Pontificio Santuario della Scala Santa — Attraction in Rome

Saint place for the Christians. Very nice, massive pice of history. Located near the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, the Sanctuary houses the Sancta Sanctorum, the old chapel of the Popes where you can worship the image of the Holy Saviour and the Holy Stairs.According to an ancient Christian tradition, in 326, the Holy Stairs were was transported from Jerusalem to Rome by the praetorium of Pilate at the behest of Empress Saint Helena, mother of Constantine.According to the same tradition, the 28 steps of the Holy Stairs are precisely the same ones that Jesus climbed several times on the day of his death sentence in the palace of Pontius Pilate. Hence the name of Scala Pilati or Scala Sancta.Initially, the stairs were in the Patriarchium, the complex of the Lateran Palaces, and the ancient seat of the Popes. It was Pope Sixtus V Peretti who, in 1589, had them moved to the current building and had four flights of stairs built by the architect Domenico Fontana, with the Scala Santa in the center. Every Friday of Lent, it is customary to go up the steps of the Holy Stairs on your knees praying as an act of devotion to relive the passion of Christ and ensure plenary indulgence from sins. At the top of the last step, protected by a massive railing, is the ancient private oratory of the Popes, at least until the Renaissance: the Chapel of San Lorenzo in Palatio, called the Sancta Sanctorum for the many relics of saints that it keeps.

This beautiful chapel was enriched and embellished over time by various popes. Pope Nicholas III was responsible for the current arrangement with the precious frescoes painted by the 13th-century Roman school, the completion of the mosaic above the altar, and the beautiful floor in Cosmatesque style.

On the wall behind the altar is the Holy Saviour Acheropìta “Acheropita” (not painted by human hands), depicted while sitting on the throne with his right-hand blessing and the scroll of the Gospel in his left. The millenary icon is among the most loved and revered symbols in the world.Under the papal altar, is the ark that houses the treasure and the relics of the...

This largely unnoticed building at the right side of the Basilica of St John Lateran holds one of the most important relics in all of Christianity - The Holy Stairs.

Christian tradition holds that Jesus Christ climbed them before his crucifixion. They led to the praetorium of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem. A few days before Easter, the stairs were uncovered for the first time in 300 years. In 2019, the bare marble stairs were available for the pilgrims to climb, uniting their sufferings with the sufferings of Christ.What breaks your heart is to see the many who'd do all it takes to do something for God. This is where you'd see people on their knees climbing up a flight of stairs what traditon would have us believe are steps from Pilate the governor's house. They forget that it is God who did everything by sending His Son to die on the cross to take the place of every believer who puts his or her trust on Jesus Christ. It is God who did everything that's needed, not man trying to please God. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. Would you believe Him today for the salvation of your soul?This is well off the main tourist route and may be it should stay that way. It is more a place of pilgrimage than a tourist attraction. Nevertheless it was a fascinating place to spend some time and it its own way rather beautiful.

In a building designed by Domenico Fontana in 1589 are two surviving parts of the old Lateran Palace belonging to Helena the mother of the Emperor Constantine.

The first is the Scala Santa the holy staircase. The 28 steps are said to have come from the home of Pontius Pilate's house and therefor used by Christ during his trial. The steps are considered so holy that no foot can touch them so the faithful climb the steps on their knees.

The second is the Chapel is St Lawrence or Sancta Sanctorum (Holy of Holies) which contains numerous relics. The most important being an image of Jesus - the Acheiropoetion, said to be the...

When I was a child afraid of heights, adults around me told me to never look down. They all said that staring down at my progress going up the stairs would frighten me and paralyze me with fear and I’d stop walking. So I forced my eyes to dart upwards, focusing on the steps I had yet to conquer rather than below. However, when I entered the Scala Santa, I wanted to look down. My knobby unprotected knees embraced the worn-out wooden floor and I traced my fingers over the circular glass pane separating me from the original marble stairs, where Christ once walked. I thought to myself, “Am I even worthy to walk these same steps? I am just a human girl with little blemishes and imperfections,” I looked up to the remaining stairs I had to climb. “How can I possibly go up these stairs when I am full of cracks that can never be stitched up?” I felt sweat run off my neck and I swerved my eyes down to the ancient stairstep I was currently kneeling on. It was then that I wanted to see my own hands touch the stair where fellow pilgrims had wept, prayed, and believed many years before. Where Christ made his journey. Where He came to suffer and...