Visiting the Catacombs

 

Dear Friends,

Today I had the blessing and joy of visiting two of the catacombs in Rome: St. Callistus and St. Domitilla. The chapel pictured above is the chapel where an early pope was buried--there are nine who were buried in St. Callistus, a few of them martyrs. Around 500,000 Christians were buried there. It was beautiful to see the artwork, to pray at the sites of their graves, and to think about the generations of Christians who went down into the catacombs to pray at these tombs.

Another famous chapel is that where St. Cecilia was buried:

Saint Cecilia was buried here and venerated in this little chapel in the catacombs in the early centuries. Her body was then moved to a church in Rome. This early martyr's body was then exhumed in the 1500's and found to be incorrupt and in the position you see there. So a statue was made replicating the position of her body when she was found incorrupt. The statue remains here in the catacombs as a reminder.

You all continue to be in my prayers here in Rome. Studies, and life in general, are going well. Though it will be quite an intense next 5 weeks before Christmas!

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari