When in Rome-Days 1 & 2

This past month has been super busy with the holidays, family in town, and traveling. The biggest part of the past month was that my husband and I got to spend ten days in Rome, alone. And the best part? It was so we could experience my brother-in-law's ordination!

Let me back up a bit. My parents were kind enough to fly to Germany and stay with our kids while we were gone. They were here a total of 20 days, and we were able to spend Christmas together. We left for Rome on Saturday, December 10. When we arrived, we immediately went to the San Callisto Catacombs. There we had mass in a very small chapel, which was an incredible experience. We also went down in the catacombs, but unfortunately were unable to take any pictures. Here is one of us at the entrance though.

This is the little chapel where we had mass the first day.

After the catacombs, we visited the Basilica of San Clemente. This Basilica is 3 layers, the basement being an ancient mithraeum, and the middle layer being a 4th century church, with the current Basilica built on top of that. We were able to travel all the way in to the mithraeum, but have no pictures because of how dark it was in there. Here is one picture from inside the Basilica.

On Sunday, we went to the Colosseum. We learned that every year the Pope says the Stations of the Cross here.

Several of us grabbed a quick picture in front of the Arch of Constantine while running to the bus.

We also went to St. Paul Outside the Walls. This is one of the four major Basillicas in Rome, and it was beautiful. St. Paul is believed to be buried under the main alter, and you can see part of his tomb. This was the first church built after Constantine legalized Christianity in Rome in 313 AD. The amazing thing about this is even if you aren't Catholic, you believe in Paul (who was Saul) and can catch a glimpse of Christian history here.

A little blurry, but still, a picture of us in the Basilica.

All of the Popes are on the wall in this church. Here's the current Pope Benedict.

Sunday evening was completed with a 'retreat' to prepare us for the ordination on the following day. There was a bit telling us what to expect, along with confession and mass at the seminary where Jon's brother, Nathan, is studying. The school is the Center for Higher Studies of the Legionaries of Christ Rome.

Well, that's all I have time for right now, as my 1 year old is sitting on my lap and not wanting to let me type. I'll have to write about the other 8 days later. ;-)