If asked for the location of the world’s most famous Catholic churches, there is a good chance most people would name Rome. The city is, after all, the home of the pope and the global center of the Catholic faith. Churches such as St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Basilicas are renowned for their huge size and for containing the relics of some of the faith’s greatest saints. The Sistine Chapel, meanwhile, finds fame as the location of papal conclaves and some of the most beautiful art known to mankind. One church that is not as well known, however, is St. Clement’s Basilica, located in between the Lateran Palace and the Colosseum. Despite its lack of fame, this church well deserves a place on the itinerary of any Roman pilgrim.
Upon entering the church, pilgrims will encounter the beauty present in most of Rome’s ancient churches. Built in the early 12th century, the Basilica features a beautiful mosaic in the apse, depicting Christ on the Cross surrounded by the saints and covered in gold leaf. The ceiling also contains beautiful frescoes added in the Baroque period, and a side chapel features the Madonna di Sassoferrato, a famous painting of Our Lady.
The beauty of the Basilica itself, however, is not the reason the church deserves the attention of pious travelers. To truly experience the church’s importance, one must step down into the basement. In 1857, Fr. Joseph Mullooly, O.P., the church’s prior, noted that the church’s poor drainage and pest problems probably meant a cave existed underneath the structure. After investigating the building’s foundation to find the cause of such problems, he uncovered the very well-preserved ruins of the original Basilica, built in the 4th century.
Further excavations revealed even earlier Roman ruins beneath this basement floor. This sub-basement preserves two ancient Roman structures: an apartment that once belonged to a Roman nobleman and an ancient pagan temple. These buildings were destroyed with the rest of city in the great fire of A.D. 64. During the Empire’s persecution of Christianity in the first few centuries, permanent churches were out of the question, and Mass was held in private homes, often belonging to the local priest or bishop. St. Clement himself would have celebrated Mass in this manner, in a house very similar to the one preserved beneath his Basilica.
Descending the steps of St. Clement’s gives Christians an important perspective of the timelessness and universality of the Catholic faith. Beginning with the grand, gold-covered church that most pilgrims expect on their Roman journey, one descends into the ancient basilica that still contains great beauty for a structure so old. Especially prominent are the depictions of Mary, painted onto the stone walls of the old church, showing how important devotion to Our Lady was to Catholics of the time. Further down, the ancient Roman house reminds Catholics of the struggles that the earliest Christians were forced to face when they celebrated illegal and secret Masses in similar houses across the city.
Although other churches may be more historically famous, or contain more significant art, St. Clement’s Basilica articulates the history of the Catholic faith more clearly, perhaps, than any other. The Basilica presents an opportunity, which I believe is found nowhere else, for a unique experience of celebrating the modern Mass in English in immediate proximity to the simple structures where our ancient ancestors celebrated their own Masses.
Featured image courtesy of Lawrence OP via Flicker
- The Beatles, Baseball, and the Christian Life - April 30, 2021
- Avatar and the Christian Faith - March 25, 2021
- Praying Through Holy Thursday - March 25, 2021