ROME JANUARY 2024 PILGRIMAGES FROM CAPODANNO, LA BEFANA, SANT’AGNESE, and THE CONVERSION OF SANTO PAOLO

 PILGRIMAGES OF CAPODANNO, Epifania and LA BEFANA, SANT’AGNESE and THE CONVERSION OF SANT’PAOLO, ALL IN ROME IN JANUARY 2024, THESE ARE 3-HOUR PILGRIMAGES.

CAPODANNO IN ROME!

JANUARY 1 is Capodanno and Maria Madre di Dio, starting off  with a 10:00 Papal Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and the Angelus at Noon in St. Peter’s Square.  We’ll have to stand in St. Peter’s Square and watch the NewYear’s Day Mass on the Jumbotron if we can’t obtain tickets to go inside St. Peter’s Basilica for the Mass.  YES it may be very COLD outside!  But we’re going to a cooking class where we can eat HOT LENTILS AND COTECHINO AND HOMEMADE PANE!  I arrange all transportation and cooking class.

EPIPHANY AND LA BEFANA IN ROME!

Then you have the rest of the week to plan for the coming of LA BEFANA on January 6.  EPIPHANY has a 10:00 Papal Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, and then we can gather at Piazza Navona and wait for the arrival of La Befana!  It’s a good time to eat CAKE!  And to SHOP for La Befana souvenirs!  I arrange all transportation and cake.

THE FEAST DAY OF SANT’AGNESE IN ROME!

January 21 is the Feast Day of St. Agnes.  The Church of St. Agnese in Agone is at Piazza Navona, the area where she lived with her noble family.  Her SKULL is in a Reliquary on a special Altar.  She was only 12 years old or 13 when she was martyred for being a Virgin.  Some readings say she was first dragged to a brothel, that was probably the brothel there at the entrance to Domitian’s Stadium in Piazza Navona, then she was beheaded in the area where her Skull is located.  

Her body is in a casket at St. Agnese Outside the Walls, it’s under the Altar down a narrow stairway.  Also there is the casket of St. Emerenziana, Agnes’s foster sister and her Nanny’s daughter who was stoned to death as she prayed at Agnes’s gravesite.  January 23 is the Feast Day of Emerenziana.  Her Church has an outside Cafe’.

The Nanny was also Agnes’s wet nurse.  In Ancient Rome  Nannys stayed with their charges until they reached the age of 12.  At that time in Ancient Rome girls were married off between 12 and 16 years of age.  Her suitor reported her for being a Christian because he took offense at her rejection of his offer to marry her.  She was beheaded, possibly with a throat slit, the gentle beheading reserved for women and girls.

The Mausoleo of Costanza is right next to the Church of Agnese Outside the Walls.  History has it that Agnes healed Costanza of Leprosy, and for that reason she wanted to be buried next to Agnes’s gravesite.  It was common in Ancient Rome for people to seek burial next to Saints’ bodies.  Costanza was the daughter of Emperor Constantine I who built the Church of Agnese Outside the Walls over the Catacombs that contained her remains, and built the Mausoleo of Costanza next door.

The Catacombs of St. Agnese offers English tours at specific times and it’s worthwhile to visit the Church and Catacombs and Mausoleo.  This Church has a gentle beauty and grandeur that should be experienced, it is vastly different from her Church at Piazza Navona.  The Mausoleo is round and quite lovely.  Both structures are early 4th century and both were constructed at the direction of Constantine I and his daughter Costanza.

The Agnese Pilgrimage would have to occur from 3 PM to 6 PM because the English tour of the Catacombs is at 4 PM on Sundays and in 2024 January 21 falls on a Sunday.  At 3 PM we can view her relics at Agone in Piazza Navona, tour the Catacombs at 4 PM, then view her Church and gravesite Outside the Walls, then visit Costanza’s Mausoleo.  Agnes would make a meaningful 3-hour Pilgrimage.  I arrange all transportation and catacomb tickets.

THE FEAST DAY OF THE CONVERSION OF SANT’PAOLO IN ROME!

January 25 is the Feast Day of the Conversion of St. Paul.  A 3-hour Pilgrimage here will give you the opportunity to trace Paul’s footsteps in Rome.

We will visit where he lived in Rome, to this day the most peaceful street in the Eternal City.  It’s a house church!  La Chiesa di San Paolo alla Regola was built over the house where he lived for at least two years in Rome, on the street named San Paolo a Regola.  He was under house arrest in this house, he would have been handcuffed to his guard for the entire two years.  The Church is now open by appointment, after having been closed for several years.

Santa Maria in Via Lata is known as St. Luke’s house.  This Church was also a house church, built over the house where St. Luke lived in Rome.  There is a prison cell underneath the Church where St. Paul may have stayed for a time but documentation on this is difficult to find.  History does not say for certain if Paul ever stayed in the prison cell or for how long.  Via Lata is off of Via del Corso at Piazza Venezia.

If Paul entered Rome on the Appian Way, he would have walked where Porta San Sebastiano now stands.  History says it’s likely that he walked the Via Appia to Rome from Pozzuoli, west of Naples.  He was shipwrecked on Malta and landed in Pozzuoli.  He may have walked under the Ancient Porta Appia, which predates Porta San Sebastiano.

There is a plaque memorializing the last meeting between Peter and Paul somewhere on Via Ostiense in Rome.  The two men were probably martyred around the same time.

The Mamertine Prison under the Church of St. Joseph the Carpenter is a must-see experience in Rome.  It was carved out of rock, there is stone everywhere.  There were no prison breaks there, once they were dropped to the bottom tier from the center hole, that’s where they stayed until execution.  Dark damp and wet, probably filled with very cold water they had to stand in day and night, summer and winter, it was a cruel place to be.  

We should visit the Conversion of St. Paul on the Road to Damascus by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio in the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo at Piazza del Popolo.

Tre Fontane is a beautiful complex memorializing where Paul was beheaded.  It is maintained by the Trappist Monks, they have a huge gift shop where they sell homemade Beer and liqueurs, chocolate, and honey made from Eucalyptus Trees growing on the grounds.  We should go to Tre Fontane during gift shop hours. 

And of course the Church of St. Paul Outside the Walls where he was buried.  We can see his tomb excavated underground from the floor of the Church.  

His Church is beautiful, large and grand with an outside Cafe’ and bagno.  It’s in a huge park out in the open spaces.  It is one of four major Papal Basilicas in Rome.

The time frame - whether morning or afternoon - for this Pilgrimage depends on the appointment time we can enter his house church on Via San Paolo a Regola.  

Capodanno, Epiphany and La Befana, the Feast Day of Sant’ Agnese, and the Feast Day of the Conversion of St. Paul would make lovely inspiring 3-hour Pilgrimages in Rome.  500 Euro flat fee for each Pilgrimage, cost may be adjusted depending on the size of a group.  I arrange all transportation and tickets for Mamertine and underground church tiers.

Email me at sandra.panici@hotmail.com or send a text on Messages or WhatsApp to 01139 338 744 7764 for information on Account Details.

Sandra Panici, the Roman Pilgrim in Person