Friends, San Giovanni, Scala Santa & Scavi...

"Friendship should not be bounded by narrow limits...

There is no one in the human race to whom we do not owe love, 

even if not out of mutual love, 

at least on account of sharing in a common nature." 

Augustine, Letter 130.13

We're studying all sorts of good material about Augustine this week - including his take on friendship (above). In addition to classes, we've also continued to visit sites around Rome. This past week's highlights included a journey through the Basilica of St. John Lateran (San Giovanni in Laterno), some moments at the Sacred Steps (Scala Santa) and, today, a Scavi tour - a visit to the Tomb of Saint Peter and the Necropolis under the Vatican Basilica. 

Saint Bartholomew

Saint John Lateran is home to beautiful sculptures of each of the 12 apostles as well as a fragment of the table believed to be the one on which Jesus consumed the last supper.  Prior to Saint Peter's becoming home to the popes, St. John Lateran was the official papal residence for the first millennium of Christian history. 

At St. John Lateran - S. Bridget and Fred, 
an Augustinian friar from Kenya 

Scala Santa

The Sacred Steps aren't far from John Lateran; according to tradition they are the very steps that Jesus climbed to meet Pontius Pilate for his sentencing. St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, had the stairs transported from Jerusalem to Rome in the 4th century. As is the practice, a number of us from class scaled the 28 steps on our knees. The marble steps are encased in a protective framework of wooden steps.

The Scavi tour brought us back into the first three centuries following the death of Jesus Christ. We descended beneath St. Peter's Basilica and walked through narrow "streets" to view mausoleums, touched walls built by Constantine and got three different glimpses of the Tomb of Saint Peter. Cameras weren't allowed, but one could check this website out for more info: Scavi

S. Bridget Waldorf, SSND

Admission ticket for the Scavi Tour