Catacombs of St. Callistus

We wanted to see the catacombs and they were not part of our official schedule. So Chuck and Debbie decided to join us in splitting cab fare to the San Callisto Catacombs and back. They are southeast of the city in a beautiful, uncluttered park. We passed the Baths of Caracalla before getting on the old Appian Way to reach the catacombs. It gave me a remarkable feeling of the closeness of history to see road signs reading "Via Appia," just as they have since Roman times. The park around the catacombs are lovely, and we saw many tourists who had just about reached their limits. One woman was sleeping on a bench. Unfortunately, photographs are not allowed inside the catacombs. Obviously they are very dark. There are small chapels for worship as well as the graves of early Christians. The guides were careful to tell us that the catacombs were not used to escape persecution. The Romans and other Christians were well aware of their existence. Rather, they became centers for worship when early saints were buried there. This rendition of the story differs slightly from that which I received in my first visit to Rome in 1971. There is a sense of history here. It is good to be where early Christians worshipped. When we finished at the catacombs we went back to where our cab driver told us there would be taxicabs to take us back to town. We walked for over forty-five minutes looking for a cab. We found several other sets of catacombs, then decided to reverse course. We started to get worried that we would have to walk back through the whole city of Rome on foot. We knew we could do that if necessary, but it certainly was not our first choice. When we were almost back in town, close to the Baths of Caracalla, we hailed a cab that took us back to the hotel.Read more