Don’t Leaf This Off Your To-Do List!
By Grace Gauldin
As the leaves begin to change color and descend to the ground at the start of the autumn season, the leaves of the Italy Rome Temple remain as glorious and brilliant with their eternal shades of blue, green, and red.
You might ask, “what is the Italy Rome Temple and what do leaves have to do with it?” In the Holy Bible, believers of God would perform sacred rituals and make promises with Him within a temple. Jesus often taught in and around the temple in Jerusalem. Just like in the Bible, there are temples today! And this one just happens to be a 40 minute taxi ride from the center of Rome!
The Italy Rome Temple was finished and dedicated for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on March 10, 2019. From January 28 to February 16, 2019, it was open to the public and around 50,000 people came to see the temple during that brief period of time before it was dedicated. Today it remains open only to the members or believers of the faith that come to participate in sacred ceremonies, but you can still come and see the grounds and its Visitors’ Center, free of charge!
Within the Visitors’ Center you will find a large stained glass window that portrays the stories of Jesus Christ’s life and the many lessons that He taught during His ministry. The center portrays a story of Him healing a young man, which can represent the healing and peace we find when we decide to put the Savior in the center of our lives.
Also found in the center of this stained glass window is an olive tree and an olive press. Together these represent the Atonement of Jesus Christ, when He suffered the sins of the world in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Garden of Gethsemane was a garden of olive trees, so the visitors’ center and the temple both have been decorated with olive leaves to represent that specific event in Christian history.
The Visitors’ Center is open from 9 AM to 9 PM every day and everyone with proof of a Covid vaccination can enter. And if you don’t have that, don’t worry! You can still enjoy many sights within the campus. This site has beautiful gardens filled with flowers and olive trees for those who would like to stay outside or cannot enter.
We hope you can come and see its beauty soon!
