But the faith endured

Two days ago we visited the Catacombs, but it isn't an easy thing to write about, so I waited for a bit.
We went to Calisto, which is the largest underground cemetery of the 60 (either in Rome or Italy). Christians began tunneling out Calisto in the mid 2nd century. It has 4 levels, covers about 37 acres, and half a million are buried there. The saddest part to me was that 40% are children and infants. We saw a lot of tombs that were maybe only 2 feet long.
Persecution wasn't constant, but it continued until 313 AD when Constantine legalized Christianity, and they could bury their dead above ground. Christians actually didn't live in the catacombs, though they did gather there. (The sulfur on the walls and insufficient ventilation would give you lung poisoning if you stayed too long.)
I was able to snap some pictures of illustrations of the drawings seen below. The anchor on the bottom left represents the trinity, the fish on the far right symbolizes Christ. A much simpler fish drawing (still around today) is actually an abbreviation of 5 greek words proclaiming the faith that spelled fish. To identify a Christian, one would begin to draw the fish in the sand, and the other would or wouldn't complete it.

An interesting story about St. Cecilia, who was once buried there... she died defending the faith after multiple attempts to kill her. They burned her, and tried to cut off her head three times, and when she finally died, her body was apparently perfectly preserved on inspection fifteen years later.

A couple other interesting facts- the barbarians actually raided the tombs in the 9th century and destroyed many of the bones there. It wasn't restored until 1849.  Up until 20 years ago, tourists would actually steal the leftover bones from the tombs. (I guess they were going for a very authentic souvenir.) Also interesting, people are still allowed come in to worship.

Overall, although a very dark and chilly experience, our tour guide was pretty fantastic. He was very inspired by all the people who had died for their faith, and encouraged us to think about the gravity of that and to learn from them, regardless of our own beliefs.
We were required to incorporate the catacombs in our writing for that day, and what I said sums up a lot of what I felt: "I am confident that fortunes improving should not change our course of action when we are called to respond against doubt and hesitation. I think those who buried their sons, daughters, and parents in the Catacombs understood this well. Eyes dry, chins up, no mourning in public, but the faith continued."

Before I go, I'll mention a church we stopped by afterward. It is said that the church is built over where Jesus appeared to Peter when he was leaving Rome. Jesus told him to stay, and that is where Peter was executed.


Below, our walk to the church. We were a bit lost, and some nuns on their way there offered to show us the church. To the right in the inside, which depicts the conversation between Jesus (right) and Peter (left) above. Middle left- Peter hanging upside down, as he was crucified. Right, Jesus hanging rightside up.

Also, last pic is apparently of the footprints Jesus' left after speaking with Peter.  The church is pretty literally built above them.