Re: St. Peter's Basilica

candyagain · ‎04-11-2010

I worked in Rome for a month and visited the Cistine Chapel and St. Peter's as often as I could. I would stand in front of Michelangelo's Pieta transfixed. The most beautiful and poignant work of art for me. A work of genius and devotion.

Pope John the 22nd's tomb was also a frequent stop.

I hope you can go in person someday, the sheer size of the basilica can't be experienced on screen. It's immense!

vsm · ‎05-08-2010

@candyagain wrote:
I worked in Rome for a month and visited the Cistine Chapel and St. Peter's as often as I could. I would stand in front of Michelangelo's Pieta transfixed. The most beautiful and poignant work of art for me. A work of genius and devotion.

Pope John the 22nd's tomb was also a frequent stop.

I hope you can go in person someday, the sheer size of the basilica can't be experienced on screen. It's immense!

I feel the same way you do, @candyagain , about the Pieta. I saw it as a child at the NY World's Fair in the 1960s. We had to stand on a rolling platform, so I could only glimpse it in awe for a few seconds. How I envy you for getting to gaze at it in the Sistine Chapel!

patbz · ‎03-10-2010

@vsm : I also saw the Pieta for the first time at Worlds Fair. The next year I saw it in Vatican; the natural setting is so much better!

LindaSal · ‎05-15-2014

We were fortunate to also do a Mediterranean cruise in 2013 and stopped in Rome.

We did get to visit the Vatican and see the Sistine Chapel but there was a mass going on in the Basilica and we were not able to enter. It is truly a breathtaking place to see.

We were actually there during a pilgrimage so it was wall to wall people and really difficult to enjoy what was around us. If we have an opportunity we may try again someday, I'll be sure to research it first and go at a better time of year. Either way, it was a blessing and we did our best to absorb all we could at the time.

kittykatkay · ‎02-25-2011

I would so love to go to Rome (and any city in Italy), but I wish I could go to Jerusalem most of all. I would love to visit all these historical places.

I am so glad most of you have visited St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel.....what a wonderful memory to have close to your heart.

proudlyfromNJ · ‎05-01-2010

@vsm wrote:
@candyagain wrote:
I worked in Rome for a month and visited the Cistine Chapel and St. Peter's as often as I could. I would stand in front of Michelangelo's Pieta transfixed. The most beautiful and poignant work of art for me. A work of genius and devotion.

Pope John the 22nd's tomb was also a frequent stop.

I hope you can go in person someday, the sheer size of the basilica can't be experienced on screen. It's immense!
I feel the same way you do, @candyagain , about the Pieta. I saw it as a child at the NY World's Fair in the 1960s. We had to stand on a rolling platform, so I could only glimpse it in awe for a few seconds. How I envy you for getting to gaze at it in the Sistine Chapel!

@vsm That's where I saw it for the first time also. At the Worlds Fair.

proudlyfromNJ · ‎05-01-2010

@kittykatkay wrote:
I would so love to go to Rome (and any city in Italy), but I wish I could go to Jerusalem most of all. I would love to visit all these historical places.

I am so glad most of you have visited St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel.....what a wonderful memory to have close to your heart.

@kittykatkay We did a weeks tour of The Holy Land many years ago when I worked for the airlines. It was awesome to see so many wonderful historical sites there.

kittykatkay · ‎02-25-2011

@proudlyfromNJ wrote:
@kittykatkay wrote:
I would so love to go to Rome (and any city in Italy), but I wish I could go to Jerusalem most of all. I would love to visit all these historical places.

I am so glad most of you have visited St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel.....what a wonderful memory to have close to your heart.
@kittykatkay We did a weeks tour of The Holy Land many years ago when I worked for the airlines. It was awesome to see so many wonderful historical sites there.

@proudlyfromNJ ...OH WOW!!!! I envy you!!! I know it must have not only been breathtaking but just beautifully spiritual as well. Lucky you and thanks for sharing, sweetie.

golding76 · ‎05-19-2012

Like godi, I have had the good fortune to have visited St. Peter's Basilica twice.

During my second visit, I (along with 2,000 other souls) had an audience with Pope Paul VI. The most beautiful part of this audience experience was that I had purchased several religious objects at the Vatican that the Pope blessed during this mass audience.

One was very, very special: My dear uncle, a Catholic married to my mother's sister, was dying of cancer. I bought a Rosary for him. At that time, I lived in Miami, so when I returned home, I mailed the Rosary to him in Pennsylvania, where he lived.

My aunt said he was so filled with joy when he received it that he wept and would not let it go. He was buried holding that Rosary.

shoesnbags · ‎03-10-2010

@qualitygal

Yes, I was there twice, before 911, when there were not many restrictions (other than clothing!). We were not part of a tour group and were allowed to wander around on our own, accompanied by our two children. We went to an area underneath the church where popes and bishops were buried centuries ago. Fantastic. But as so many posters have said, standing in front of the Pieta was my most outstanding memory of our visit. It was breathtaking.
Now I have to hunt up that album and look at the pictures again.

"Breathe in, breathe out, move on." Jimmy Buffett