Scala Sancta
In my second week in Rome we went to the “Scala Sancta” or “Holy Stairs” which is located in front of the ancient palatine chapel. These stairs consists on twenty-eight white marble steps that nowadays are encased in wooden steps. According to the tradition, this staircase once leaded to the praetorium of Pilate at Jerusalem. Consequently, this staircase is sanctified by the footsteps of Jesus during his Passion. The Holy Stairs were brought by St. Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, from Jerusalem to Rome about 326 AD. Historians relate that this was a give to her son as an incentive to continue the conversion into the Catholic religion. The stairs were brought first to a corridor of the Lateran Palace but later in 1589 Sixtus V destroyed the old papal place to build a new one and then he transferred it to the present site. When we entered there we saw many people climbing the stairs on their knees and people do that as an act of devotion and also because it granted a plenary indulgence to be gained as often as the stairs are devoutly ascended after confession and communion. This means the full remission of all temporal punishments in one’s entire lifetime up to that point. A group of people of our class decided to climb the stairs, including me, and this was a wonderful experience because you can see the marble stairs and what is suppose to be certain drops of blood of Jesus through certain openings in the wooden risers. You can also admire some beautiful frescos painted on the walls by Ferrau Fenzoni while you climb the stairs. At the end we all finished with pain in our knees but were absolutely worth the effort for this wonderful experience!
Bryan Barrera, Survey of Art and Architecture, Berkeley College
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