By Pat Murphy 

 

Any visitor to Rome will tell you – the main question is “where do I start?” There are so many historical and wonderful sites and places to visit. I suppose for any “Roman” Catholic, it’s St Peter’s Basilica. Then there’s the added bonus of visiting on certain days of the week - you may well be in the square during the Pope’s Sunday Blessing or the Papal Audience on a Wednesday.

 

I am often asked which my favourite church in Rome is. I find it impossible to make that choice. However, visiting one of my favourites, the huge basilica of St Mary Major, I can then have a short visit a couple more churches very close to hand.

 

Firstly, by crossing a couple of manically busy roads and turning right, you come to a lovely “little” (by Roman standards) church of St Pressede. I call this the Golden church. The church is one of the oldest in Rome and full of mosaics and frescos. It was commissioned in the 8th century and houses the relics of St Pressede. It also houses a segment of the pillar that Jesus was flogged on before the crucifixion.

 

Cross the road and you can pop into Redemptorists church St Alphonsus Liguori. Quite a bare church by Roman standards, but this church is the home of the original icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. It is also the parish church of our own Cardinal Vincent Nichols.

 

After this, you can carry on walking up the Via Merulana and arrive at the St John Lateran basilica. Or turn left, and a few minutes away is the church of San Pietro in Vicoli. Famed for not only housing the chains of St Peter, but also one of Michelangelo’s greatest works, the Tomb of Pope Julius II. The life size sculpture of Moses Michelangelo modelled on himself. Anyone who has seen the old film ‘the Agony and the Ecstasy’ will understand why Charlton Heston was chosen to play the part of Michelangelo.

 

So, I have just mentioned four churches, five if you include the Basilica of St Peter. One per cent, as there are approximately 500 churches in Rome. However the churches are just one aspect of this fascinating city. There are the museums, the art galleries, the Forum and Colosseum, the shops, the fountains, and just the atmosphere that you have the privilege to be in one of the oldest and most wonderful cities in the world. Our pilgrimage there will take place in the early part of November – I can’t wait to head back.