Catacombs of San Callisto

I was really excited to go here. Everyone at book club may remember that this was one of my favorite parts of "A Traveller in Rome" (chapter 5, sections 2-4 if you want to reread it). We were able to visit on Monday afternoon, soon after Aubrey arrived. We weren't allowed to take pictures down in the catacombs, but you can look at this site for information, history and pictures. Our guide was excellent. He was humorous, but not inappropriate, gave us plenty of information,and answered lots of questions. And since it's underground, it was really cool down in the catacombs. Bonus! Maren was a little worried about it being creepy, but it wasn't at all. (Of course, there are no more bones.) One of the students said he felt like ripping a page out of his notebook and making a rubbing, in true Indiana Jones style, but he resisted.

One cool part was St. Cecilia's crypt. She was a young woman who was martryed about 230 AD and is the patron saint of musicians. Another thing we noticed is that the niches where the bodies were placed seemed small, but our guide reminded us that people were smaller back in the first century. The most touching part were the tiny niches we saw all over--those would have been for babies and small children. The infant mortality rate was so high back then. It makes my heart sad for all those mothers who lost their babies and grateful to live in a time with such great medical knowledge.

All in all, this was definitely one of the highlights of this trip.