Giornale - S. Maria in Trastevere

In the church of S. Maria in Trastevere, I witnessed my first ever church service. Although it was not in its entirety, it was an interesting setting due to the front of the church being filled with dedicated listeners, and the back being composed of tourists milling about. The priest also spoke with a microphone, and the space was filled with fluorescent, electric lights. The church had a gift shop as well, which seemed odd to me as it was the first one we had seen to that date. All of it, to my surprise, felt impersonal, even rather industrial. In short, it was very different than the candle-lit, quiet atmosphere of the other churches I have seen on this trip.

When the service was over, however, the lights turned off, along with the microphone, and suddenly all that was left was silence and candlelight. The space was instantly transformed into one I felt more familiar with. It also felt like a space that was more connected with the past now that all of the modern technology had been set aside. I remember finding it strange that the lights were on for the service, thinking it would be the other way around. I thought that people would want a quieter place to worship, but perhaps peace doesn’t always have to be associated with dimmer lighting.

Seeing this transformation made me question my place in the church. Nicky, Maisie, Katie, and I were all clustered in the back taking notes. What did that look like to people? Obviously we are students, but do people attending the service find it disruptive? I thought that someone must have at one time or another because cellphones were not allowed in this church. It also made me consider about how I tend to think about the space of a church.

I always find myself sort of tip-toeing around, feeling a little self-conscious, and worrying that I’m going to step wrong when I’m in a religious space, as I was not raised with it. However, there was a particular statue in Santa Maria that made me think about this feeling. This particular statue was littered with slips of paper. Some were stuck into various crevices on the statue itself, and some littered the floor at its feet. Nicky explained to me that they were prayers that people had written. This practice reminded me of the talking statues we are currently studying. The same idea is contained in this practice of leaving your prayer on the statue, however these are folded up, sometimes multiple times. The talking statues, on the other hand, are very public.

Interestingly, I found myself feeling a little drawn to writing a prayer when I compared it to the more secular talking statues, to just a way of communicating needs and wants. Having Nicky explain different functions of statues like that, as well as the candles, also put a unique spin on the experience. It’s amazing how many lenses and degrees of belief religion can be filtered through.

Something I compared to the last church I did a Giornale on, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, were the windows. They were arching rather than circular, but they contained the same orange-yellow glass that I found startlingly modern. This church also contained many crosses that sat in front of the windows, making the light filtering through into a halo of sorts. The ceiling of this church was also much more ornate, Covered with gold and mosaic. This drew me back to my questions concerning the lighting. Do they use electric lights because they want worshipers to see the ceiling?

Lastly, I found the neighborhood of Trastevere beautiful. It felt less modern than Prati with less cars and more walkable, winding streets. It made for a beautiful setting for Santa Maria.