Seven Good Reasons to Go to Rome

Shouldn't we banish from our minds the objections that still leave us hesitant?
The first Jubilee was proclaimed by Pope Boniface VIII for the year 1300. The triumph was unimaginable, and the flow of pilgrims exceeded what Rome could accommodate. More than two million pilgrims, and never less than two hundred thousand simultaneously, came to the Holy City.
When we know what dangers pilgrims were exposed to in those days, whether they were pilgrims to Rome or to Compostela, shouldn't we banish from our minds the objections that still leave us hesitating? In fact, in those Christian times, the Faith was so deeply rooted in the hearts of the faithful that the prospect of the graces promised by the Vicar of Christ overcame all human cautiousness.
Rome Is a City Loved by God
A most venerable tradition, for which Pope Benedict XIV vouched with all his authority as Pontiff, relates that in 38 BC, in the early days of Augustus' government, a spring of oil gushed forth from the Roman soil, in the district beyond the Tiber, for a whole day. This prodigy heralded the coming of the Messiah during this Emperor's reign and marked the consecration of Rome as a new holy city.
In fact, oil was used to consecrate the kings in the Old Testament, and this custom remains in the Church. The first Christians in Rome saw Our Lord Jesus Christ in the oil and the Blessed Virgin Mary, His Mother, in the spring. The oil flowing on the soil of Rome heralded the conversion of the Empire.
Pope St. Callixtus bought the Taberna Meritoria, a building close to the site of the miracle, a sort of hospital (like Les Invalides in Paris) for former Roman legionnaires, and built a church dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption, Santa Maria in Trastevere. Inside, the inscription reads: "Here the oil gushed forth when God was born of the Virgin. With this oil, Rome is consecrated as the head of both parts of the world.”
Rome Is the New Jerusalem
"Certainly, Jerusalem is and always will be a great and incomparable memory for Christians; but Rome alone is a necessity for Christians. It is there where Christ fulfills His promise to be with us until the end of time. It is there that His ever-living Cross shines on the West, the home of civilization, and on the rest of the universe, illuminating and enlivening it.
"Ancient Zion preserves the monuments and traces of Christ's painful Passion; but it is Rome, the new Jerusalem, which has become the reservoir of redemptive blood, pouring it out and serving it to the whole world through all the channels of jurisdiction, through all the conduits of the priesthood. Jerusalem is our history, Rome is our life," Cardinal Pie once said.
The holy oil flowed, signifying the consecration of the City. The curtain of the Temple was torn, the stone of the altar split, signifying the end of the Old Covenant, the heart of which was Jerusalem. From then on, Rome has been the place where life is found.
After the peace of the Church (313), St. Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, rediscovered the true Cross (feast day: September 14). To collect this most distinguished of relics, she had the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem (328) built on the site of her palace, just a few hundred meters from the Lateran, the imperial quarter.
Along with the true Cross, she also had the finger of St. Thomas, which he thrust into the glorious wound; two thorns from the holy crown; a nail from the Crucifixion; and the Titulus plastered on the Cross announcing in three languages the reason for the condemnation: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” This church represents Jerusalem in the new Holy City, and it is here that the Pope stops on Good Friday, after the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum.
Rome Is Consecrated by the Blood of the Apostles
On June 29, 67, the Apostles Peter and Paul, arrested together on Nero's orders, were released from the Mamertine Prison, where they had been incarcerated together and where they evangelized and baptized their jailers. Peter was taken to Nero's circus on the Vatican plains to be crucified. Paul, a Roman citizen, was taken out of town and beheaded.
From the earliest times, Christians marked the Apostles' burial sites, and pilgrims came from all over the Empire. During the relative peace of the first three centuries, oratories were built over the tombs. When the Church finally triumphed under Constantine, the Emperor built St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican and St. Paul Outside the Walls on the Via Ostiense.
Excavations launched by Pius XII and carried out by Margherita Guarducci from 1939 onward proved that Tradition was telling the truth. After years of painstaking work, the sacred remains of St. Peter were found in 1960, below the main altar.
"Today's feast, in addition to the reverence it has earned throughout the world, should be the subject of special veneration in our City, accompanied by particular joy: so that where the two principal Apostles died so gloriously, on the day of their martyrdom there may be a greater explosion of joy. For these, O Rome, are the two heroes who made the Gospel of Christ shine before your eyes; and it is through them that you, who were mistress of error, became a disciple of truth.
"These are your fathers and your true shepherds who, in order to introduce you into the celestial kingdom, knew how to found you, much better and much more happily for you, than those who took the trouble to lay the first foundations of your walls, and one of whom—the one from whom comes the name you bear—defiled you with the murder of his brother.
"It was these two Apostles who raised you to such a degree of glory, that you became the holy nation, the chosen people, the priestly and royal city, and, through the sacred seat of Blessed Peter, the capital of the world; so that the supremacy which comes to you from the divine religion extends further than your earthly dominion ever did," said St. Leo in his Sermon on the feast of Blessed Peter and Paul.
In their wake, countless Christians would shed their blood, more than in any other region of the Empire, and this blood, "the seed of Christians" as Tertullian puts it, would be the fertile source of a superabundant harvest.
Rome Is the Heart of the Church
Obeying the order given by Christ in the Gospel: “And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another,” [Mt. 10:23] St. Peter walked away from Rome on the Via Appia. Suddenly, he was stunned; Christ appeared to him, carrying His Cross and walking toward the city. "Where are you going, Lord?" said Peter, worried. “I am going to Rome, to be crucified a second time."
The lesson had been enough, and Peter turned around. Tradition has left its mark on the meeting place, and today a small oratory stands there. Indeed, it was in Rome that the Prince of the Apostles fulfilled Our Lord's prophecy: “But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and lead thee whither thou wouldst not” (Jn. 21:18). And the apostle adds: “And this he [Jesus] said, signifying by what death he should glorify God.”
For over sixty years (1305-1376), the Popes had left Rome, plagued by factions, for Avignon. This exile had disastrous consequences for the whole Church. The heart of the Holy Church is in Rome, and Providence raised up a weak woman, the twenty-fifth child of a modest Sienese household, the Benincasas, to remedy this evil.
God was about to shower His servant with mystical favors, so that her fame would spread from Siena to the whole of Tuscany, then to the whole of Italy, and beyond. In this way this little nun, blessed with the stigmata and the countless gifts God had given her, would be able to carry out the mission for which she had been called: to hasten the Pope's return to Rome.
She communicated with him with authority, and Gregory XI obeyed. Bringing the Pope back to Rome, and thus restoring the Church to its true capital, was the first indispensable milestone in the urgent reform of the Church that the Pope had proposed to undertake. Providence willed that Catherine, who had been the instrument of this return, should die in Rome (1380) and be buried there. She can be venerated in the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.
St. Ignatius wanted to go with his brothers to the far-off lands of Asia to win souls for Christ. Pope Paul III ordered him to stay in Rome. “Whoever does good in Rome,” the Pope told him, "does good to all Christendom.” Likewise, Philip Neri had not come to Rome to stay, but the Holy Spirit was waiting for him.
After selling all his books, Pippo Buono, as he was nicknamed, began an eremitical life, going on pilgrimage from one basilica to another. In this way, he was soon to bring to life a tradition, which continues to this day, of making the pilgrimage to the seven major basilicas.
One night, while meditating in the catacombs of St. Sebastian, the Holy Spirit appeared to him in the form of a ball of fire and entered his heart. This heart burning with the love of God and neighbor would spread this fire throughout Rome.
However, the story of the wonders taking place in the Indies inspired Pippo to join St. Francis Xavier. He turned to a saintly soul, the Carthusian Agostino Ghettini. The monk, after praying, returned to Philip and told him: “St. John the Baptist revealed to me that for you, the Indies is Rome."
Rome Is the Land of Mary
On the Capitoline Hill stands a church known as “Aracaeli", or the Altar of Heaven. “According to Tradition," reads a marble frieze inside, "this place, called Aracaeli, is built on the very spot where it is believed that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared with her Son to the Emperor Augustus, all haloed in a circle of gold."
This appearance followed Augustus' investigation into whether he could grant himself divine honors. After consulting the Tiburtine Sibyl and fasting for three days, Augustus received a revelation from the Virgin that the place where he was standing was the Altar of the Son of God. So he forbade people to call him “divus," and had an altar erected to the “Firstborn of God.”
The oldest church in honor of the Virgin Mary is the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere. But the most important, not only for its size and splendor, but also for the distinguished relics it contains, is undoubtedly Saint Mary Major. The church's real name is Saint Mary of the Snows, and its feast day is August 5.
As recounted in the lesson from the Roman Breviary, the patrician John and his wife had urged the Virgin to show them how she wanted them to consecrate their wealth to her. On the night of August 4 to 5, they both had the same dream. The next day, they found the Esquiline Hill covered in snow. Pope Liberus himself had the same vision. Warned by John, he and his entire clergy came to the snow-covered hill and traced the perimeter marked by the snow, for the construction of the new church.
In 590, when Gregory the Great had just ascended the throne of Peter, the plague ravaged the Holy City. The Pope ordered Mary to be invoked. Fasts and prayers were held, and the Pope himself led a huge procession which began at Saint Mary Major (or Aracaeli).
The miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary, the "Salus Populi Romani ," said by Tradition to have been painted by St. Luke himself, was transported. When the procession reached the banks of the Tiber, where the Castel Sant'Angelo now stands, the Archangel Michael appeared in the sky, surrounded by an innumerable crowd of angels.
In a majestic gesture, the head of the celestial militia sheathed his sword, a sign that the Church's prayer had been answered. The angels then intoned the hymn Regina Caeli, as it was Easter time.
Rome Is a Land of Saints
Sanctified by the blood of the Apostles, Rome is fertile ground that has given the Church an impressive number of saints in every era. There isn't a street in the holy city that doesn't conceal some house, some oratory, where a saint has come to pray, where Christ or the Virgin have come to visit some privileged soul. Let us take a look at some of the sites of the Holy City.
Pilgrims step off the train at Termini, and immediately enter the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, built entirely by St. John Bosco, on the orders of Leo XIII. On the altar of the Virgin, a plaque commemorates the saint's vision of the Virgin Mary, who revealed to him the meaning of the dream he had at the age of nine.
One then descends the slopes of the Esquiline Hill, passing the Baths of Diocletian, built largely by Christian slaves. The Basilica of Saint Mary Major stands before the pilgrim in all its majestic splendor. In addition to the relics of the crib, it houses the remains of St. Jerome and those of St. Pius V, the Pope of the Mass and of Lepanto.
Just a few meters away, the Basilica of St. Praxedes [Santa Prassede] offers for veneration the Column of the Flagellation and the relics of over three hundred martyrs, including the sisters Praxedes and Pudentiana.
Then, down the Via Urbana is found the church of St. Pudentiana [Santa Pudenziana], built on the Domus Pudentiana, where St. Peter stayed, and a little further down, San Lorenzo in Fonte, where Rome's patron saint was imprisoned, and then one reaches Santa Maria ai Monti. On the staircase of this church, on April 16, 1783, the 18th-century “poverello," St. Benedict Joseph Labre, was overcome with exhaustion. Picked up by the butcher and kept warm in his house, he died a few moments later, and a rumor spread through the town: "II Santo e morto! The saint is dead!"
Continuing the journey toward the Colosseum, one passes the Basilica of St. Peter in Chains, which contains the chains that bound St. Peter in Rome as well as those that bound him in Jerusalem. The latter, brought to Rome by Empress Eudoxia in the 5th century, miraculously fused with the Roman chains when St. Leo the Great brought them together.
Then one passes the Colosseum, where many Christians shed their blood for Christ, the most famous of whom was St. Ignatius of Antioch, brought from Syria as a prisoner to be devoured by lions. Full of the joy of his imminent martyrdom, the Syrian saint wrote to the Romans to dissuade them from doing anything to obtain his freedom:
“I am writing to the churches, telling everyone that I want to die for God, if you do not prevent me. I beg you not to show me untimely tenderness. Let me be the food of the beasts, through which it will be given to me to enjoy God. I am the wheat of the Lord; I must be ground by the teeth of beasts to become the pure bread of Jesus Christ.”
Now there is a choice. One could continue along the Roman Forum to venerate the remains of St. Frances of Rome, the Roman favorite we know so well for the privilege she had of seeing her guardian angel, then on to the Mamertine Prison, or the “Aracaeli" church, built on the spot where Tradition places the apparition of the Virgin Mary to Augustus, so rich in treasure, since it contains within it the body of St. Helena and the miraculous statue of the Santo Bambino.
Alternatively, one could pass the Colosseum, passing under the triumphal Arch of Constantine, commemorating his victory at the Milvian Bridge. One would pass the church of St. Gregory the Great, where the holy Pope founded a monastery, and the church of Sts. John and Paul [Santi Giovanni e Paolo], martyred under Julian the Apostate, which contains the body of St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionists.
One can end this little tour on the Aventine Hill, where Saint Alexius lived, the saint who scares all fiancées, since he disappeared on his wedding day to live as a hermit before returning home without revealing himself and meeting his end as a vagrant, under the stairs; and where St. Dominic set up the general house of his order, which saw the visit of St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Pius V, and so many saints of the order.
All in all, this journey covers five kilometers and requires an hour of walking. How many wonders pilgrims have seen, and how many graces they have received, by praying to all these saints whose footsteps they have followed and venerating the relics.
Rome Is Ours
Finally, Rome is ours, because we are Catholics. “We hold fast, with all our heart and with all our soul, to Catholic Rome, Guardian of the Catholic Faith and of the traditions necessary to preserve this faith, to Eternal Rome, Mistress of wisdom and truth.” Certainly, pilgrims attached to Tradition may feel a certain unease as they stroll the streets of the city.
The feeling that "Rome is no longer in Rome," as Archbishop Lefebvre himself used to say, may take hold of him, as he unwillingly attends some disconcerting modern ceremonies, with incessant shouting, ridiculous songs, and childish clapping. And yet, if you will allow one of our regulars to tell you, if there is one thing we are sure of when we visit Rome, it is that we are home.
At the moment, there are also a few others occupying the premises, but they are not at home. This liturgy of Vatican II, celebrated in these marvellous basilicas, so rich not only in the marvels of art that fill them for the greater glory of God but also in the centuries-old traditions that live in each of them, is a mixture that does not take and never will.
Rome lives and breathes Catholic Tradition. More than any other city in the world, Rome is forever marked by the movement written there by the Catholic Church, by the finger of God who has designated it as the new Holy City, by the blood of the Apostles and Martyrs, which is the blood of the Christ continued, and which has consecrated these stones, which has raised up the ruins of the temples to consecrate them to the One True God.
How sad, you may say, to see these flocks of pilgrims, who are certainly of good will, come to pray at the tomb of John Paul II, the Pope who implemented Vatican II and who proclaimed Archbishop Lefebvre excommunicated, and through him, Catholic Tradition!
But rest assured, the day will come when these processions will cease, because this Pope who left the Church in such a lamentable state will have been returned to the crypt; instead, the crowds will come en masse to kneel on the other side of the basilica and pray at the tomb of St. Pius X.
So let us go to Rome, and pray to St. Peter, St. Paul, and all the litany of holy Popes, bishops, martyrs, confessors, and virgins who are the eternal glory of this city, to beg them to intercede with Our Lord Jesus Christ, Sovereign Priest and eternal Head of the Church, that He may raise up for us a Pope after His own heart.
A Pope who will drive out the sellers of the temple who have transformed the Father's house into a den of robbers, who through his teachings will open the eyes of millions of Catholics of good will who are in error through the fault of mercenaries who are not good shepherds, and who will restore the mystical Bride of Christ, the Catholic Church, to its former splendor.
(Sources : La Porte Latine/Le Seignadou – FSSPX.Actualités)
Illustration : ID 97417762 © Mya Be | Dreamstime.com