dodicesimo giorno

So I was supposed to include a second part to yesterday's blog. However, a steep change of plans occurred that prevented me from seeing The Church of Saint Ignatius, so that will have to wait. That's okay with me. Better late than never.

We visited The Catacomb of San Callisto today. I think I've finally overcome my discomfort in visiting the catacombs, which is a milestone in my book. I went about my usual ritual of saying prayers as I waked through the catacombs, but there was no fear or feeling of trespassing. Finally.

I liked our tour guide. She was pleasant and had a good sense of humor. But to be honest, I think I learned more at The Catacomb of Priscilla (with the exception of seeing the crypt of Saint Cecilia, which I'll discuss soon). It may be the fact that Priscilla was my first experience in a catacomb so I absorbed a lot of information, but it seemed that a lot of the statistics were repetitive. Which is understandable. It was also difficult for me to make connections because we didn't spend much time viewing the frescoes in the catacomb and I couldn't take any photos to look back on. Again, understandable. At the last catacomb I went to the gift shop and wrote down the names of the frescoes based off the post cards. I made a mental note to try and use the shops and the tour guides as resources again.

After the catacombs we had two class sessions with Dr. Bednarz and Dr. Sebastian. We reviewed a few scriptures from The Gospels. We referenced John 11: 8-16 where Jesus speaks about the sleeping dead. This was a clear connection to the portrayal of Saint Cecilia sleeping in her statue in addition to every bishop, cardinal and saint whose graves I've seen within the past two weeks:

11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” 12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. 14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Dr. Sebastian gave us background information on Dante's life and how his work revolutionized modern day poetry and song writing about love. I knew the Inferno was an influential literary work, but I had no idea he was responsible for how many artists format their work today. I also admire the fact that he spent his life rebelling against what he didn't believe in. His decisions definitely cost him a lot, but I respect him for taking action when most of us never consider doing so.

After classes we went back to campus. I rested for a while and did some reading until the time came for the Lady Gaga concert at Circus Maximus. Which was...an experience. I'll leave it at that. Ciao.