smirked. “When I first saw it, I was struggling with my sexual identity, but there was no question but it made a major impact on me. I couldn’t get it out of my mind, and, believe me, I tried. We can get a copy in the gift shop.”
This time, Damon really appreciated the ubiquitous nature of gift shops.
Sort of behind the Campidoglio, and down a flight of steps, lay a short street on which fronted another church called San Pietro in Carcere. Neither Bryce nor Damon was interested in the church at this time, but beneath it, and accessible by a separate entrance, is the ancient Roman prison called in ancient times the Tullianum, and later the Mamertine Prison. According to tradition, the Apostle Peter was held in this prison for a time before his execution, although there is no definite proof of this. This would have been the normal process of Roman law, however. There was no provision under ancient Roman law for lengthy imprisonment. A person found guilty of a serious crime was fined, mutilated, exiled, or executed. Prisons were only for holding the accused prior to trial. Sometimes prisoners of war were executed at the Tullianum after their captor held his triumph. This was the fate of the African king Jugurtha of Numidia, captured by Marius, and of the Gallic king Vercingetorex, captured by Marius’ nephew Julius Caesar. Descending into the Mamertine, Bryce and Damon found an unpleasant stone chamber where an altar had been erected to St. Peter, and a hole through which prisoners were lowered into the lower chamber or dungeon. Neither felt bold enough to try descending, and it looked pretty nasty from above, even with a spring for water bubbling up.
By this time, it was early evening, and both guys had enough sight-seeing for the day. To end the day appropriately, they made their way once again down the Via dei Fori Imperiali, but this time around behind the Colosseum, to the Via San Giovanni in Laterano, where they found the gay friendly restaurant called Coming Out. As was typical, there were tables outside under an awning, but atypical was the large rainbow banner over the door. The restaurant advertised good food and good service, which is what the guys wanted at this point. Although the place had a reputation as a spot for hooking up, all they wanted was dinner, so they claimed an outside table, and sat down. Despite their repast of spaghetti in mid-afternoon in Trastevere, both were hungry from all the walking they had done that day. They managed to put away a substantial meal, accompanied by Roman red wine, which took about two hours to complete. As they ate, they discussed what to do with the remainder of the evening. They immediately rejected the advances of several predatory looking males who approached their table. There was some desultory talk about finding a gay club and dancing, but neither really felt up to it.
“Does the fact that we no longer have the car mean we cannot go out to the Gay Village again?” Damon asked.
“No. There’s plenty of public transportation in Rome. We could take the subway or a bus, or get a taxi, if that’s what we decide to do,” Bryce replied.
But in the long run, it was their feet which decided. After four hours on their feet in the Vatican Museum, the walk over the Janiculum, through Trastevere, and to the Campidoglio, then to the restaurant, and with the prospect of the walk back to their hotel, they decided their feet needed rest. Hence, after completing their dinner, they set out to return to the Hotel Cicerone. It was a long walk, but when they arrived, rather than going directly to bed, they spent some time in the bar, having a nightcap. Then, when they did go to bed, they engaged in some very interesting activities which did not involve walking.
St. Peter in Chains, St. John Lateran, and Holy Cross
After returning from his morning workout, Bryce roused Damon. “Okay, enough sloughing off in bed. Time to rise and shine.”
Damon did not appreciate Bryce’s sunny disposition on this Saturday morning. Still, with many grunts and groans, he got himself ready to face the day, and the two had breakfast. As Damon consumed his third cup of coffee, he managed a coherent question. “What’s on the schedule for today?”
“I think it’s time to follow up on two things. We need to hit another of the pilgrimage churches, and we need a follow up on Michelangelo,” Bryce replied.
“I thought we got Michelangelo yesterday at the Sistine Chapel and the Campidoglio,” Damon observed.
“True, but I seem to recall promising you another statue or two. Well, there’s one at St. Peter in Chains,” Bryce replied.
“Is this one of your pilgrimage churches?” Damon enquired.
“No. It’s a fine church, but not one of the traditional seven. I don’t know why not, actually. It seems to me to qualify as much as some of the others. But I didn’t make up the list,” Bryce said.
“Where, then?”
“Not too far from St. Peter in Chains are two of the remaining pilgrimage churches, St. John Lateran and Holy Cross. We can knock those two out this morning, I thought,” Bryce suggested, looking at his partner to make certain he was not pressing him too much with all the churches in Rome.
“Okay. Does this involve a lot of walking?” Damon asked.
“St. Peter in Chains is not far from where we had dinner last night, and St. John’s is a little farther out in that same direction. Holy Cross and the Scala Sancta are not far from St. John’s,” Bryce informed him.
“What’s this Scala Sancta. You’re sneaking something more in on me,” Damon challenged his boyfriend.
“It’s on the way, and you ought to see it,” Bryce promised.
“Okay, let’s go,” Damon obligingly agreed.
Once again, it was down the Via del Corso and along the Via dei Fori Imperiali, but about half way along that street, they turned left onto the Via Cavour, and, after just a little way, came to the church of San Pietro in Vincoli. Once again, it was a typical basilica style structure, with a wide nave and side aisles. In front of the apse was the high altar. Bryce led Damon along, so they could view the reliquary purportedly containing the chains used to bind St. Peter during his imprisonment in Jerusalem. The story of St. Peter’s imprisonment is told in Chapter 12 of the Acts of the Apostles, including his miraculous escape. The chains were given to Aelia Eudoxia, wife of the Roman Emperor Theodosius II (402-450) by Juvenalis, Patriarch of Jerusalem. She, in turn, gave them to her daughter, Licinia Eudoxia, wife of Emperor Valentinian III (425-455), who in turn presented them to Pope Leo I (440-461), who deposited them in the church consecrated by his predecessor Sixtus III in 439. On the ceiling of the church is a painting depicting the miraculous liberation of St. Peter from prison.
To the right of the high altar was the item of most interest to Damon. This is the statue of Moses by Michelangelo. It was intended as part of the tomb of Pope Julius II, who, before becoming pope, was the cardinal in charge of this church.
“Okay, I see some of the same qualities in this work as in the David,” Damon said. “As I recall, you described it as ‘great power at rest,’ and that seems to fit what I see. But why does Moses have horns?” Damon wanted to know.
“Well, the Bible says rays of light shown from the head of Moses, and in the Latin version, the words for rays and horns are very similar. Horns are a lot easier for a sculptor to do than rays of light,” Bryce offered as a possibility.
“Hmpf,” Damon expressed his dissatisfaction. Even Michelangelo seems to have had his limitations.
Leaving San Pietro in Vincoli, Bryce and Damon made their way down the Via Eudossiana, named for the Empress, to the Via de Termi di Tito, and thence by way of a staircase down the Esquiline hillside to the Colosseum. There, they picked up the Via San Giovanni in Laterano, where they had dined the night before, and passed on some distance further to the church of San Giovanni in Laterano.
“This,” Bryce proclaimed as they approached still another basilica style structure, “is the cathedral of Rome.”
“I thought that was St. Peter’s,” Damon protested. “Not the one we just visited, but the one over across the river.”
“A lot of people think that, and St. Peter’s is definitely better known, but this is actually the cathedral, and the Pope, as Bishop of Rome, has his official cathedra, or seat here,” Bryce insisted. “If you remember from Assisi, when St. Francis sought recognition from Pope Innocent III, he camped out for some time in front of this church. There’s a marker somewhere around here noting that. For a long time, the residence of the popes was the Lateran Palace, located behind the church, and there were four or five councils held here.”
“Okay, you’re the guide. Lead on,” Damon conceded.
Outside is the largest obelisk in Rome. The story is told that Emperor Constantine intended it to be sent from Egypt to his new residence at Constantinople, but his son, Constantius II, got confused and sent it to Rome instead. It was erected in its present position by Pope Sixtus V in the sixteenth century. In fact, Sixtus is responsible for most of the present locations of obelisks around Rome. They form sort of guide posts to the major sites visited by pilgrims in the sixteenth century. The central doors of the basilica were once the doors of the Curia, the Senate chamber of ancient Rome.
As they entered, Damon was struck by the huge statues lining the nave. He investigated, and found that they were statues of the apostles, installed around 1700, after the church had been extensively renovated by Francesco Boromini (1599-1667).
Bryce began to giggle.
“What turned you on?” Damon demanded.
“I was thinking of the original throne, or cathedra. Well, maybe not the original, but the one used throughout the middle ages and beyond. It was called the stercoraria,” Bryce giggled again.
Damon gave him a stern look. “Okay, just why is that so funny?”
“Stercus in Latin is ‘shit,’” Bryce said.
“What? Did the popes shit on their throne or something? You guys have so many odd traditions ....” Damon began.
“No. Not quite that odd, I’m glad to say. The anthem sung at the enthronement of a pope begins, De stercore erigens pauperem. We tend to use cleaned up language when we translate prayers and biblical passages, so this comes out as ‘Lifting up the poor from the dunghill.’ It’s from Psalm 112. But ‘dunghill’ could just as easily be translated ‘pile of shit,’” Bryce said.
“You’re weird,” Damon decided, not for the first time.
Among others, popes Innocent III, the one who first authorized the work of St. Francis of Assisi, and Leo XIII, the pope who condemned exploitative capitalism in his 1891encyclical Rerum Novarum, are buried at St. John Lateran. Out of deference to Damon’s declared aversion to “bits and pieces of people,” Bryce did not introduce him to some of the relics, including what purports to be the head of St. Peter.
There was a Mass beginning at 10:00 that morning, which the two visitors were able to attend. By the time it was over, they were also ready to depart for their next site.
As they were leaving, Damon said, “Hey, I’ve got a question. What does ‘Lateran’ mean?”
“I don’t know what the word means, but it’s a family name. Evidently, a Roman family named the Laterani owned the property where the church and palace are located. Somehow, the property passed into the hands of the emperors, but kept the name. Eventually, Emperor Constantine gave the property to the pope at the time he first favored Christianity, Sylvester I, about the time of his edict of toleration, issued along with his colleague Licinius in 313,” Bryce answered.
“I thought Sylvester was a cat,” Damon irreverently commented.
Bryce gave him an exasperated look, and continued, “It’s been papal territory ever since. The Lateran Treaty of 1929, which created Vatican City, also recognized the Lateran complex as having the extraterritoriality of an embassy, and belonging to the popes.”
Opposite the basilica of St. John Lateran is the site, part of the complex, called the Scala Sancta, or Sacred Stairs. According to tradition, these 28 marble steps marked the entrance to Pilate’s praetorium in Jerusalem. They are supposed to have been brought to Rome by St. Helen, mother of Constantine. The stairs are covered by a wooden encasement in order to prevent erosion by the faithful, who climb the stairs on their knees. Bryce repeated that this was a kind of Mediterranean devotion which did not appeal to him, but he thought it interesting to view it, and so brought Damon here.
After leaving the area of the Lateran, Bryce and Damon walked the relatively short distance paralleling the Aurelian Walls to what Bryce called Holy Cross, known to the Italians as Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. This church also owes its existence to St. Helen, as it is on the site of her home, the Sessorian Palace. Helen (c. 246-330) spent the years 326 to 328 in Palestine at the behest of her imperial son, seeking the relics associated with the life of Christ. There, she discovered the True Cross, authenticated by a miracle. She supposedly also discovered the nails used in the crucifixion and other items. In the personal chapel of St. Helen, now about six feet below ground level because of the many changes in Rome, she had the floor laid over soil brought from Calvary. Hence, the name “in Gerusalemme” (in Jerusalem) for the main church, as it rests on the soil of Jerusalem. It was said that St. Helen wanted to create a shrine in Rome for pilgrims who could not travel to Jerusalem. Those fifth century patrons, Emperor Valentinian III, his mother Galla Placidia, and his sister Honoria, paid for mosaics in the chapel.
In 1492, during some repair work in the church, workmen discovered a brick with the inscription titulus crucis, referring to the inscription posted on the cross of Christ. Behind this brick was a wooden board with part of the inscription in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, written, oddly enough, from right to left in the Hebrew manner for all three languages. It was part of the indictment against Jesus ordered by Pontius Pilate: Jesus Nazarenus, Rex Judaeorum – ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews,’ the INRI found on every crucifix. It has been suggested that this relic was hidden in the wall of the church at the time of the Vandal raid on Rome in 455. In addition to the titulus crucis and a portion of the True Cross and a portion of a nail, there are also two thorns said to come from the Crown of Thorns in the treasury of the church. There were also more “bits and pieces,” which they skipped.
As Bryce and Damon toured the Church of the Holy Cross, they noted a lack of any special interest in the main part of the church. But there were the relics in the Chapel of the Relics to one side of the high altar, and the Chapel of St. Helen down a flight of stairs behind the altar, constituting the crypt.
As they left, Bryce immediately said, “Once again, none of this is required of the Catholic. I have a suspicion that there are some genuine relics here, but that during the Middle Ages some things of very doubtful provenance were added, and now it’s almost impossible to tell what’s what.”
“It really doesn’t matter about all those things in the gold cases – what do you call them? – oh yeah, reliquaries,” Damon said. “It’s enough that this was the personal property of St. Helen.”
“I think you’re right, Boyfriend,” Bryce gratefully agreed.
By this time, it was lunch time, so they looked around. It was never hard to find a place to eat in Rome.