Circular Discussion

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Coliseum. It’s round. The Pantheon? Also round. Tasty donuts you may have given up for Lent? Round as well.

It’s no wonder today’s station church follows in rotundity. Its model of circularhood though is nothing local: it’s meant to imitate the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem—the place where Jesus’ tomb is.

Santo Stefano Rotondo (Rotondo, rotund, round, get it? Get it?) is almost identical to the Jerusalem church in circumference and diameter—which, when you’re talking about circles, if you’ve matched the one, you’ve pretty much matched the other . . .

Originally dedicated to the very first martyr of the Church, the deacon Stephen, another Stephen came along, King Stefan of Hungary of the 11th century, and they figured he was a good person to dedicate the church to as well. And maybe if you’re hung(a)ry you’re harder to turn away un-church-dedicated.

Anyways, Santo Stefano Rotondo does a pretty good job of giving the martyrs their due, as the full circumference of the church is covered in frescoes giving illustration to the way the martyrs headed homeward. Unfortunately I have no photos that really give these 16^th century frescoes their due. Drop in some time to see them for yourself, I guess.

Photo of frescoes not given their due.

Speaking of, it's hard to give any of this church its due in photos, because this roundness is hard to capture in a camera lens . . .

If after all this circumnavigation you feel like you're draggin' a little, here's a little dragon . . .

And finally: You may have bats in your belfry, but in Rome they apparently have grass, as witnessed on my post-Mass-post-cappuccino trek through the Forum.