Santa Maria in Cosmedin

I had a list of, no lie, ten churches that I wanted to see in Rome. Mostly they were ones that looked interesting on an initial survey of the places to see besides the four main papal churches that either had some historical significance, like Santa Maria sopra Minerva, a church dedicated to Mary built over a temple to Minerva, or had some cool architectural feature, like Santa Maria degli Angeli, which is actually built inside the Baths of Diocletian.

Santa Maria in Cosmedin didn't make this list.

And I'm not sure why. Maybe I hadn't yet seen Roman Holiday when I made the list, because if I had, SM in Cosmedin would have made it up there with St. Peter's and the Sistine Chapel, just on fame merit alone. On the porch of this church is a face from ancient Rome whose mouth might have been a water spout or something interesting like that which was moved to this church in the 17th century. But honestly, we all know it was moved here so Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck could take turns putting their hands in the mouth of the face, proving their innocence. If you're a liar and you put your hand in the Bocca Della Verita, it's supposed to be bitten off.

Mmmm tasty hands...

But the line to prove yourself truthful is extensive and as this was an expedition into Rome I was undertaking on my own, so I didn't get my picture taken with my hand in some strange face's mouth. I'd be a little nervous putting my hand in it anyway, habitual liar that I am. Though I did, in a recent instance, tell the truth rather than lie, so I think we're making great progress with that.

Instead I went inside the church, which is quite small, on the far side of the Circus Maximus as you look from the Colosseum, though it's quite close to all those other wonders of Rome. A tour group was coming by at the same time and it was from their correct entrance, and those of the people who followed them in, that I figured out that I had come in the exit. How do I always do that? But I stumbled my away around them and looked into the side chapels, amusing myself until I got a good look at the interior without a human wall in my way. It was in this excursion that I discovered that St. Valentine's skull is housed here

Creepy relics FTW!

along with other people's dead body parts, though those are kept in the crypt. There are historic columns, including ones from when the church was a Roman office before it was a Christian house for helping the poor before it was turned into a church (seen in the back wall), plus the other ones in the nave,

Either from older Roman buildings, but they all date back to the 8th century.

and lovely mosaics.

11th century!

Up in the clerestory by the windows- that's paint that's older than the Magna Carta!

With all this impressive ancient stuff, I'm always surprised when I see something relatively new in an old church. I dunno, I just always forget that these places that I visit are living, breathing things that serve a purpose in people's lives beyond just the sightseeing that I inevitably fall into. So when I saw this picture of Mary and Jesus,

 I started, confused about its placement near the altar. Then I relaxed and contemplated it.

I've seen a lot of Marys. There are a lot of churches that honor Mary (every Santa Maria, every Notre Dame, every St. Mary's) and there are a lot of statues of the mother of Jesus as places of devotion, high on the wall on the corners of streets. I didn't think it was that big of a thing, but really, Mary's kinda the bomb in Catholicism. And out of all the Marys I've seen, I think I like Italian Marys the best. Though, several countries still to go, so maybe Spain will displace Italy in my entirely random perception of representations of the mother of Jesus.

I also love seeing the scared lions EVERYWHERE. Seriously, I'm going to make a post to just them. This is my equivalent of saying Refrigerator at the end of a haiku. Sometimes, you just gotta roll with it.