Recently, I returned from a two-week pilgrimage to Rome, as part of a core curriculum elective at the University of Notre Dame Australia. Together with Professor Renee Kohler-Ryan, I led 21 students through the Eternal City, with a focus on the importance of Mary in the time of Advent.
The experience has led me to think about how important pilgrimage is to the Christian life. After all, pilgrimage is almost as old as Christianity itself. One of the earliest accounts of pilgrimage comes from the fourth century, Egeria’s Peregrinatio. A Hispano-Roman woman of faith, Egeria travelled to the Holy Land and provided a detailed account of her experiences, of her internal renewal and encounter with God.
We were away for two weeks and made Domus Australia our home base. The students engaged with the rector, Very Reverend Dr Joseph Hamilton, and with Father Lewi Barakat, who took time to be with the students and provide pastoral care. Every day, the students joined in the silence of Holy Hour at Domus, followed by Mass. These were two hours punctuated by resplendent chants and the rosary dedicated to our holy Mother Mary. After Mass, conviviality was shared by all on the terrace for common meals. This prayerful and communal time gave the students the opportunity to think through what to write in their daily journals, which formed part of the assessment for the course.
The goal of the pilgrimage was to experience the heart of Roman Catholic faith, culture, and civilisation in a way that is immediately relevant for the Advent season, with a special focus on Mary the Mother of God. We found Mary everywhere—in churches and in shrines along the streets (the students played a game of Marian spotto as we walked along). This is fitting since popes throughout the centuries have dedicated Rome to Our Lady.
This began with the Christianisation of the Roman empire under Constantine the Great in the fourth century. And so, we began our journey in the Roman Forum. In the shadow of the Colosseum, where many Christians were martyred, and beside the triumphal arch of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, we found Mary again,
in the church of Santa Maria Antiqua, a fifth century basilica which includes famous frescoes from the sixth-ninth centuries, including the earliest known (6th century) Roman depiction of Santa Maria Regina or Regina Caeli (Saint Mary the Queen or Queen of Heaven), where she is dressed as a Byzantine princess and holding the Christ-child.
Early on, students had the opportunity to explore the catacombs of St Calisto with a guided tour. Next, Santa Maria in Trastevere provided a wonderful space for reflections on the beautiful twelfth-century mosaics on the façade (Maria Lactans) and within the church itself: the glittering gold life cycle of the Virgin, as well as the apse mosaic showing her crowned by Christ in heaven, comparable only perhaps to Jacopo Torriti’s exquisite apse mosaic of the same motif in the papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore: with the Virgin surrounded by acanthus spirals and a mandorla that depicts the cosmic mystery of her assumption.
The Byzantine dimension to the city’s churches was also reflected in the Pantheon, which was dedicated to Santa Maria ad Martyres (St Mary and the martyrs) after the emperor Phocas from Constantinople bestowed it on Pope Boniface IV in 609 AD. Students were amazed to discover that Sts Maria in Trastevere, Maria Maggiore and Maria ad Martyres all contain Byzantine icons that are still venerated as protecting the city. They witnessed the continuity in architectural styles from ancient Rome’s past—from the capitals of columns to barrel vaulted roofs to triumphal arches—through to Catholic churches from late antiquity and the Middle Ages.
Rome is even better known for its Renaissance and Baroque inheritance. Our students saw masterpieces by Michelangelo in the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, spending time with the relics of St Catherine of Siena, where they left personal prayer petitions. Bernini’s Ecstasy of St Teresa made one of our students gasp at its magnificence, in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria—not far from Domus Australia. They came to know the work of Caravaggio, with the Madonna of Loreto in the church of Sant’Agostino in Campo Marzio; and the Conversion of St. Paul and Martyrdom of St Peter in the recently re-opened St Maria dei Populi Romani.
St Peter’s Square and Basilica were a highlight, where the work of the Renaissance master Michelangelo—the famous Pietà, but also his construction of the drum of St Peter’s dome—was augmented by Bernini and Maderno, as well in the Vatican museums. We explored the Raphael rooms and the Sala dell’Immacolata or Room of the Immaculate Conception held particular significance for students who were learning about Mary. Later, we had a spontaneous teaching moment at the column of the Immaculate Conception in Piazza Mignanelli, near the Piazza di Spagna.
Students had already witnessed the interior of St Peter’s Basilica in the glory of the papal thanksgiving mass for the election of new cardinals. They celebrated the cardinal of Australia, His Eminence Mykola Bychok. The experience of being in Mass with Pope Francis was something they will remember for a very long time.
A built-in mini-pilgrimage to Assisi introduced students to saints Clare and Francis, in the glorious frescoes of the upper and lower basilicas. There they found Our Lady again at the centre of the divine plan. We were all deeply moved as we venerated the relics of Blessed Carlo Acutis.
As is the case for all pilgrims, Mary’s hand was on this journey. Some of our students had never encountered her before, while others grew to know and love her and her divine Son all the more. Like Egeria, we can continue to reflect on what we have seen and learned.
Dr Mario Baghos is a Senior Lecturer and Post-Graduate Theology Co-ordinator at the University of Notre Dame Australia.
