Rome Belongs To You Too:
The Heritage of Christian Rome for Protestants

Pastoral leaders have increasingly discovered the value of travel to places of great historical and religious significance for members of their congregations. The experience of traveling together is deeply transformative. Participants return with a new sense of their place in a historical tradition, a renewed commitment to their faith and local congregation, stronger bonds with fellow sojourners, and a greater understanding of other belief systems and cultures.

Rome belongs to you too! Having preserved the greatest concentration of early Christian sites and artifacts in the world, Rome is an unparalleled place to explore the rise of Christianity in its earliest centuries. Here it is easy for pastoral leaders to help congregants appreciate the juxtaposition of early Christian life with life in the Imperial capital. By viewing Roman monuments that promote the Roman religious ideology that Luke and Paul challenge in their writings, participants can experience first-hand sites where early Christians met and began to express their faith in new religious art to forge new beliefs and practices that would ultimately transform the Roman world.

Illume invites you to journey with Paul and other early Christian leaders to Rome to discover the heritage that is yours too!

Program

Illume’s program facilitates a 6 day introduction to Christian Rome with privately guided visits of selected sites accompanied by experts specializing in early Christian archaeology and art history; first class center-city hotel accommodations; buffet breakfast daily; a welcome dinner and farewell dinner; airport transfers and more.

Ancient Rome and the Early Christians

Visits include the Roman Forum, the Colosseum and the Basilica of San Clemente. The visits explore the profile of earliest Christians and the development of Christianity at Rome from the 1st century through Constantine.

Witness of Paul and Early Christian Rome

Visits include the Basilica of St. Paul (built over the tomb of the apostle Paul), the Catacombs (with opportunity to see some of the early Christian art/symbols), the Church of St. Prisca (built over site of the house of Prisca and Aquila) and an option of additional early Christian sites –St. Pudenziana (where Peter met with early Christian community) or St. Costanza (which includes a mausoleum built for Constantine’s daughter).

Witness of Peter and Papal Rome

Visits include St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and the collection of early Christian marble sarcophagi, the most important collection of early Christian art in the world.

Day at Leisure in Rome

The program includes a free day in Rome where leaders can add other optional visits or allow participants the freedom to explore sites at their own pace and according to their own interests. Some additional sites of interest for early Christian Rome include the excavations under St. Peter’s, the Baptistry at St. John Lateran, and the ancient Roman port, Ostia Antica.

Program Price

$1800 per person for travel March through August of 2010 - based on a group of 40 + 2 free packages. Airfare additional.