After the first gathering this morning to celebrate the Eucharist at St. John Lateran, there was the dispersion when each group went off to its own pilgrimage program in the footsteps of the first witnesses of the Faith. 

The itinerary was diversified but the intention was the same - In Rome even the stones speak out.  The history of the primitive Church is inscribed on the monuments... Each then took to the road for a day of contemplation, of discovery, of prayer, of exchanges and sharing.  The stones speak but the Church is built on living stones - the Christians of today. 

Impossible to go with all the groups so we joined the youth.  They went to the Catacombs of St. Calixtus or of Saint Sebastian.  The catacombs are underground cemeteries.  They are located outside the walls of the city because Roman Law forbade burials within the city walls.  One would go to visit the catacombs and to venerate the tombs of the martyrs.  On the walls are engraved the symbols used by the first Christians. 

A picnic in a park followed the visit of the catacombs.  This was a good moment for sharing, for some attempts at trying to communicate in different languages.  It was a joyful Pentecost!   

After the picnic they left for St. Paul Outside the Walls.  Around the year 67, Paul, like Peter, witnessed to Christ by his martyrdom.  He was buried near the place where he was executed, outside the city.  Emperor Constantine was the first to have a small Church built over the place where the tomb of St. Paul was. 

From St. Paul Outside the Walls, the group of young people went to Tre Fontane (Three Fountains) where tradition specifies it as the place of Paul's martyrdom.  It is said that he was beheaded and that his head bounced three times each time producing a fountain of pure, limpid water. 

The last stop, Saint Peter's.  This was followed by free time to enjoy the beauty of the city, of its monuments... Rome is an unceasing reminder that the Church is 2000 years old and that she is not 'dead' as the young, and the not so young, going here and there, witnessed today.  Their paths merged and broke off to be joined again and which a common faith and a common joy gathered together.