June 4

Today we started off our day by meeting in the courtyard of St. John’s. Sister Bednarz began to tell us what we were going to do today, and she gave us a list of things we should know. Here is the list and their definitions.

1. Penates: gods who watched over the home or community to which they belonged: originally, two deities of the storeroom.
2. Insula: an insulawas a kind of apartment building that housed most of the urban citizen population of ancient Rome, including ordinary people of lower- or middle-class status and all but the wealthiest from the upper-middle class.
3. Domus: the type of house occupied by the upper classes and some wealthy freedmen during the Republican and Imperial eras.
4. Lares: Guardian spirits
5. Lararium: A shrine to the guardian spirits of the Roman household.
6. Paterfamilias: The head of a Roman family.
7. Patron: An officially recognized high status position in Roman society.
8. Imago: Imago clipeta usually used in reference to the images of heroes on Roman shields; Imago Dei, means “Image of God” in Latin.
9. Salutatio: The morning greeting of the Roman patron by his clients.

After we left the university, we walked to Trestevere, and we took a long route so we were able to see the city of Rome from a higher point. The view was amazing, and you could see all of the sites we have seen up close. We continued walking and finally got to Santa Maria church. We looked around the church a little and then were able to go underneath it. I would say that my favorite part was being able to see all of the old mosaic work from the third or fourth century and on. It is amazing that some of their work is still preserved and you can tell what some of the artwork was. Sister Bednarz also mentioned that she thought some of the artwork was from closer to the sixth century, based on what they were wearing. Also in this church were little boxes that Sister Bednarz believed were used to hold bones. When I was in Peru, I saw boxes like that, and they were used to hold bones, so Sister is most likely correct. When we were discussing that I got really excited for when we go to the catacombs. There is so much in those church’s beneath the church, and it would be really interesting to have an archeologist so he could tell you what everything is.