St. Peter’s Basilica Is a Must See When In Rome!
Be sure to watch this fun and engaging short video I made that shares the history of St. Peter’s Basilica. Don’t forget to do play the quiz game at the end!
St. Peter’s Basilica is the largest cathedral in the world! It is so big that landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, Cinderella’s Castle at Walt Disney World, and the Sphinx in Egypt can all fit inside the center naive of the cathedral. As you can imagine, something this big comes with an even bigger price tag. In 2021, St. Peter’s Basilica was valued at $11 trillion dollars! But if you ask me, its’ Roman history and beauty are priceless.
In 64 A.D., Rome had a massive fire that destroyed most of the city. The evil Roman Emperor, Nero, needed to blame someone and Christians became the perfect scapegoat. It was during this time, under the demented rule and fabricated lies of Nero, the Apostle Peter was crucified upside down and buried where his namesake, St. Peter’s Basilica, sits today. Christianity was outlawed throughout the Roman Empire and many Christians were martyred during the history of the early Church. Historians estimate as many as 2 million Christians were killed for their faith over the span of 200 years. In 326, the Roman Emperor, Constantine, became the first Christian ruler and built the first church on the site of Saint Peter’s tomb thus ending the persecution.
St. Peter’s Basilica flourished and became a popular place for Christians to visit from around the world. During the Middle Ages, while on Crusade, knights would stop to pay homage and visit the St. Peter’s Basilica because it was considered such a holy site.
By 1502, St. Peter’s Basilica was in desperate need of a major renovation. Pope Julius II felt that it was his calling to build a new cathedral. So….in 1506 construction began.
You might recognize the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle names like Michelangelo and Raphael. Well….long before they were ever known as cartoon superhero’s, they were artistic geniuses during this time. Pope Julius II hired Raphael to become the lead architect after the previous architect, Bramante unexpectedly died.
Michelangelo, whose first passion was sculpting, designed the famous dome of St. Peter’s. Sadly, neither man ever lived to see the completion of their accomplishments due to the fact it took 150 years for St. Peter’s to be completed.
Almost as famous as the cathedral and dome is St Peter’s Square, designed by Bernini. In Matthew 16:9, Jesus says to Peter, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” Bernini took these words quite literally and designed the whole square to be one big skeleton key.
Whenever a new pope is to be chosen, crowds will stand in St. Peter’s square, which holds 300,000 people, awaiting the announcement of who their new pope will be.
All eyes are on the small chimney that protrudes from the roof of the Sistine Chapel. Based upon the color of the smoke determines whether or not a new pope has been chosen. If black smoke appears from the chimney, it means the cardinals did not agree on a new Pope. If the smoke is white, the new pope has been selected and the crowd rejoices over the news. Since Saint Peter’s death, there have been 260 popes who have been chosen.
If you are lucky, you might catch a glimpse of the Pope from his apartment window that overlooks St. Peter’s Square. On Sundays, the Pope typically appears from his apartment window and will pray over the people standing in the square.
I hope you enjoyed learning about St. Peter’s Basilica and the rich history that surrounds it. Each time I visit Saint Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican, I continue to be in awe of its history, beauty, and grandeur. If St. Peter’s isn’t on your bucket list as a place that you would like to visit with your students or your own family, then that needs to change. Rome, the Eternal City, offers an endless amount of things to see and experience and are a MUST SEE for 2023!
If you are have always wanted to take a group of students overseas, but you don’t know where to begin, I would love to hear from you! I personally am leading a group of 50 students/adults this April 2023 to an 11 day tour to beautiful Italy, and would love to help you make your dream a reality. Until then……keep showing your students the world!
Betsy
