In this city of endless archaeological wonders and architectural gems, including such spectacular sites as St. Peter's and St. John Lateran basilicas, the Basilica of San Clemente makes a relatively unassuming first impression.
The medieval-era church, just 300 yards up the hill from Flavian's Amphitheater (better known as the Colosseum), occupies most of a city block in a busy tourist area of downtown Rome. Scores of passersby stroll past its plain brown exterior, many unaware of the treasures that lie inside.
I visited San Clemente during a visit to Italy last month on what could be called a "working vacation," the trip being part of the curriculum for a class I took at the University of Toledo on Early Christianity and Western Civilization.
We had a jam-packed itinerary most days, but during an afternoon of free time a small contingent from UT headed to historic San Clemente.
There are many larger, more awe-inspiring churches, cathedrals, and basilicas in Rome, but San Clemente stands out for its extraordinary archaeological timeline showing a visible slice of Christian and Roman life over the centuries.
Buried beneath the present basilica are even-more ancient buildings that offer a rare glimpse into first-century Christianity and even a look at pagan worship.
The upper level of the San Clemente Basilica, named for a first century pope who was the third successor to St. Peter, was built in the early 12th century and has many notable features of its own.
We entered through an outdoor courtyard or defensive gateway - the only medieval atrium in Rome, according to A Short Guide to St. Clement's, an authoritative book by the Rev. Leonard Boyle, O.P. (A Dominican priest, Father Boyle was prefect of the Vatican Library from 1984 until 1997 and was buried in his beloved San Clemente Basilica in 2000, a year after his death.)
The nave is lined on both sides with stately columns, and a Schola cantorum, or rectangular stone seating area for the choir, occupies the center of the marble floor. A tall, sixth-century Paschal candlestick, spiraled and decorated with glittering mosaics, rises above the choir.
More than 10 frescoes decorate the nave, and on one wall are paintings of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. These famous missionary brothers were sent to Rome by the Byzantine emperor in 863, and St. Cyril reported that in 861 he "miraculously recovered" the remains of St. Clement, piece by piece, from an island. He returned the remains of the saint, who died in 99 A.D., to the basilica where they were interred in 868. The relics are contained in San Clemente's high altar under a baldacchino, beside relics of St. Ignatius of Antioch.
The most striking artistic feature in the upper basilica is the gold-colored apse mosaic, created in the style of fourth and fifth-century artists, featuring Jesus on the cross surrounded by vines representing the Tree of Life and doves symbolizing the Holy Spirit.
In 1857, the Rev. Joseph Mullooly, an Irish Dominican priest who served as the basilica's prior, discovered the ruins beneath the church. He began excavating, with help from experts, and uncovered a fourth-century basilica immediately beneath the nave. Then, digging deeper, he discovered Christian and pagan worship spaces from the first century.
Admission is free to San Clemente's upper basilica, but it costs about $6 to pass through a sacristy door and descend the stone steps, built in 1866, that lead to the dimly lighted, dank subterranean levels. An underwater river runs beneath the lowest level.
The fourth-century basilica, which was filled in with earth to provide a solid foundation for the 12th-century church, was built after Emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be the official religion of Rome. Sixty feet below the ground, visitors can walk through the remains of a first-century insula, or Roman apartment, where Christians, who at the time were being persecuted, gathered in secret to worship in the private residence.
Adjacent to this Christian "house church" is a Mithraic temple. A secretive, mystical cult originating in Persia, the Mithraic religion was solely for men and preached a code of morality, loyalty, and fidelity that was followed mostly by Roman soldiers.
The temple, which could hold about 30 people, was built in the late first or early second century and for nearly 400 years used for worshipping the god Mithras, whom followers believed was born of rock. He was the bearer of salvation and fertility and, after a battle in which he was victorious over evil, was escorted by Apollo into the heavens aboard a chariot.
"Little is known, however, about the ritual of the religion, for there is no extant Mithraic literature," Father Boyle wrote. The cult had been widespread but faded out after being suppressed in the late fourth century.
Few archaeological sites, in Rome or elsewhere, can offer such a palpable cross section of religious and cultural history in one spectacular location.
Source: toledoBlade