In 1511 Sigismondo de Conti, a humanist who was the secretary of Pope Julius II, commissioned Raphael to produce an altar piece for Santa Maria Aracoeli in the Campidoglio in Rome. In 1515, the altar piece was sent to Foligno to be placed in St Anne’s Monastery. In 1797 that same altar piece was taken […]
The obelisk recounts…
When pilgrims meet in St. Peter’s square they usually arrange to: “Meet under the obelisk!”. This great Egyptian monument is really a sundial which is delineated by the colonnade designed by Gianlorenzo Bernini from 1956 to 1667. The obelisk is a great monolithic monument which is made of red granite and stands more than 25 […]
A New Creation In Christ: The Lateran Baptistery
The Lateran Baptistery which stands adjacent to St John Lateran’s Basilica in Rome and is also known as ‘San Giovanni in Fonte’ was the first Baptistery to be constructed after freedom of worship was granted to Christians by the Emperor Constantine with promulgation of the Edict of Milan in 313. The Baptistery stands on the […]
The Crucifixion of St Peter
Michael Angelo’s Crucifixion of St Peter in the Pauline Chapel The archeologist and graphologist, Margherita Guarducci, who lead the second phase of excavations to identify St Peter’s tomb in the Vatican Necropolis between 1940-1950, studied the various historic sources arrived at the conclusion that St Peter was crucified in Nero’s Circus in the Vatican on […]
Life will not end in emptiness
The mosaic portraits of two young spouses, Simplicia Rustica and Flavio Giulio Giuliano originates from the Ciriaca cemetery, otherwise known as the Monumental Cemetery of Verano, near St Lawrence Outside the Walls in Rome. These two mosaics, which are conserved in the Pio Christian Museum in the Vatican Museums, Rome, date to 350 A.D. The […]
The Column in the Piazza di Spagna
The Immaculate Conception and the Column in the Piazza di Spagna, Rome The column of the Immaculate Conception is situated next to the Piazza di Spagna in the adjacent Piazza Mignanelli in front of the Spanish Embassy in Rome near the Palace of the Propagation of the Faith. It was realised by the architect Luigi […]
St Agnes, Little Lamb of the Lord
On the via Normentana in Rome, about 2 km from the centre, stands the Basilica of St Agnes which comprises of the ruins of the original Constantinian Basilica, the Mausoleum of Constance and the Basilica built by Pope Honorius I in the seventh century. The original Basilica stands many metres below street level. If you […]
Introduction
Charm and beauty delight the eye, but better than either are the flowers of the field. (Sir 40:22) In today’s society that is defined as a ‘society of images’ there very often isn’t anything that turns our gaze.We know that ‘to look’ is very important but there are not many that have the capacity to […]
Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel
In the course of the centuries, the Sacred Scriptures have become a source of inspiration from which Christian art and culture was drawn. From the beginning, the account of creation contained in the Bible has ignited the imagination of artists. On numerous occasions the words of the Bible were defined in images that have evoked, […]
St Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Grottoes
The visit to St Peter’s Basilica introduces the young people to the heart of the Catholic Church. Two thousand years ago, on the Vatican Hill where today St Peter’s Basilica stands, you would have found Nero’s Circus. Here, St Peter, in October 64Ad, was crucified upside down and buried in the pagan necropolis located a […]