Even being on a pilgrimage, sometimes it felt like the emphasis was more on the stops than on stopping. –“The Day the Dome Dropped on My Head” 

The title “The Day the Dome Dropped on My Head,” has the ring of a 1950s pulp fiction paperback, but reflects more of a supernatural experience that happens in a well-known Roman church and culminates in a spiritual conversion.

“Maria e Gesu”, a dome-like 13th Century mosaic by Pietro Cavallini, is the center and most prominent art in the apse of the Basilica of Santa Maria in the Trastevere section of Rome. For our protagonist in the story, the experience is not an example of enlightenment through Visio Divino – meditation on art of a spiritual nature that results in a
breakthrough understanding. In fact, nearing the end of her pilgrimage, she is overcome with an ennui of all the ancient mosaics and tapestries the pilgrims had seen with little opportunity to take in all their significance. She doesn’t even see it. Rather, it becomes an interaction with God who put His hand out to her as answer to a pleading prayer.

That hand in the mosaic is around the shoulder of His mother, as though to reassure and guide her. It rests gently around her shoulder, the tips of His fingers peeking around her shoulder. He is not tugging, pulling, controlling or weighing her down. She leans into Him ever so slightly, and her left hand gestures toward Him. It’s as though they both are saying to each other, “You are mine,” but they look ahead.

To beckon the rest of us? Or, in the case of the protagonist, to find us and reach out?

She learns that He has been with her during her whole life.

He was with her when she thought she was completely alone.

He was the one who saved her from herself.

The Basilica’s website is the best place to view the mosaic and learn its meaning as intended by the artist. The Basilica’s website, at this writing, appears down, but many visitors have shared their videos experiencing the art, architecture and history on YouTube. They offer a glimpse not only of Maria e Gesu but of other breathtaking and inspirational images. Exciting Europe offers a brief video with several close up shots of the mosaic beginning at 4:26. At 5:42, Chris Channel moves in to the image, resulting in a very fast but very close view. Finally, Makc Markc, has a great gradual close-up from minute 1:28-1:56.

Read “The Day the Dome Dropped on My Head,” and other short stories by the Catholic Writers Guild in Pilgrim Tales: a Catholic Writers Guild Short Story Anthology available now on Amazon in print and e-book.

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Edited by Rietta Parker