San Vitale (built 400 A.D.)

This church is located right across the street from our hotel. I remember looking at it the first day while eating breakfast. It’s located below street level. The roof barely peeks over the curb of the sidewalk. You don’t have to be an expert to guess that it’s an ancient building. The brickwork looked Roman to me. It was obviously a church and a very old one. Constructed along the lines of the early Christian basilicas, even the entrance looked authentic. Before there were narthexes in churches they built front porches. We went down the steps to find out its name one day. The plaque said San Vitale. Ok, fine, now we had a name to go on. No problem. We looked in our guidebooks to find out all about this little treasure. Uh—not mentioned. Not a word. Not in any of our books and pamphlets. Nothing in the church listings of Rome.  Strange. This thing looked really important. In desperation, we went to our favorite Internet café (yes, the world is really small), and did a Google search. Presto! The Church of San Vitale: built in the year 400 A.D. and dedicated by Pope Innocent I. That’s nine years before the Visigoths sacked Rome, and the Empire began to collapse. And you know what else this church is famous for?  Nothing. Just another 1,600 year old church in Rome with no historical or religious significance whatsoever. Wow. Think about that for a minute. This is one old city.

So, my wife and I decided to give it significance. The next day, at the end of the afternoon, we were walking back to the hotel and decided to pop in and get out of the heat for a few moments. We also wanted to see what the inside was like.  Mass was about to be said, so we stayed and took communion. Only us, three old Roman ladies dressed in black, and a couple of tourists like ourselves, were there. A very nice feeling. The church was gloomy and cool. No carvings were inside, but the entire plastered interior was painted with faded, black fresco, probably the result of age.  It reminded me of Delacroix’s Wreck of the Lampedusa. Demons, columns, angels, martyrs, scrollwork, and landscapes surrounded us. It was hard to keep it all straight in the dimness.

We liked the service so much that we decided to go one more time on Saturday evening, the night before we were to fly back home. We took a leisurely shower, packed, ate, and ambled over to the church. We couldn’t get near the place.  A wedding.  Crowds of people. Limo out front, tuxedos and rice, photographers, a mob scene. So much for our last peaceful moment in Rome. Of course we couldn’t find another service in time, so we had to content ourselves with watching the joyous bridal party pose for pictures. You never know what will happen in Rome.