As I mentioned in this column yesterday, I spent most of the afternoon visiting a necropolis discovered rather recently in the Vatican while they were excavating for an underground parking lot. It is called the Via Triumphalis - Santa Rosa necropolis, and is just extraordinary!

I visited the site with a small group of women from Vatican Radio and other Vatican offices – both current and past employees. Another group of women visited a rarely open section of the Vatican Museums – the Pio-Christian Museum - and we all met in the Museum cafeteria for late afternoon refreshments.

I took the photos you see here with my cell phone and have posted several videos on my YouTube page as well.

In October 2006, to celebrate the fifth centenary of the Vatican Museums, Vatican officials presented a new section of the Roman necropolis of the Via Triumphalis, discovered during the construction of the new parking lot of Santa Rosa in the Vatican City State.

The excavations of this new important area were conducted by archaeologists of the Vatican Museums and brought to light a conspicuous section of the necropolis, which turned out to be the continuation of the section that had already been discovered in the 1950’s.

This new area is known as the “Necropoli dell’Autoparco” as it was discovered during the construction of a Vatican parking lot. It is also called the Via Triumphalis necropolis and the Santa Rosa necropolis as the burial grounds were discovered under a small piazza in Vatican City known as Santa Rosa Square.

The two burial sites, that from 1957 and the one unveiled in 2006, constitute part of a large necropolis positioned along the ancient Via Triumphalis, a road that led from Rome to Veio (Isola Farnese) passing through the Monte Mario neighborhood in northern Rome.

Thanks to this last discovery, two of the most complete and documented necropolises of Imperial Rome are now accessible in Vatican City. One is along the Via Cornelia – the more well-known “scavi,” the excavations below the basilica where S. Peter’s tomb is located, and the other along the Via Triumphalis.

This second necropolis, the Via Triumphalis, is what we visited yesterday afternoon. This information is from the Vatican web site on the necropolis.

The excavations brought to light approximately forty burial structures of small and medium sizes, as well as over two hundred single tombs arranged on multiple levels, and marked by memorial stones, stele, altars and tombstones often containing inscriptions. Such epigraphical material is of great historical-social interest and importance. The majority of the tombs are in a good state of preservation and are dateable between the end of the 1st century B.C. and the beginning of the 4th century A.D., more or less from the Augustan age up to the Constantinian age. Some of the structures present interesting wall decorations in fresco and stucco and mosaic floors.

In addition, funerary altars, urns, and sarcophagi with figures in bas-relief have been discovered. Of particular interest is the sarcophagus of the young member of the equestrian order Publius Caesilius Victorinus ( 270-290 A.D.), which presents the figure of a praying female standing next a tree where a bird is roosting on.

The inscriptions at times state the original trade or the place of these figures, offering a most interesting slice of daily life. The tombs include such furnishings as lamps and vessels still in place, ready to be utilized for family members to make offers to the deceased. There are also altars with still evident holes the garlands hung from.

Thanks to a further revision made to the original project, this new archaeological area has now been enclosed within the structure of the parking lot, taking the name of the pre-existing “Piazzale di Santa Rosa.”

As far as I know – but will verify – visits to this necropolis are by special request only. There is a per-person cost, as well as a cost for the guide. Maximum group size is 25 people.

At this week’s general audience in the Paul VI Hall, Pope Benedict again focused on faith and the Year of Faith, saying “we begin the Advent season by reflecting on the grandeur of God’s plan for our salvation. The great hymn which begins Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians praises the merciful love with which God ‘chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world’ to become his adopted sons and daughters.”

Benedict XVI said, “God’s plan is to unite all things in Christ, bringing all creation to fullness in him. He has made this plan known to us through an economy of revelation that culminates in the incarnation of the Son and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. God’s self-revelation in Christ corresponds to our deepest human hopes and aspirations, and it invites us to respond by offering God the obedience of faith.”

The Holy Father said, “faith, as our free assent of mind and will to divine revelation, calls us to conversion and brings a new way of seeing the reality of our lives and the world around us.” He said he hoped that, “during this Advent, we may contemplate ever more fully the beauty of God’s loving plan, and strive to be living signs of his saving presence in our world.”

At the end of the catechesis, during multi-language greetings, the Pope launched an appeal to the international community for an end to the violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"Troubling news,” said Benedict, “continues to arrive regarding the grave humanitarian crisis in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which for months now has been the scene of armed conflict and violence. A large part of the population lacks even the most basic means of support, and thousands have been forced to abandon their homes to seek refuge elsewhere. I therefore renew my appeal for dialogue and reconciliation, and invite the international community to take all action necessary to attend to the pressing needs of the population."

100 TERRACOTTA FIGURES TO ADORN VATICAN NATIVITY SCENE

As I mentioned last Wednesday in this column, the nativity scene under construction in St. Peter's Square this year has been offered to the Holy Father by the Italian region of Basilicata. In an informative note released today, the Vatican explained that the nativity scene, which includes 100 terracotta figures, is the work of Francesco Artese, one of the most famous exponents of the southern school of traditional nativity sculpture. The most striking characteristic of Artese's work is his recreation of landscapes of the Stones of Matera and his reproduction of scenes of rural life. Indeed, the nativity of St. Peter's Square is reminiscent of locations in the Holy Land.

"The Lucanian landscape,” says the note, “has been enriched by the work of religious people who have chosen to live there, transforming these places into a human settlement rich in holiness, building 154 rupestrian churches, monasteries and sanctuaries which, from the high Middle Ages to the 19th century, have shaped the identity of a vast area which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

"The scenery of the nativity, therefore, while inspired by a traditional iconographic genre, is rendered unique by elements reproducing locations and architecture typical of the Lucanian landscape. The rupestrian churches of San Nicola dei Greci and Convicinio di Sant'Antonio are recognizable, and above the myriad roofgtops, the bell tower of San Pietro Barisano stands tall. The human environment is that of ancient Lucanian rural civilization ... and the statuettes, made entirely of terracotta, are dressed in clothing made of starched cloth and based on the typical Lucanian peasant costumes of the past. Artese has chosen to dress the Holy Family with costumes in the classic tradition."

"As in previous years, the installation of the nativity scene is entrusted to the Technical Services of the Governorate of Vatican City State."

2012 SYNOD ON EVANGELIZATION: PROPOSITIONS 22, 23

Proposition 22 : CONVERSION The drama and intensity of the age old clash between good and evil, between faith and fear should be presented as the essential background, a constituent element of the call to conversion in Christ. This struggle continues at a natural and supernatural level. “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Mt 7: 14). Many bishops spoke of the need for renewal in holiness in their own lives, if they are to be true and effective agents of the New Evangelization. The New Evangelization requires personal and communal conversion, new methods of evangelization and renewal of the pastoral structures, to be able to move from a pastoral strategy of maintenance to a pastoral position that is truly missionary. The New Evangelization guides us to an authentic pastoral conversion which moves us to attitudes and initiatives which leads to evaluations and changes in the dynamics of pastoral structures which no longer respond to the evangelical demands of the current time.

**Proposition 23 : HOLINESS AND THE NEW EVANGELIZERS The universal call to holiness is constitutive of the New Evangelization that sees the Saints as effective models of the variety and forms in which this vocation can be realized. What is common in the varied stories of holiness is the following of Christ expressed in a life of faith active in charity which is a privileged proclamation of the Gospel. We recognize Mary as the model of holiness that is manifest in acts of love including the supreme gift of self. Holiness is a significant part of every evangelizing commitment for the one who evangelizes and for the good of those evangelized.

Write to Joan at:
joansrome@ewtn.com 

CLICK HERE FOR PRACTICAL INFORMATION ON VISITING THE VATICAN.

View Joan's videos at : www.youtube.com/joansrome