From Tourist to Pilgrim - Ep. 19: Tomb of Saint Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles

From Tourist to Pilgrim - Ep. 21: Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica

Michelangelo's Pietà requires no introduction, a masterpiece seemingly descended from heaven, which moves us and invites us to reflection. Countless eyes have met the gaze of Our Lady, and untold prayers have been offered before this image, carved by Michelangelo when he was only twenty-three years old.

From Tourist to Pilgrim - Ep. 20: Apsidal Mosaic of St. John Lateran

In the apse mosaic of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Cross represents Christ, who is flanked by the Blessed Virgin Mary and John the Baptist. The four saints alongside Christ hold scrolls with texts attesting to His divinity. From the Cross flow streams of water, from which deer drink, an allusion to Psalm 42:1: “As the deer longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for thee, O God.”

From Tourist to Pilgrim - Ep. 19: Tomb of Saint Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles

The body of St. Paul the Apostle was buried around three kilometres from the site of his martyrdom, in a burial site along the Via Ostiense that belonged to a devout Christian woman named Lucina. Shortly afterwards, the tomb would become a place of worship and veneration, as recounted by Fr. Edmund Power, OSB, Abbot Emeritus of the Abbey of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

From Tourist to Pilgrim - Ep. 18: The Holy Crib

The Basilica of St. Mary Major is filled with many chapels, which range from extremely ornate to humble. Built by popes, cardinals and pious confraternities, their ancient mosaics tell the history of salvation. The Baptistry and the relic of the Holy Crib, in which Jesus was laid in swaddling clothes in Bethlehem, complete the ensemble of splendors contained within the Marian Basilica's walls. Each column, painting, sculpture, and ornament of this Basilica resounds with history and the prayers of our forebearers, as explained by Andreas Raub, Artistic-Scientific Director of the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

From Tourist to Pilgrim - Ep. 17: Tomb of St. Peter, a poor fisherman

The tomb of the first Pope, St. Peter, was at first a modest burial site, on which a small funerary aedicule was built around one hundred years after the Apostle's martyrdom. The presbyter Gaius commemorated the site at the end of the second century, according to the historian Eusebius of Caesarea (Ecclesiastical History, 2, 25, 6-7). Often referred to as the "Trophy of Gaius," the aedicule pointed early Christians to the tomb of Peter, which was the destination of devout pilgrimages, even before the time of the Emperor Constantine.