Appia Antica

The Appian Way in Rome, like most of the sites in the Eternal City, is a tour de force of early Christian history. The military road for the vast Roman Empire was constructed in 312 B.C. and is composed of massive flat rocks set into the earth. Remarkably, the road is still in use today. While not quite as impressive a feat as the Pantheon or Colosseum, the smooth, well-trodden road is nevertheless a remarkable display of Roman ingenuity. I recently had the opportunity to visit the Appian Way and stop along several prominent sites for the early Christian Church. One of the many things I savor about the Appian Way is that it is situated just outside the grasp of the frenetic and noisy city life of Rome. The near silence and natural setting permits one to be transported back to the early days of Christianity. It’s one of the few places in Rome that seems relatively untouched by the modern world.

Along the road, pilgrims will come across the Quo Vadis Church, erected centuries ago over the exact spot where tradition says Christ appeared to Saint Peter to strengthen him and encourage him to return to Rome and face his martyrdom. A little further down the road, in the basilica of Saint Sebastian, the very stone on which Christ stood and addressed St. Peter is still preserved, with His footprints miraculously pressed into the rock. As the name of the Basilica suggests, Saint Sebastian, one of the early Church’s most beloved martyrs, is under the altar beneath a beautiful sculpture depicting the Roman soldier in his final moments of agony before winning the crown of martyrdom.



Of course, the ancient catacombs are among the most sacred destinations for pilgrims in Rome since they serve as the final resting place for hundreds of thousands of Christians. Early Christians carved the extensive network of tombs and mausoleums out of the soft turfa rock on the outskirts of the city. There is an undeniable spiritual dimension to the visit that makes it a must-stop site for any pilgrim to Rome. To descend into the earth and walk down the dimly lit, labyrinthine passageways is to experience an almost mystical bond with some of the earliest members of the Christian community. Our guide for the visit was a charismatic priest who, throughout his presentation, harmonized salient points of theology with the history we were all experiencing firsthand. We walked past row after row of tombs now empty, stacked one on top of another. Faded images of Christ in the Byzantine style painted on the walls, together with other Christian symbols etched in Latin and Greek, most dating from the third and fourth century, were moving testaments to what transpired there so long ago. The most profound emotion for the conscientious pilgrim is the spiritual link with the early Church. Our guide reminded us several times that Catholics remember all the members of the Church during the Mass, the living and the dead, and visiting this expansive subterranean cemetery brought that message home with great force. And what better way to encounter this nexus of past and present than to follow in the footsteps of the early Christian community of Rome? To this day, Masses are celebrated daily in the catacombs. What a beautiful manifestation of the Church’s transcendence, her living history and her connection to the past!

Walking along the Appian Way helps Christians of every age to see in their own lives a microcosm of the entire history of our salvation; that is to say, the story of personal conversion, a shared hope and faith that conquers the shadows of age-old persecution and a lasting testament to humanity’s redemption.