My Brother-in-law & Other Stories
By Johnny P. Novera

We met the prophets

Vatican City, July 16, 2005: We started lining up to get into Vatican City at 8:00 a.m. The  long line of  tourists, not necessarily pilgrims,  is a daily event in the Vatican. The number of visitors would average 25,000 per day, each  paying 12 euros to get in.

As in the Philippines, vendors  take advantage of crowds like this to sell their wares, especially religious articles about  Rome and the Vatican. We found out that souvenir items here are  cheaper than those offered in the stores, such as postcards, rosaries and medallions.
 
Our guide this time is a greyish-haired Italian gentleman, in his early 60’s, who gave us a background on the Vatican. He said that Vatican City, including St. Peter’s Square,  is the smallest state in the world, being   just 44,000 sqm. (4 hectares) in area.  A walled city, it has  400 permanent residents (no families)  and   3,200 live-out employees.

The state  was founded in February, 1929, by a treaty with the Italian Government;  later revised in 1984,  to acquire extra-territorial status over some basilicas, piazzas and buildings in the City of Rome; among them, the Basilica of St. Paul, the Basilica Sta. Maria Maggiore, the whole  Lateran complex and other lesser important buildings.

For want of a flaglet, our guide used a folded  morning  newspaper and carried  it over his head like a torch,  so we can follow him in the crowd. We listened to his  explanation of the different characters, artworks and historical relics that we  pass by,  through a pocket radio that is  wired to our ears.

The Vatican is the official residence of the Pope.  However, we had no special appointment to see him.  We  saw  the tomb of the first pope, St. Peter, as well as that of Pope John Paul II who lately died, and  grottos, chapels, statues or paintings of emperors and saints, and other centuries-old religious works of arts.

We visited also a gallery of large maps covering lands belonging to the Catholic church and Italy’s important cities made during the 15th  and early 16th centuries, mounted on both sides of the wall. Then there is the Gallery of Statues, the Gallery of Busts, mostly of Roman emperors,  the Hall of Muses, full of statues of muses and poets copied from Greek originals, the Hall of  Masks, etc. What we remember about them is that many of the characters depicted in the statues and paintings  do not wear  birthday suits!

Then we came to the Sistine Chapel where the Cardinals close themselves to pray and deliberate whenever they elect   the Pope of the Catholic Church. Here we met the prophets of Christ’ time  in various learned poses, like the prophet Isaias, Daniel, Joel,  Ezekiel, and Jeremiah, with their portraits all created by Michaelangelo.

The Sistine Chapel is a complete work of art.  Its walls and ceilings are all of paintings by Micaelangelo who was commissioned for  the job. It  took him four years,  from 1508 to 1512  to finish it.   The paintings tell the story of mankind, before and after Christ, mostly inspired by the Bible, since Adam and Eve lived in paradise and later driven from it.

One interesting painting explained by our guide was at the far wall of the chapel. A Roman governor in that time was insistent in being included in the paintings.  It is said that Michaelangelo obliged but he portrayed  him  as  a devil in one of the scenes in the  last judgment as shown on the wall. He was mad!