A Survey of the Web-Accessible Documentation Relating to Saint Paul’s Tomb in the Papal Basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura in Rome

Redacted by Tom Seddon January 27, 2007

Conclusions: Using Occam’s razor, Peter and Paul were most likely swept up in Nero’s murderous attempt to scapegoat the Christians of Rome for the horrific fire of July 64. They were probably not singled out for special attention but, along with perhaps thousands of others, died hideous deaths. It is possible depending on the exact circumstances of their death their followers may have been able to retrieve their remains for burial in a nearby cemetery and marked that location. However, subsequent centuries of Roman and Italian internal strife and civil war, “Saracen” invaders who looted and pillaged, ancient and modern “urban renewal,” natural disasters including earthquakes, floods, and fires and the good intentions of Christians resulted in numerous modifications and alterations under 5 emperors and 13 popes with actual relocations of the remains perhaps several times. Thus, it is unlikely that the tombs are in the “correct” location or that the remains to be found in the tombs are “authentic.” But, does any of that really matter? tes

Page 2 of 84 Table of Contents St. Paul's Tomb Unearthed in Rome______4 The Vatican Press Release (Italian).______4 English Translation by Google Language Tools:______6 National Geographic News Story______8 Photograph of the “discovery.”______10 Photograph by Alessandra Tarantino/AP.______10 An Earlier News Story from the Catholic News Service.______12 Dated March 4, 2005.______12 Historical background information--I.______14 A simplified timeline of Roman control over Jerusalem/Judea/Palestine.______14 Historical background information--II.______17 A chronological tabulation of early Christian & pagan writings.______17 Christian tradition relative to Paul’s tomb and the basilica built over it.______23 A Simplified Timeline.______23 Paul states he intends to go to Rome in his Epistle to the Romans.______26 Written 55-64.______26 Paul does go to Rome as described in the Acts of the Apostles.______28 Written 85-110.______28 The First Letter of Roman Bishop (Pope) Clement to the Corinthians.______30 Written 96.______30 The Roman historian Tacitus writes of Nero, the Great Fire (July 19, 64) and the Christians. ______32 Written 105-115.______32 The Roman historian Suetonius writes of Nero, the Great Fire (July 19, 64) and the Christians.______36 Written 115-125.______36 The apocryphal “Acts of Paul” spells out details of his martyrdom.______38 Written ca 160.______38 Dionysius of Corinth writes of Peter and Paul.______42 Written 165-175.______42 The Christian Apologist Tertullian states Paul was beheaded.______44 Written 197-220.______44 The first Church historian Eusebius writes of Paul’s final years.______46

Page 3 of 84 Written ca 324.______46 The Apocryphal “Acts of Peter and Paul with the story of Perpetua” expand on the tradition. ______55 Written between 2nd and 5th Centuries, probably the 4th .______55 St. Jerome writes a brief biography of Paul.______60 Written 492.______60 A description of the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls.______63 Written 1892.______63 Perspective sketch and floor plan of basilica.______65 Detailed floor plan showing location of Paul’s shrine and tomb.______66 Satellite view of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls______67 Lecture Notes on the tombs of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul______72 Written 1913.______72 St. Paul’s Outside the Walls.______81 A brief history from Wikipedia.______81 Photo Gallery: San Paolo fuori le Mura, Rome______84 A gallery of photos taken recently.______84

Redactor’s note: Editorial notes written by the redactor are generally enclosed by italic braces {}. Paragraphs are emboldened strictly for relevance to the subject.

Page 4 of 84 St. Paul's Tomb Unearthed in Rome

The Vatican Press Release (Italian). http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/19405.php? index=19405&po_date=11.12.2006&lang=en

Translation by “Google Language Tools” (http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en ) into English follows after Italian.

{Skip the Italian and jump directly to the English translation.}

{Skip both and jump directly to the National Geographic News Story.}

NOTA SUL SARCOFAGO DI SAN PAOLO DELL’ARCHEOLOGO GIORGIO FILIPPI

La basilica sorge sul sepolcro dell’Apostolo nella via Ostiense, ove alla fine del II secolo il presbitero romano Gaio, nella citazione di Eusebio, segnalava l’esistenza del tropaion eretto a testimonianza del martirio di Paolo. Nel luogo si avvicendarono, nel corso del IV secolo, due edifici, quello "costantiniano" e quello "dei tre imperatori", legati al pellegrinaggio devozionale alla tomba dell’Apostolo e utilizzati per scopi cimiteriali e liturgici.

L’unica documentazione riferibile alla situazione archeologica del monumento consiste in pochi disegni e schizzi con misure, di interpretazione talvolta enigmatica, redatti dagli architetti Virginio Vespignani (1808-1882) e Paolo Belloni (1815-1889), dopo l’incendio del 1823, durante gli scavi per la nuova confessione (1838) e la posa delle fondamenta del baldacchino di Pio IX (1850).

I resti archeologici allora rinvenuti non furono più visibili successivamente perché in parte distrutti e in parte obliterati dall’attuale Confessione.

Che la Basilica di S. Paolo fosse sorta sulla tomba dell’Apostolo è un dato incontrovertibile nella tradizione storica, mentre l’identificazione del sepolcro originario è una questione rimasta aperta. La Cronaca del Monastero parla di un grande sarcofago marmoreo rinvenuto durante i lavori di ricostruzione della basilica dopo l’incendio del 1823, nell’area della Confessione, sotto le due lastre iscritte PAVLO APOSTOLO MART[YRI], di cui però non esiste traccia nella documentazione di scavo, a differenza degli altri sarcofagi che furono scoperti e rilevati nella stessa occasione, tra cui il famoso "dogmatico" oggi conservato nei Musei Vaticani.

Le indagini archeologiche nell’area tradizionalmente considerata il luogo di sepoltura dell’Apostolo, iniziate nel 2002 e terminate il 22 settembre 2006, hanno permesso di riportare alla luce un importante contesto stratificato, formato dall’abside della basilica costantiniana, inglobata nel transetto dell’edificio dei Tre Imperatori: sul pavimento di quest’ultimo, sotto l’altare papale, è stato riscoperto quel grande sarcofago del quale si erano perse le tracce e che veniva considerato fin dall’epoca teodosiana la Tomba di S. Paolo.

Page 5 of 84 Tali esplorazioni avevano il fine di verificare la consistenza e lo stato di conservazione dei resti della basilica costantiniana e teodosiana sopravvissuti alla ricostruzione dopo l’incendio e di proporne la valorizzazione a fini devozionali.

Dal 2 maggio al 17 novembre di quest’anno si è ultimato, nell’area della Confessione, il Progetto di accessibilità alla Tomba di S. Paolo. Dopo aver smontato l’Altare di S. Timoteo si è scavata l’area sottostante per riportare alla luce, sull’intera superficie di circa 5 mq, l’abside della basilica costantiniana. Per raggiungere i resti del IV secolo si è scavato materialmente dentro il nucleo murario della moderna platea di fondazione che aderisce perfettamente alle strutture antiche, sia in fondazione che in elevato, fino a raggiungere il punto di distacco tra la parte antica e quella moderna rilevabile dal differente colore della malta, rosata quella del XIX secolo e grigia quella del IV secolo.

Poiché la quota del transetto dei Tre Imperatori, sul quale giace il sarcofago di S. Paolo, è più alta rispetto al piano dell’attuale Confessione, è evidente che qui il piano è stato demolito in occasione dei lavori del XIX secolo. Il massetto invece si conserva, resecato a forma di gradino, dietro l’altare di Timoteo, dove è strutturalmente incorporato nel muro moderno che delimita il lato est della Confessione.

Al momento dei lavori del XIX secolo, poiché la cresta dell’abside presentava probabilmente alcune parti instabili, queste furono rimosse avendo prodotto l’effetto di un gradino nell’emplecton, di circa 10 cm. di altezza e pari a due file di mattoni, che inizia sul bordo interno dell’abside della quale ricalca l’andamento curvilineo. Sulla fronte del gradino si vedono le impronte lasciate nell’opera cementizia dai mattoni da cortina rimossi.

Per raggiungere la quota pavimentale costantiniana si è rimossa la metà sud del settore absidale. Nello scavo non si sono rinvenuti altri reperti archeologici se non resti di murature.

Per aumentare la visuale sul sarcofago di S. Paolo si è allargato fino a m. 0,70 il vano attraverso la muratura del XIX secolo già aperto durante i lavori del 2002-2003.

È stato possibile rilevare le dimensioni del sarcofago: cassa lunga circa m. 2,55, larga circa m. 1,25 e alta m. 0,97; coperchio alto circa m. 0,30 e spesso nel bordo anteriore m. 0,12.

La porzione dell’abside scoperta costituisce l’unica testimonianza visibile della Basilica attribuita comunemente a Costantino.

Rimane aperto il problema topografico del rapporto tra la basilica e il pavimento stradale rinvenuto nel 1850 immediatamente ad ovest dell’abside costantiniana. Il Belloni vi riconobbe l’antica via Ostiense, che sarebbe stata trasferita nella sede attuale per ordine dei Tre Imperatori, ma non rilevò la quota di quel selciato. A questo riguardo risulta di particolare interesse la scoperta, all’interno dell’abside costantiniana, di alcuni grandi blocchi di basalto reimpiegati come materiale da costruzione nelle fondazioni della basilica dei Tre Imperatori.

Page 6 of 84 Per quanto riguarda la pianta della basilica costantiniana, poiché non abbiamo altri elementi al di fuori delle nuove misurazioni dell’abside, è prematuro fare nuove ipotesi, salvo che confermare le modeste dimensioni dell’edificio.

Il piano di cocciopisto scoperto sopra la quota di rasura dell’abside costantiniana corrisponde al transetto dei Tre Imperatori (390 d.C.) sul quale poggia il grande sarcofago che segnalava la Tomba dell’Apostolo all’epoca della costruzione della nuova grande basilica, ed era delimitato da un podio presbiteriale monumentale, come lascerebbe supporre la poderosa platea di fondazione spessa m. 1,66, che grava direttamente sul pavimento dell’abside costantiniana. Non è escluso che all’interno di tale fondazione possano esservi i resti del tropaion eretto sulla tomba dell’Apostolo Paolo.

Si può ritenere che tra il 1838 e il 1840 nell’area della Confessione sia stato rimosso o demolito tutto ciò che poggiava sul pavimento dei Tre Imperatori. Per gettare le fondazioni del nuovo presbiterio e dell’altare papale fu persino spostato il sarcofago di S. Paolo. Nell’area indagata non sono stati finora rinvenuti, tra il livello pavimentale del 390 e la fondazione del 1840 resti di strutture riferibili ad altre epoche.

[01792-01.01] [Testo originale: Italiano]

English Translation by Google Language Tools:

(http://www.google.com/language_tools)

FAMOUS ON the SARCOFAGO OF SAINT PAUL Of the ARCHAEOLOGIST GEORGE FILIPPI

The basilica rises on the sepolcro of the Apostle in the way Ostiense, where to the end of II the century the roman presbitero Gaio, in the citation of Eusebio, signaled the erected existence of the tropaion to testimony of the martyrdom of Paul. In the place they were alternated, in the course of IV the century, two buildings, that “costantiniano” and that one “of the three emperors”, legacies to the devozionale pilgrimage to the tomba of the Apostle and uses you for cimiteriali and liturgici scopes.

The only riferibile documentation to the archaeological situation of the monument consists in little designs and sketches with measures, of sometimes enigmatic interpretation, written up from architects Virginio Vespignani (1808-1882) and Paul Belloni (1815-1889), after the fire of 1823, during the diggings for new confession (1838) and 1850 put down it of the foundations of the Devout canopy of IX ().

The archaeological rests then recovered were not more visible subsequently because partially destroyed and partially it obliterates to you from it puts into effect them Confession.

That the Basilica of S. Paul was risen on the tomba of the Apostle is an incontrovertible data in the historical tradition, while the identification of the sepolcro original is one remained issue

Page 7 of 84 opened. Report of Monastero speaks about large sarcofago marmoreo recovered during jobs of reconstruction of basilica after fire of 1823, in area of Confession, under two slabs enrolled PAVLO APOSTLE MART [YRI], of which but trace in the documentation of digging does not exist, with the exception of the others sarcofagi that they were discoveries and finds to you in the same occasion, between which famous “dogmatic” the today conserved in the Museums Vaticans.

Surveyings archaeological in the area traditionally considered the place of interment of the Apostle, begun in 2002 and finished the 22 september 2006, have allowed to bring back to the light an important stratified context, formed from the apse of the costantiniana basilica, inglobata in the transetto of the building of the Three Emperors: on the pavement of this last one, under the papal altar, it has been riscoperto that large sarcofago which the traces had gotten lost and that Paul came since considered the teodosiana age the Tomba di S.

Such explorations had the aim to verify the consistency and the state of conservation of the rests of the costantiniana and teodosiana basilica survivors to the reconstruction after the fire and of proporne the valorization to fine devozionali.

From 2 May to 17 November of this year it has been completed, in the area of the Confession, the Plan of accessibility to the Tomba di S. Paul. After to have taken apart the Altar of S. Timoteo the below area has been dug in order to bring back to the light, on the entire surface of approximately 5 mq, the apse of the costantiniana basilica. In order to catch up the rests of IV the century it has been dug materially within the building nucleus of the modern platea of foundation that joins perfectly to the ancient structures, is in foundation that in high, until catching up the point of separation between the modern ancient part and that noticeable from the different color of the malta, rosata that one of XIX the century and grey that one of IV the century.

Since the quota the transetto the Three Emperors, on which the Paul lies sarcofago of S., is higher regarding the plan of it puts into effect them Confession, is obvious that here the plan has been demolished in occasion of the jobs of XIX the century. Massetto the instead conserve, resecato to step shape, behind the altar of Timoteo, where structurally it is incorporated in the modern wall that delimits the east side of the Confession.

At the moment of the jobs of XIX the century, since the crest of the apse probably introduced some leaves unstable, these was removed having produced the effect of a step in the emplecton, of approximately 10 cm. of height and par to two rows of mattoni, that it begins on the inner edge of the apse of which traces the curvilinear course. On the forehead of the step the prints left in the work cementizia from the mattoni are looked at from removed curtain.

In order to catch up the quota it paves them costantiniana has removed the half south of the absidale field. In the digging archaeological others have not been recovered reperti if not masonry rests.

In order to increase the visual one on sarcofago of S. the Paul it has been increased until m. 0,70 the space through the masonry of XIX the century already opened during the jobs of 2002-2003.

Page 8 of 84 It has been possible to find the dimensions of the sarcofago: long case approximately m. 2,55, wide approximately m. high 1,25 and m. 0,97; high cover approximately m. 0,30 and often in front edge m. 0,12.

The portion of the discovered apse constitutes the only visible testimony of the Basilica attributed commonly to Costantino.

It immediately remains opened the topographical problem of the relationship between the basilica and the recovered street pavement in 1850 to the west of the costantiniana apse. The Belloni recognized you the ancient one via Ostiense, that it would have been transferred in the center puts into effect them for order of the Three Emperors, but did not find the quota that pavement. With regard to this it turns out of particular interest the discovery, inside of the costantiniana apse, some great basalt blocks reimpiega you like material from construction in the foundations of the basilica of the Three Emperors.

As far as the plant of the costantiniana basilica, since we do not have other elements to outside of the new measurements of the apse, is premature to make new hypotheses, but that confirming the modest dimensions of the building.

The plan of cocciopisto uncovered over the quota rasura of the costantiniana apse corresponds to transetto of the Three Emperors (390 d.C.) on which it rests the large one sarcofago that great basilica signaled the Tomba of the Apostle to the age of the construction of the new, and was delimited from a podio presbiteriale monumental, like lascerebbe to suppose the platea poderosa of thick foundation m. 1,66, that it directly weighs on the pavement of the costantiniana apse. It is not excluded that inside of such foundation they can it are to you the rests of the tropaion erected on tomba of the Apostle the Paul.

It can be thought that between 1838 and 1840 in the area of the Confession have been removed or demolished all that that rested on the pavement of the Three Emperors. In order to throw the foundations of the new presbiterio and the papal altar even the Paul was moved sarcofago of S. In the inquired area they have not been up to now recovered, between the the 390 level he paves them of and the foundation of the 1840 rests of riferibili structures to other ages.

[01792-01,01] [Text originates them: Italian]

[B0641-XX.01]

National Geographic News Story

“St. Paul's Tomb Unearthed in Rome” Maria Cristina Valsecchi in Vatican City for National Geographic News December 11, 2006 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061211-saint-paul.html

Page 9 of 84 St. Paul's stone coffin has been found beneath Rome's second largest basilica, but its contents remain a mystery, Vatican archaeologists announced today.

The sarcophagus dates back to about A.D. 390 and was uncovered in Rome's Basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls, named for its location beyond the ancient wall surrounding Rome's center.

Long believed to be buried beneath the church's altar, the coffin is now on display for the first time in centuries—its precious cargo, however, is not.

"For now we didn't open the sarcophagus to study the contents. Our aim was to unearth the coffin venerated as St. Paul's tomb, not to authenticate the remains," said Giorgio Filippi, the archaeologist of the Vatican Museum, who directed the excavations.

"The sarcophagus was buried beneath the main altar, under a marble tombstone bearing the Latin words "Paulo Apostolo Mart.," meaning "Apostle Paul, Martyr."

The basilica "rises on the place where, according to tradition, Paul of Tarsus was originally buried after his martyrdom," Filippi said.

Page 10 of 84 Photograph of the “discovery.”

Photograph by Alessandra Tarantino/AP. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061211-saint-paul.html

QuickTime™ and a TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, Archpriest of Rome's Basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls, shows the passageway through which one side of St. Paul's stone coffin is visible.

The sarcophagus had long been believed buried beneath the church's main altar. But it took a multiyear excavation to verify that fact. No one knows for sure, however, whether the early Christian Apostle's remains are still in his coffin.

Page 11 of 84 The crudely inscribed marble slabs atop the coffin: PAVLO APOSTOLO MART. . .

Page 12 of 84 An Earlier News Story from the Catholic News Service.

Dated March 4, 2005.

(http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0501285.htm )

Sacred sleuth: Archeologist believes he has found St. Paul's tomb

By John Thavis Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A Vatican archeologist believes he has rediscovered the tomb of St. Paul, buried deep beneath the main altar of the Rome basilica dedicated to the apostle.

The sarcophagus, which lay hidden for centuries, had a hole into which the faithful could stick pieces of cloth to make secondary relics, said Giorgio Filippi, the archeologist and inscriptions expert at the Vatican Museums who carried out the studies.

The tomb lies directly beneath a historic inscription that reads: "Paul Apostle Martyr." The marble sarcophagus was apparently first placed there during reconstruction of the basilica in 390 AD.

"I have no doubt this is the tomb of St. Paul, as revered by Christians in the fourth century," Filippi said as he stood next to the main altar of St. Paul Outside the Walls. He spoke in an interview with Catholic News Service.

Filippi's discovery was the result of more than five years' archeological sleuthing. Surprisingly, the findings have not yet made a huge impression inside the Vatican or in ecclesiastical circles. The Vatican newspaper, for example, has yet to report on the discovery.

The sarcophagus lies several feet below the marble structure of the main altar, embedded in a platform of concrete. Filippi managed to reach the back side of the sarcophagus, but he said opening the tomb would be practically impossible without destroying the altar area.

He added that, in any case, it was not essential to check what's inside the sarcophagus. The important thing is that it was clearly venerated as the tomb of St. Paul, he said.

Tradition holds that St. Paul suffered martyrdom by beheading in the first century, and that his body was buried in a cemetery along the Via Ostiense, where the basilica was built. A first church was erected there in 320 AD, and a larger basilica was constructed in 390; it was remodeled several times over the centuries and almost totally destroyed by fire in 1823.

Pilgrims still come to St. Paul's, but not nearly as many as those who pour daily into St. Peter's Basilica, located some five miles away. On a recent weekday afternoon, no more than 75 people were inside the massive church.

Page 13 of 84 Filippi began his detective work in 1993, when he studied the early Christian inscriptions in the cloister of the basilica and in the monastery nearby. He began asking questions of older monks and caretakers, trying to discover where some of the inscriptions and other artifacts came from.

He soon discovered that by lifting up certain pavement stones in the basilica's floor, a series of underground chambers and tunnels were accessible -- most of them unmapped and forgotten. The excavations yielded a Roman sarcophagus and a wealth of other material.

In the year 2000, Filippi said, pilgrims coming to St. Paul's for the jubilee year asked for the burial place of the Apostle and were disappointed not to see and touch it.

After the jubilee ended, at the request of the basilica's papal administrator and on behalf of the Vatican Museums, Filippi made plans for a systematic study of the area under the altar. In 2002 and 2003, he examined, among other things, three vertical holes leading down to the lid of the sarcophagus.

The holes had been established many centuries earlier so that devotional items could be lowered to the tomb's surface. One reason the tomb ended up so far below the altar was that the altar area had been progressively raised due to changes that occurred through the centuries, Filippi said.

One of these holes -- now closed with mortar -- led inside the sarcophagus, apparently so that pieces of cloth could come into contact with relics of the saint. Filippi said the practice of creating these kinds of secondary relics was popular in the late fourth century, especially after the Emperor Theodosius banned the sale and distribution of corporal relics.

Theoretically, experts today could open the hole to the sarcophagus and stick a small video probe inside. But for now, no such examination is foreseen. Filippi said there's no hurry; as the last 11 years of work has demonstrated, he's happy to take one archeological step at a time.

Page 14 of 84 Historical background information--I.

A simplified timeline of Roman control over Jerusalem/Judea/Palestine.

Some sample sources are: http://www.roman-emperors.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_ancient_Israel_and_Judah#Roman_occupation http://www.livius.org/judaea.html

{Commentary as opposed to fact is the redactor’s.}

ROMAN EMPERORS GOVERNERS OF “PALESTINE” NOTABLE EVENTS Julius Caesar Antipater the Idumaean serves as first Assassinated Roman procurator until killed in 44 (44 BCE) BCE. Roman civil strife Idumaean, non-Jew, “King” Herod, Herod’s monumental building between Octavian, styled “The Great”, Antipater’s son, is projects including the port of Mark Antony & appointed by the Roman Senate to Caesarea Maritima, Lepidus versus rule as “friend & ally of Rome” from ca aqueducts for Jerusalem, Cassius, Brutus & 40 BCE to 4 BCE. and, of course, the greatly others & each other At his death in 4 BCE, the sons of expanded and glorified until final victory of Herod the Great, Herod Antipas, Temple of Jerusalem with its Octavian over Antony Philip, & Herod Archelaus divide up massive retaining wall to & Cleopatra in 30 his kingdom with Roman approval. expand the level surface of BCE. the hill top. Octavian (Augustus) Brother of Tetrarch Herod Antipas & Birth of Jesus (27 BCE – 14 CE) Tetrarch Philip, the incompetent (4 BCE – 6 CE) Ethnarch Herod Archelaus governs Samaria, Judea and Idumaea between 4 BCE and 6 CE. In 6 CE, Augustus deposes client Publius Sulpicius Quirinius is “king” Archelaus, and establishes the Legate of major province of province of Iudaea (which becomes a Syria from ca 6 CE to 12 CE. PREFECTURE (sub-province) of Syria.) Augustus appoints “Prefects” of Legate Quirinius ordered to Iudaea under the general authority of organize a census for taxation the Legate of Syria Province: of Iudaea. (ca 6 CE) Coponius (6 CE-9 CE) The tax revolt of Judas the Galilean and Jewish rioting are brutally suppressed by Quirinius in 6 CE. M. Ambibulus (9-12) Annius Rufus (12-15) Tiberius (14-37) Valerius Gratus (15-26) Pontius Pilate (26-36) Crucifixion of Jesus (ca 30) Marcellus (36-37) Conversion of Saul? (32?) Caligula (37-41) Marullus (37-41) Claudius (41-54) Roman appointed semi-independent King Herod Agrippa I rules (41-44) C. Cuspius Fadus (44-46)

Page 15 of 84 Tib. Julius Alexander (46-48) Roman appointed semi-independent King Herod Agrippa II rules (48-100) P. Ventidius Cumanus (48-52) M. Antonius Felix (52-58) Paul writes his Epistle to Romans? Nero (54-68) Porcius Festus (58-60) Trial of Paul in Caesarea; Paul appeals to the Emperor at Rome to avoid Jewish authorities. (ca 58) Lucceius Albinus (60-64) Paul arrives in Rome. (ca 60- 61) Paul travels to Spain? Gessius Florus (64-66) A great fire in Rome (July 19, 64) destroys almost 75% of the city. Nero holds Christians responsible and slaughters many. Peter (64) and Paul (64 or 67?) martyred? THE FIRST JEWISH REVOLT Four legions destroy AGAINST THE ROMANS Jerusalem, burn and level the (66-70) Temple in 70. Hundreds of thousands of Jews are killed or deported. Iudaea remains under direct Imperial The canonical gospels, acts control and Prefects are now also of the apostles, the non- termed “Procurators” being in Pauline epistles, and the command of a garrison, the Legio X Apocalypse are written. Fretensis. None mention Paul’s fate. (ca 65 –150) (See next page for list.) Vespasian (69-79) S. Vettulenus Cerialis (70-71) S. Lucilius Bassus (71-73/74) Final fall of Masada (74) Titus (79-81) L. Flavius Silva (73/74-81) Domitian (81-96) Cn. Pompeius Longinus (c.86) Epistle of Clement First mention of Paul’s martyrdom. (96) Nerva (96-98) S. Hermetidius Campanus (c.93) Trajan (98-117) Atticus (c.100) C. Julius Quadratus Bassus (103- 105) Q. Roscius Coelius Pompeius Falco Tacitus’ Annals – (105-115) (105-107)

Tiberianus (c.114) THE SECOND JEWISH REVOLT The revolt against Trajan AGAINST THE ROMANS (115-117) Lusius Quietus (116-117) Suetonius’ Lives (115-125) Hadrian (117-138) Quintus Tineius Rufus (c.132) C.Q. Certus Publius Marcellus THE THIRD JEWISH REVOLT The Bar Kochba Revolt

Page 16 of 84 AGAINST THE ROMANS (132-136) Province of “Iudaea” name changed Jerusalem completed leveled to “Syria Palaestina.” and a new Roman colony “Aelia Capitolina” founded with a new, traditionally Roman street plan and with all Jews barred from entry.

Page 17 of 84 Historical background information--II.

A chronological tabulation of early Christian & pagan writings. http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/

{Some date ranges have been expanded consistent with other sources.}

Date Range Document 30-60 ...... Passion Narrative 40-80 ...... Lost Sayings Gospel Q 50-60 ...... 1 Thessalonians 50-60 ...... Philippians 50-60 ...... Galatians 50-60 ...... 1 Corinthians 50-60 ...... 2 Corinthians 50-60 ...... Romans 50-60 ...... Philemon 50-80 ...... Colossians 50-90 ...... Signs Gospel 50-95 ...... Book of Hebrews 50-120 ...... Didache 50-140 ...... Gospel of Thomas 50-140 ...... Oxyrhynchus 1224 Gospel 50-200 ...... Sophia of Jesus Christ 65-80 ...... Gospel of Mark 70-100 ...... Epistle of James 70-120 ...... Egerton Gospel 70-160 ...... Gospel of Peter 70-160 ...... Secret Mark 70-200 ...... Fayyum Fragment 70-200 ...... Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 73-200 ...... Mara Bar Serapion 80-100 ...... 2 Thessalonians

Page 18 of 84 80-100 ...... Ephesians 80-100 ...... Gospel of Matthew 80-110 ...... 1 Peter 80-120 ...... Epistle of Barnabas 80-130 ...... Gospel of Luke 80-130 ...... Acts of the Apostles 80-140 ...... 1 Clement 80-150 ...... Gospel of the Egyptians 80-150 ...... Gospel of the Hebrews 80-250 ...... Christian Sibyllines 90-95 ...... Apocalypse of John 90-120 ...... Gospel of John 90-120 ...... 1 John 90-120 ...... 2 John 90-120 ...... 3 John 90-120 ...... Epistle of Jude 93 ...... Flavius Josephus 100-150 ...... 1 Timothy 100-150 ...... 2 Timothy 100-150 ...... Titus 100-150 ...... Apocalypse of Peter 100-150 ...... Secret Book of James 100-150 ...... Preaching of Peter 100-160 ...... Gospel of the Ebionites 100-160 ...... Gospel of the Nazoreans 100-160 ...... Shepherd of Hermas 100-160 ...... 2 Peter 100-200 ...... Odes of Solomon 101-220 ...... Book of Elchasai 105-115 ...... Ignatius of Antioch 105-115 ...... Tacitus

Page 19 of 84 110-140 ...... Polycarp to the Philippians 110-140 ...... Papias 110-160 ...... Oxyrhynchus 840 Gospel 110-160 ...... Traditions of Matthias 111-112 ...... Pliny the Younger 115-125 ...... Suetonius 120-130 ...... Quadratus of Athens 120-130 ...... Apology of Aristides 120-140 ...... Basilides 120-140 ...... Naassene Fragment 120-160 ...... Valentinus 120-180 ...... Apocryphon of John 120-180 ...... Gospel of Mary 120-180 ...... Dialogue of the Savior 120-180 ...... Gospel of the Savior 120-180 ...... 2nd Apocalypse of James 120-180 ...... Trimorphic Protennoia 130-140 ...... Marcion 130-150 ...... Aristo of Pella 130-160 ...... Epiphanes On Righteousness 130-160 ...... Ophite Diagrams 130-160 ...... 2 Clement 130-170 ...... Gospel of Judas 130-200 ...... Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus 140-150 ...... Epistula Apostolorum 140-160 ...... Ptolemy 140-160 ...... Isidore 140-170 ...... Fronto 140-170 ...... Infancy Gospel of James 140-170 ...... Infancy Gospel of Thomas 140-180 ...... Gospel of Truth

Page 20 of 84 150-160 ...... Martyrdom of Polycarp 150-160 ...... Justin Martyr 150-180 ...... Excerpts of Theodotus 150-180 ...... Heracleon 150-200 ...... Ascension of Isaiah 150-200 ...... Acts of Peter 150-200 ...... Acts of John 150-200 ...... Acts of Paul 150-200 ...... Acts of Andrew 150-225 ...... Acts of Peter and the Twelve 150-225 ...... Book of Thomas the Contender 150-250 ...... Fifth and Sixth Books of Esra 150-300 ...... Authoritative Teaching 150-300 ...... Coptic Apocalypse of Paul 150-300 ...... Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth 150-300 ...... Melchizedek 150-400 ...... Acts of Pilate 150-400 ...... Anti-Marcionite Prologues 160-170 ...... Tatian's Address to the Greeks 160-180 ...... Claudius Apollinaris 160-180 ...... Apelles 160-180 ...... Julius Cassianus 160-250 ...... Octavius of Minucius Felix 161-180 ...... Acts of Carpus 165-175 ...... Melito of Sardis 165-175 ...... Hegesippus 165-175 ...... Dionysius of Corinth 165-175 ...... Lucian of Samosata 167 ...... Marcus Aurelius 170-175 ...... Diatessaron 170-200 ...... Dura-Europos Gospel Harmony

Page 21 of 84 170-200 ...... Muratorian Canon 170-200 ...... Treatise on the Resurrection 170-220 ...... Letter of Peter to Philip 175-180 ...... Athenagoras of Athens 175-185 ...... Irenaeus of Lyons 175-185 ...... Rhodon 175-185 ...... Theophilus of Caesarea 175-190 ...... Galen 178 ...... Celsus 178 ...... Letter from Vienna and Lyons 180 ...... Passion of the Scillitan Martyrs 180-185 ...... Theophilus of Antioch 180-185 ...... Acts of Apollonius 180-220 ...... Bardesanes 180-220 ...... Kerygmata Petrou 180-230 ...... Hippolytus of Rome 180-250 ...... 1st Apocalypse of James 180-250 ...... Gospel of Philip 182-202 ...... Clement of Alexandria 185-195 ...... Maximus of Jerusalem 185-195 ...... Polycrates of Ephesus 188-217 ...... Talmud 189-199 ...... Victor I 190-210 ...... Pantaenus 193 ...... Anonymous Anti-Montanist 193-216 ...... Inscription of Abercius 197-220 ...... Tertullian 200-210 ...... Serapion of Antioch 200-210 ...... Apollonius 200-220 ...... Caius 200-220 ...... Philostratus

Page 22 of 84 200-225 ...... Acts of Thomas 200-250 ...... Didascalia 200-250 ...... Books of Jeu 200-300 ...... Pistis Sophia 200-300 ...... Coptic Apocalypse of Peter 203 ...... Acts of Perpetua and Felicitas 203.250 Origen 323...... Eusebius Ecclesiastical History

Page 23 of 84 Christian tradition relative to Paul’s tomb and the basilica built over it.

A Simplified Timeline.

{Compiled by the redactor from the various sources already mentioned.}

DATE AUTHOR/SOURCE HIGHLIGHTS ca 96 (80-140) I Clement “Owing to envy, Paul also obtained the reward of patient endurance, after being seven times thrown into captivity, compelled to flee, and stoned. After preaching both in the east and west, he gained the illustrious reputation due to his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and come to the extreme limit of the west, and suffered martyrdom under the prefects.” 150-200 Apocryphal “Acts of “Then Paul stood with his face to the east and lifted Paul “ up his hands unto heaven and prayed a long time, Other apocryphal acts and in his prayer he conversed in the Hebrew appeared between tongue with the fathers, and then stretched forth his 150 and 300. All were neck without speaking. And when the executioner fanciful and (speculator) struck off his head, milk spurted upon discredited, but many the cloak of the soldier. And the soldier and all that added even more were there present when they saw it marvelled and specific details. glorified God which had given such glory unto Paul: and they went and told Caesar what was done.”

165-175 Dionysius of Corinth “Therefore you also have by such admonition joined fragments of a letter to in close union the churches that were planted by the Roman Church Peter and Paul, that of the Romans and that of the Corinthians: for both of them went to our Corinth, and taught us in the same way as they taught you when they went to Italy; and having taught you, they suffered martyrdom at the same time.” 197-220 Tertullian of Carthage. “…Paul wins his crown in a death like John's {the Baptizer} …” 200-220 Caius or Gaius “But I can show the trophies of the apostles. For if (As quoted by you will go to the Vatican or to the Ostian way you Eusebius, 100 years will find the trophies of those who laid the later) foundations of this church.” 258 In that Kalendar of the Peter and Paul’s remains were reportedly removed (documentation Church known as the to Roman catacombs to avoid desecration during dating from at ‘Feriale Philocalianum’ persecutions of the Emperor Valerian. Reports differ least 354) under the heading widely as to how long the remains were in the ‘Depositio Martyrum’ catacombs, from months to decades. and the Martyrologium Hieronomianum. (cited in Edmundson) ca 323 Eusebius “Thus publicly announcing himself as the first First Church historian. among God’s chief enemies, he was led on to the slaughter of the apostles. It is, therefore, recorded that Paul was beheaded in Rome itself. And that Peter likewise was crucified under Nero This account of Peter and Paul is substantiated by the fact that their names are preserved in the cemeteries of that place even to the present day.”

Page 24 of 84 324 Emperor Constantine As part of his many construction projects at Christian (according to the Liber Holy Places around the Empire, Constantine builds Pontificalis, itself a a large basilica on Vatican Hill and because of controversial source space constraints, a much more modest one on the with the earliest dating Via Ostia site of Paul’s tomb. Paul’s remains were suggesting 6th century placed in a bronze coffin and encased in editing. surrounding masonry. 354 In that Kalendar of the III. Kal. Iul. Petri in Catacumbas et Pauli Ostense— Church known as the Tusco et Basso cons. ‘Feriale Philocalianum’ under the heading ‘Depositio Martyrum’ (cited in Edmundson) ‘ 384 -- 395 Emperors Valentinian Completely demolished Constantine’s original II, Theodosius, basilica, reversed its East-West orientation, rebuilt Arcadius, Siricius, and and modified the tomb enclosure and expanded the Honorius complex until it became the largest church in Rome and notable for innovative design structures that were incorporated into most later major churches. 440 – 816 ! Popes Leo the Great, Each pope carried out major restorations and Symmachus, Gregory reconstructions of the apse (site of the tomb), the the Great, Sergius I, roof, aisles, atrium, transept, roof and floors. Hadrian I, and Leo III. 492 St. Jerome’s Lives ... “He {Paul} then, in the fourteenth year of Nero on the same day with Peter, was beheaded at Rome for Christ’s sake and was buried in the Ostian way, the twenty-seventh year after our Lord’s passion.” ca 550-600 Martyrologium This first general or "universal" martyrology was the (first estimated Hieronymianum ultimate source of all later Western martyrologies compilation in attributed to St. adds specifics of the removal of Paul’s remains to Gaul, present Jerome (347-420) the catacombs. edition from 9th century.) “III. Kal. Iul. Romae natale apostolorum sanctorum Petri et Pauli—Petri in Vaticano via Aurelia Pauli vero in Via Ostensi, utrumque in Catacumbis, passi sub Nerone, Basso et Tusco consulibus.” (cited in Edmundson) 604 Pope Gregory the “An extant inscription records the gift by him of a Great piece of land at the Aquae Salviae to the basilica of St. Paul.” 846 Pope Sergius II Islamic armies (Saracens) attack Rome. Although failing to penetrate the inner walls of the city, they do thoroughly sack and loot both the basilica of St. Peter and that of St. Paul. 1115 Pope Innocent II Reconstruction & modification after major fire. 1349 Pope Clement VI Major repairs after severe earthquake damage. 1389 -- 1426 Popes Boniface IX, Major restorations. Martin V and Eugene IV 1700 Basilica unusable because of extreme Tiber flood. 1724 Italian architect Collapsed portico rebuilt; the ancient narthex was Antonio Canevari demolished, and columns from the early four-sided portico were removed; and a series of other restorations were completed. 1823 Pope Leo XII Redesign and reconstruction after extensive fire to

Page 25 of 84 “restore it to its former glory.” 1892 Rodolfo Lanciani “I had the privilege of examining the actual grave Amateur explorer of December 1, 1891, lowering myself from the St. Pauls Outside the fenestella under the altar. I found myself on a flat Walls. surface, paved with slabs of marble, on one of which (placed negligently in a slanting direction) are engraved the words: PAVLO APOSTOLO MART. .” Lanciani specifically comments that Constantine’s bronze coffin has disappeared. 1913 George Edmundson “Let us now turn to the tomb of St. Paul on the Ostian Way. The Apocryphal Acts all declare that St. Paul as became his status as a Roman citizen suffered martyrdom by decapitation—honestiores capite puniantur, and that he was led out to a place known as Aquae Salviae, near the third mile-stone on the Ostian Way. This tradition has not been seriously disputed. In the Greek Acts the addition is made that the Apostle suffered under a pine-tree. “

Page 26 of 84 Paul states he intends to go to Rome in his Epistle to the Romans.

Written 55-64.

(Paul writes to the already established church or churches (probably house churches) in Rome detailed a carefully thought-out Christology and promising to come visit them on his way to Spain just as soon as he delivers a collection (bribe money?) from his missions in Asia Minor to the needy Christians in Jerusalem.} from Paul’s Epistle to the Romans.

The New Revised Standard Version (Anglicized Edition), copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Romans Chapter 1 http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Romans+1

…

Verse 7--To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. 9For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel* of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, 10asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. 11For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13I want you to know, brothers and sisters,* that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. 14I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish 15— hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

…

Romans Chapter 15 http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Romans+15 …

Verse 22--This is the reason that I have so often been hindered from coming to you. 23But now, with no further place for me in these regions, I desire, as I have for many years, to come to you 24when I go to Spain. For I do hope to see you on my journey and Page 27 of 84 to be sent on by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a little while. 25At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem in a ministry to the saints; 26for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to share their resources with the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. 27They were pleased to do this, and indeed they owe it to them; for if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material things. 28So, when I have completed this, and have delivered to them what has been collected,* I will set out by way of you to Spain; 29and I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing* of Christ.

30 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,* by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in earnest prayer to God on my behalf, 31that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my ministry* to Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. 33The God of peace be with all of you.* Amen.

{This ends the “official” section of the epistle. The final chapter, Chapter 16, is entirely devoted to greetings, acknowledgements, inquiries, and commendations in regard to ?? individuals known by Paul and associated with the various house churches in Rome.}

Page 28 of 84 Paul does go to Rome as described in the Acts of the Apostles.

Written 85-110.

{The author of Acts tells how Paul, during his visit to Jerusalem to deliver the offering raised (bribe money), got into serious trouble with the Jewish authorities probably by bringing Gentiles into the inner courts of the Temple. Jewish authorities send him to Caesarea for trial before the Roman governor where he languishes for months. Eventually the charges are essentially dismissed as being so much religious squabbling but to avoid being handed back over to Jewish authority, Paul invokes his right as a Roman citizen to appeal to the Emperor personally.} from the Acts of the Apostles.

The New Revised Standard Version (Anglicized Edition), copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Acts+28

Acts Chapter 28

28After we had reached safety, we then learned that the island was called Malta. 2The natives showed us unusual kindness. Since it had begun to rain and was cold, they kindled a fire and welcomed all of us round it. 3Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood and was putting it on the fire, when a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. 4When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, ‘This man must be a murderer; though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.’ 5He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6They were expecting him to swell up or drop dead, but after they had waited a long time and saw that nothing unusual had happened to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.

7 Now in the neighbourhood of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. 8It so happened that the father of Publius lay sick in bed with fever and dysentery. Paul visited him and cured him by praying and putting his hands on him. 9After this happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. 10They bestowed many honours on us, and when we were about to sail, they put on board all the provisions we needed.

11 Three months later we set sail on a ship that had wintered at the island, an Alexandrian ship with the Twin Brothers as its figurehead. 12We put in at Syracuse and stayed there for three days; 13then we weighed anchor and came to Rhegium. After one day there a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. 14There we found believers* and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. 15The believers* from there, when they heard of us,

Page 29 of 84 came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage.

16 When we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.

17 Three days later he called together the local leaders of the Jews. When they had assembled, he said to them, ‘Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, yet I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. 18When they had examined me, the Romans* wanted to release me, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case. 19But when the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to the emperor—even though I had no charge to bring against my nation. 20For this reason therefore I have asked to see you and speak with you,* since it is for the sake of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.’ 21They replied, ‘We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken anything evil about you. 22But we would like to hear from you what you think, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.’

23 After they had fixed a day to meet him, they came to him at his lodgings in great numbers. From morning until evening he explained the matter to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the law of Moses and from the prophets. 24Some were convinced by what he had said, while others refused to believe. 25So they disagreed with each other; and as they were leaving, Paul made one further statement: ‘The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah, 26“Go to this people and say, You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive. 27For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn— and I would heal them.” 28Let it be known to you then that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.’*

30 He lived there for two whole years at his own expense* and welcomed all who came to him, 31proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

{Abrupt end to the Acts of the Apostles. Although written 20 to 30 years after the most likely martyrdom of Peter and Paul, nothing is mentioned of their fates.}

Page 30 of 84 The First Letter of Roman Bishop (Pope) Clement to the Corinthians.

Written 96.

{This is the first written documentation that Peter and Paul were indeed martyred sometime, somehow, and somewhere with all these details omitted.}

Commentary from Catholic Encyclopedia article on Pope St. Clement I http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04012c.htm

The Church of Corinth had been led by a few violent spirits into a sedition against its rulers. No appeal seems to have been made to Rome, but a letter was sent in the name of the Church of Rome by St. Clement to restore peace and unity. He begins by explaining that his delay in writing has been caused by the sudden calamities which, one after another, had just been falling upon the Roman Church. The reference is clearly to the persecution of Domitian. {81-96 ACE} The former high reputation of the Corinthian Church is recalled, its piety and hospitality, its obedience and discipline. Jealousy had caused the divisions; it was jealousy that led Cain, Esau, etc., into sin, it was jealousy to which Peter and Paul and multitudes with them fell victims. The Corinthians are urged to repent after the example of the Patriarchs, and to be humble like Christ himself. Let them observe order, as all creation does.

Text of the Epistle from The Early Church Fathers Edited by Roger Pearse http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ being a reprint of Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, (1885) Translated by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson.

Chapter One

The Church of God which sojourns at Rome, to the Church of God sojourning at Corinth, to them that are called and sanctified by the will of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, from Almighty God through Jesus Christ, be multiplied.

Owing, dear brethren, to the sudden and successive calamitous events which have happened to ourselves, we feel that we have been somewhat tardy in turning our attention to the points respecting which you consulted us;2 and especially to that shameful and detestable sedition, utterly abhorrent to the elect of God, which a few rash and self- confident persons have kindled to such a pitch of frenzy, that your venerable and illustrious name, worthy to be universally loved, has suffered grievous injury.

Page 31 of 84 …

But not to dwell upon ancient examples, let us come to the most recent spiritual heroes.24 Let us take the noble examples furnished in our own generation. Through envy and jealousy, the greatest and most righteous pillars [of the Church] have been persecuted and put to death.25 Let us set before our eyes the illustrious26 apostles. Peter, through unrighteous envy, endured not one or two, but numerous labours and when he had at length suffered martyrdom, departed to the place of glory due to him. Owing to envy, Paul also obtained the reward of patient endurance, after being seven times thrown into captivity,27 compelled28 to flee, and stoned. After preaching both in the east and west, he gained the illustrious reputation due to his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and come to the extreme limit of the west,29 and suffered martyrdom under the prefects.30 Thus was he removed from the world, and went into the holy place, having proved himself a striking example of patience.

Page 32 of 84 The Roman historian Tacitus writes of Nero, the Great Fire (July 19, 64) and the Christians.

Written 105-115.

(This is documentation from a pagan source that Nero slaughtered Christians en masse as scapegoats for the great fire in Rome thus establishing the possibility that neither Peter nor Paul were officially and formally executed but were simply killed along with so many nameless other Christians. Although their death and burial places may well have been noted and commemorated by Roman Christians, there was no one alive with the authority or perhaps even the skills to record a history of the events.} from The Annals By Tacitus

Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/mirror/classics.mit.edu/Tacitus/annals.11.xv.html

Book XV A.D. 62-65

…

A disaster followed, whether accidental or treacherously contrived by the emperor, is uncertain, as authors have given both accounts, worse, however, and more dreadful than any which have ever happened to this city by the violence of fire. It had its beginning in that part of the circus which adjoins the Palatine and Caelian hills, where, amid the shops containing inflammable wares, the conflagration both broke out and instantly became so fierce and so rapid from the wind that it seized in its grasp the entire length of the circus. For here there were no houses fenced in by solid masonry, or temples surrounded by walls, or any other obstacle to interpose delay. The blaze in its fury ran first through the level portions of the city, then rising to the hills, while it again devastated every place below them, it outstripped all preventive measures; so rapid was the mischief and so completely at its mercy the city, with those narrow winding passages and irregular streets, which characterised old Rome. Added to this were the wailings of terror-stricken women, the feebleness of age, the helpless inexperience of childhood, the crowds who sought to save themselves or others, dragging out the infirm or waiting for them, and by their hurry in the one case, by their delay in the other, aggravating the confusion. Often, while they looked behind them, they were intercepted by flames on their side or in their face. Or if they reached a refuge close at hand, when this too was seized by the fire, they found that, even places, which they had imagined to be remote, were involved in the same calamity. At last, doubting what they should avoid or whither betake themselves, they crowded the streets or flung themselves down in the fields, while some who had lost their all, even their very daily bread, and others out of love for their kinsfolk, whom they had been unable to rescue, perished, though escape was open to them. And no one dared Page 33 of 84 to stop the mischief, because of incessant menaces from a number of persons who forbade the extinguishing of the flames, because again others openly hurled brands, and kept shouting that there was one who gave them authority, either seeking to plunder more freely, or obeying orders.

Nero at this time was at Antium, and did not return to Rome until the fire approached his house, which he had built to connect the palace with the gardens of Maecenas. It could not, however, be stopped from devouring the palace, the house, and everything around it. However, to relieve the people, driven out homeless as they were, he threw open to them the Campus Martius and the public buildings of Agrippa, and even his own gardens, and raised temporary structures to receive the destitute multitude. Supplies of food were brought up from Ostia and the neighbouring towns, and the price of corn was reduced to three sesterces a peck. These acts, though popular, produced no effect, since a rumour had gone forth everywhere that, at the very time when the city was in flames, the emperor appeared on a private stage and sang of the destruction of Troy, comparing present misfortunes with the calamities of antiquity.

At last, after five days, an end was put to the conflagration at the foot of the Esquiline hill, by the destruction of all buildings on a vast space, so that the violence of the fire was met by clear ground and an open sky. But before people had laid aside their fears, the flames returned, with no less fury this second time, and especially in the spacious districts of the city. Consequently, though there was less loss of life, the temples of the gods, and the porticoes which were devoted to enjoyment, fell in a yet more widespread ruin. And to this conflagration there attached the greater infamy because it broke out on the Aemilian property of Tigellinus, and it seemed that Nero was aiming at the glory of founding a new city and calling it by his name. Rome, indeed, is divided into fourteen districts, four of which remained uninjured, three were levelled to the ground, while in the other seven were left only a few shattered, half-burnt relics of houses.

It would not be easy to enter into a computation of the private mansions, the blocks of tenements, and of the temples, which were lost. Those with the oldest ceremonial, as that dedicated by Servius Tullius to Luna, the great altar and shrine raised by the Arcadian Evander to the visibly appearing Hercules, the temple of Jupiter the Stayer, which was vowed by Romulus, Numa's royal palace, and the sanctuary of Vesta, with the tutelary deities of the Roman people, were burnt. So too were the riches acquired by our many victories, various beauties of Greek art, then again the ancient and genuine historical monuments of men of genius, and, notwithstanding the striking splendour of the restored city, old men will remember many things which could not be replaced. Some persons observed that the beginning of this conflagration was on the 19th of July, the day on which the Senones captured and fired Rome. Others have pushed a curious inquiry so far as to reduce the interval between these two conflagrations into equal numbers of years, months, and days.

Nero meanwhile availed himself of his country's desolation, and erected a mansion in which the jewels and gold, long familiar objects, quite vulgarised by our extravagance, were not so marvellous as the fields and lakes, with woods on one side to resemble a wilderness, and, on the other, open spaces and extensive views. The directors and contrivers of the work were Severus and Celer, who had the genius and the audacity to

Page 34 of 84 attempt by art even what nature had refused, and to fool away an emperor's resources. They had actually undertaken to sink a navigable canal from the lake Avernus to the mouths of the Tiber along a barren shore or through the face of hills, where one meets with no moisture which could supply water, except the Pomptine marshes. The rest of the country is broken rock and perfectly dry. Even if it could be cut through, the labour would be intolerable, and there would be no adequate result. Nero, however, with his love of the impossible, endeavoured to dig through the nearest hills to Avernus, and there still remain the traces of his disappointed hope.

Of Rome meanwhile, so much as was left unoccupied by his mansion, was not built up, as it had been after its burning by the Gauls, without any regularity or in any fashion, but with rows of streets according to measurement, with broad thoroughfares, with a restriction on the height of houses, with open spaces, and the further addition of colonnades, as a protection to the frontage of the blocks of tenements. These colonnades Nero promised to erect at his own expense, and to hand over the open spaces, when cleared of the debris, to the ground landlords. He also offered rewards proportioned to each person's position and property, and prescribed a period within which they were to obtain them on the completion of so many houses or blocks of building. He fixed on the marshes of Ostia for the reception of the rubbish, and arranged that the ships which had brought up corn by the Tiber, should sail down the river with cargoes of this rubbish. The buildings themselves, to a certain height, were to be solidly constructed, without wooden beams, of stone from Gabii or Alba, that material being impervious to fire. And to provide that the water which individual license had illegally appropriated, might flow in greater abundance in several places for the public use, officers were appointed, and everyone was to have in the open court the means of stopping a fire. Every building, too, was to be enclosed by its own proper wall, not by one common to others. These changes which were liked for their utility, also added beauty to the new city. Some, however, thought that its old arrangement had been more conducive to health, inasmuch as the narrow streets with the elevation of the roofs were not equally penetrated by the sun's heat, while now the open space, unsheltered by any shade, was scorched by a fiercer glow.

Such indeed were the precautions of human wisdom. The next thing was to seek means of propitiating the gods, and recourse was had to the Sibylline books, by the direction of which prayers were offered to Vulcanus, Ceres, and Proserpina. Juno, too, was entreated by the matrons, first, in the Capitol, then on the nearest part of the coast, whence water was procured to sprinkle the fane and image of the goddess. And there were sacred banquets and nightly vigils celebrated by married women. But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their

Page 35 of 84 information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.

Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed. …

Page 36 of 84 The Roman historian Suetonius writes of Nero, the Great Fire (July 19, 64) and the Christians.

Written 115-125.

{This is a somewhat later pagan source which basically confirms Tacitus’ account. Perhaps he had Tacitus as a source.} from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars by C. Suetonius Tranquillus

{From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Twelve Caesars is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman Empire. The Twelve Caesars, also known as Lives of the Caesars (Latin: De vita Caesarum), which was written in 121 during the reign of the emperor Hadrian, was the most popular work of Hadrian's personal secretary, Suetonius, and is the largest among his surviving writings. It was dedicated to a friend, the Praetorian prefect Gaius Septicius Clarus, in 119.}

Published in the Loeb Classical Library, 1914 (public domain), and transcribed onto the web by Bill Thayer as part of his LacusCurtius project: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Nero*.html (Transcribers footnotes removed for clarity.)

{Speaking of Nero…}

Chapter 16, page 112; He devised a new form for the buildings of the city and in front of the houses and apartments he erected porches, from the flat roofs of which fires could be fought {note: This was undoubtedly after the great fire; see chap. 38 below}; and these he put up at his own cost. He had also planned to extend the walls as far as Ostia and to bring the sea from there to Rome by a canal.

During his reign many abuses were severely punished and put down, and no fewer new laws were made: a limit was set to expenditures; the public banquets were confined to a distribution of food; the sale of any kind of cooked viands in the taverns was forbidden, with the exception of pulse and vegetables, whereas before every sort of dainty was exposed for sale. Punishment was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition. He put an end to the diversions of the chariot drivers, who from immunity of long standing claimed the right of ranging at large and amusing themselves by cheating and robbing the people. The pantomimic actors and their partisans were banished from the city.

…

Chapter 38, pages 155-157; But she showed no greater mercy to the people or the walls of his capital. When someone in a general conversation said: "When I am dead, be earth Page 37 of 84 consumed by fire," he rejoined "Nay, rather while I live," and his action was wholly in accord. For under cover of displeasure at the ugliness of the old buildings and the narrow, crooked streets, he set fire to the city so openly that several ex-consuls did not venture to lay hands on his chamberlains although they caught them on their estates with tow and fire-brands, while some granaries near the Golden House, whose room he particularly desired, were demolished by engines of war and then set on fire, because their walls were of stone. For six days and seven nights destruction raged, while the people were driven for shelter to monuments and tombs. At that time, besides an immense number of dwellings, the houses of leaders of old were burned, still adorned with trophies of victory, and the temples of the gods vowed and dedicated by the kings and later in the Punic and Gallic wars, and whatever else interesting and noteworthy had survived from antiquity. Viewing the conflagration from the tower of Maecenas and exulting, as he said, in "the beauty of the flames," he sang the whole of the "Sack of Ilium," in his regular stage costume. Furthermore, to gain from this calamity too all the spoil and booty possible, while promising the removal of the debris and dead bodies free of cost he allowed no one to approach the ruins of his own property; and from the contributions which he not only received, but even demanded, he nearly bankrupted the provinces and exhausted the resources of individuals.

Page 38 of 84 The apocryphal “Acts of Paul” spells out details of his martyrdom.

Written ca 160.

{In this document, a pseudo-Paul gives us “eyewitness” testimony of the martyrdom and although discredited by the “orthodox” establishment may well be setting into print a version of Paul’s martyrdom that has circulated in oral tradition for 100 years. Here Paul raises a man from the dead and also preaches to Nero face to face. Although Nero is said to be persecuting the Christians, on the direct orders of Nero, Paul alone is executed by beheading (exactly where is not stated) and then he himself rises from the dead after his beheading and appears to witnesses at his grave early the next day.}

From "The Apocryphal New Testament" M.R. James-Translation and Notes Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924

“This book, Tertullian {197-220} tells us, was composed shortly before his time in honour of Paul by a presbyter of Asia, who was convicted of the imposture and degraded from his office. The author was an orthodox Christian.” M.R.J. http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/actspaul.html

The Final Episode (X)

THE MARTYRDOM

This, preserved separately to be read on the day of Commemoration, exists in two Greek copies, an incomplete Latin version, and versions in Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, Slavonic, besides fragments in our Coptic MS.

I. Now there were awaiting Paul at Rome Luke from Galatia (Gaul, Gk.) and Titus from Dalmatia: whom when Paul saw he was glad: and hired a grange outside Rome, wherein with the brethren he taught the word of truth, and he became noised abroad and many souls were added unto the Lord, so that there was a rumour throughout all Rome, and much people came unto him from the household of Caesar, believing, and there was great joy.

And a certain Patroclus, a cup-bearer of Caesar, came at even unto the grange, and not being able because of the press to enter in to Paul, he sat in a high window and listened to him teaching the word of God. But whereas the evil devil envied the love of the brethren, Patroclus fell down from the window and died, and forthwith it was told unto Nero.

But Paul perceiving it by the spirit said: Men and brethren, the evil one hath gained occasion to tempt you: go out of the house and ye shall find a lad fallen from the height and now ready to give up the ghost; take him up and bring him hither to me. And they went and brought him; and when the people saw it they were troubled. But Paul said:

Page 39 of 84 Now, brethren, let your faith appear; come all of you and let us weep unto our Lord Jesus Christ, that this lad may live and we continue in quietness. And when all had lamented, the lad received his spirit again, and they set him on a beast and sent him back alive, together with the rest that were of Caesar's household.

II. But Nero, when he heard of the death of Patroclus, was sore grieved, and when he came in from the bath he commanded another to be set over the wine. But his servants told him, saying: Caesar, Patroclus liveth and standeth at the table. And Caesar, hearing that Patroclus lived, was affrighted and would not go in. But when he went in, he saw Patroclus, and was beside himself, and said: Patroclus, livest thou? And he said: I live, Caesar. And he said: Who is he that made thee to live? And the lad, full of the mind of faith, said: Christ Jesus, the king of the ages. And Caesar was troubled and said: Shall he, then, be king of the ages and overthrow all kingdoms? Patroclus saith unto him: Yea, he overthroweth all kingdoms and he alone shall be for ever, and there shall be no kingdom that shall escape him. And he smote him on the face and said: Patroclus, art thou also a soldier of that king? And he said: Yea, Lord Caesar, for he raised me when I was dead. And Barsabas Justus of the broad feet, and Urion the Cappadocian, and Festus the Galatian, Caesar's chief men, said: We also are soldiers of the king of the ages. And he shut them up in prison, having grievously tormented them, whom he loved much, and commanded the soldiers of the great king to be sought out, and set forth a decree to this effect, that all that were found to be Christians and soldiers of Christ should be slain.

III. And among many others Paul also was brought, bound: unto whom all his fellow- prisoners gave heed; so that Caesar perceived that he was over the camp. And he said to him: Thou that art the great king's man, but my prisoner, how thoughtest thou well to come by stealth into the government of the Romans and levy soldiers out of my province? But Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, said before them all: 0 Caesar, not only out of thy province do we levy soldiers, but out of the whole world. For so hath it been ordained unto us, that no man should be refused who wisheth to serve my king. And if it like thee also to serve him (Lat. thou wilt not repent thereof: but think not that the wealth, &c., which seems better), it is not wealth nor the splendour that is now in this life that shall save thee; but if thou submit and entreat him, thou shalt be saved; for in one day (or one day) he shall fight against the world with fire. And when Caesar heard that, he commanded all the prisoners to be burned with fire, but Paul to be beheaded after the law of the Romans.

But Paul kept not silence concerning the word, but communicated with Longus the prefect and Cestus the centurion.

Nero therefore went on (was) (perhaps add 'raging') in Rome, slaying many Christians without a hearing, by the working of the evil one; so that the Romans stood before the palace and cried It sufficeth, Caesar! for the men are our own! thou destroyest the strength of the Romans! Then at that he was persuaded and ceased, and commanded that no man should touch any Christian, until he should learn throughly concerning them.

IV. Then was Paul brought unto him after the decree; and he abode by his word that he should be beheaded. And Paul said: Caesar, it is not for a little space that I live unto my

Page 40 of 84 king; and if thou behead me, this will I do: I will arise and show myself unto thee that I am not dead but live unto my Lord Jesus Christ, who cometh to judge the world.

But Longus and Cestus said unto Paul: Whence have ye this king, that ye believe in him and will not change your mind, even unto death? And Paul communicated unto them the word and said: Ye men that are in this ignorance and error, change your mind and be saved from the fire that cometh upon all the world: for we serve not, as ye suppose, a king that cometh from the earth, but from heaven, even the living God, who because of the iniquities that are done in this world, cometh as a judge; and blessed is that man who shall believe in him and shall live for ever when he cometh to burn the world and purge it throughly. Then they beseeching him said: We entreat thee, help us, and we will let thee go. But he answered and said: I am not a deserter of Christ, but a lawful soldier of the living God: if I had known that I should die, O Longus and Cestus, I would have done it, but seeing that I live unto God and love myself, I go unto the Lord, to come with him in the glory of his Father. They say unto him: How then shall we live when thou art beheaded?

V. And while they yet spake thus, Nero sent one Parthenius and Pheres to see if Paul were already beheaded; and they found him yet alive. And he called them to him and said: Believe on the living God, which raiseth me and all them that believe on him from the dead. And they said: We go now unto Nero; but when thou diest and risest again, then will we believe on thy God. And as Longus and Cestus entreated him yet more concerning salvation, he saith to them: Come quickly unto my grave in the morning and ye shall find two men praying, Titus and Luke. They shall give you the seal in the Lord.

Then Paul stood with his face to the east and lifted up his hands unto heaven and prayed a long time, and in his prayer he conversed in the Hebrew tongue with the fathers, and then stretched forth his neck without speaking. And when the executioner (speculator) struck off his head, milk spurted upon the cloak of the soldier. And the soldier and all that were there present when they saw it marvelled and glorified God which had given such glory unto Paul: and they went and told Caesar what was done.

VI. And when he heard it, while he marvelled long and was in perplexity, Paul came about the niuth hour, when many philosophers and the centurion were standing with Caesar, and stood before them all and said: Caesar, behold, I, Paul, the soldier of God, am not dead, but live in my God. But unto thee shall many evils befall and great punishment, thou wretched man, because thou hast shed unjustly the blood of the righteous, not many days hence. And having so said Paul departed from him. But Nero hearing it and being greatly troubled commanded the prisoners to be loosed, and Patroclus also and Barsabas and them that were with him.

VII. And as Paul charged them, Longus and Cestus the centurion went early in the morning and approached with fear unto the grave of Paul. And when they were come thither they saw two men praying, and Paul betwixt them, so that they beholding the wondrous marvel were amazed, but Titus and Luke being stricken with the fear of man when they saw Longus and Cestus coming toward them, turned to flight. But they pursued after them, saying: We pursue you not for death but for life, that ye may give it

Page 41 of 84 unto us, as Paul promised us, whom we saw just now standing betwixt you and praying. And when they heard that, Titus and Luke rejoiced and gave them the seal in the Lord, glorifying the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Copt. and glorified the Lord Jesus Christ and all the saints).

Unto whom be glory world without end. Amen.

The Coptic MS. has a colophon: The Acts of Paul according to the Apostle.

Page 42 of 84 Dionysius of Corinth writes of Peter and Paul.

Written 165-175.

{Dionysius, in this fragment of a letter written apparently in reply to a letter and gifts from the church at Rome confirms the martyrdom of Peter and Paul and adds they martyred at the same time.} from

(http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/dionysius.html )

Roberts-Donaldson English translation of all known fragments:

Fragment I.

For this has been your custom from the beginning, to do good to all the brethren in various ways, and to send resources to many churches which are in every city, thus refreshing the poverty of the needy, and granting subsidies to the brethren who are in the mines. Through the resources which ye have sent from the beginning, ye Romans, keep up the custom of the Romans handed down by the fathers, which your blessed Bishop Sorer has not only preserved, but added to, sending a splendid gift to the saints, and exhorting with blessed words those brethren who go up to Rome, as an affectionate father his children.

Fragment II.

From the same epistle.

We passed this holy Lord's day, in which we read your letter, from the constant reading of which we shall be able to draw admonition, even as from the reading of the former one you sent us written through Clement.

Fragment III.

From the same.

Therefore you also have by such admonition joined in close union the churches that were planted by Peter and Paul, that of the Romans and that of the Corinthians: for both of them went to our Corinth, and taught us in the same way as they taught you when they went to Italy; and having taught you, they suffered martyrdom at the same time.

Fragment IV.

From the same.

Page 43 of 84 For I wrote letters when the brethren requested me to write. And these letters the apostles of the devil have filled with tares, taking away some things and adding others, for whom a woe is in store. It is not wonderful, then, if some have attempted to adulterate the Lord's writings, when they have formed designs against those which are not such.

Page 44 of 84 The Christian Apologist Tertullian states Paul was beheaded.

Written 197-220. about Tertullian— taken from the Catholic encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14520c.htm )

“Ecclesiastical writer in the second and third centuries, b. probably about 160 at Carthage, being the son of a centurion in the proconsular service. He was evidently by profession an advocate in the law-courts, and he shows a close acquaintance with the procedure and terms of Roman law, though it is doubtful whether he is to be identified with a jurist Tertullian who is cited in the Pandects. He knew Greek as well as Latin, and wrote works in Greek which have not come down to us. A pagan until middle life, he had shared the pagan prejudices against Christianity, and had indulged like others in shameful pleasures. His conversion was not later than the year 197, and may have been earlier.” from Tertullian’s , The Prescription Against Heretics, [translated by the Rev. Peter Holmes, D.D., F.R.A.S., etc., etc.] at

(http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/tertullian11.html )

CHAP. XXXVI.--THE APOSTOLIC CHURCHES THE VOICE OF THE APOSTLES, LET THE HERETICS EXAMINE THEIR APOSTOLIC CLAIMS, IN EACH CASE, INDISPUTABLE. THE CHURCH OF ROME DOUBLY APOSTOLIC; ITS EARLY EMINENCE AND EXCELLENCE. HERESY, AS PERVERTING THE TRUTH, IS CONNECTED THEREWITH.

Come now, you who would indulge a better curiosity, if you would apply it to the business of your salvation, run over the apostolic churches, in which the very thrones of the apostles are still pre-eminent in their places, in which their own authentic writings are read, uttering the voice and representing the face of each of them severally.

Achaia is very near you, (in which) you find Corinth. Since you are not far from Macedonia, you have Philippi; (and there too) you have the Thessalonians. Since you are able to cross to Asia, you get Ephesus. Since, moreover, you are close upon Italy, you have Rome, from which there comes even into our own hands the very authority (of apostles themselves).

How happy is its church, on which apostles poured forth all their doctrine along with their blood! where Peter endures a passion like his Lord's! where Paul wins his crown in a death like John's {the Baptizer} where the Apostle John was first plunged, unhurt, into boiling oil, and thence remitted to his island-exile!

See what she has learned, what taught, what fellowship has had with even (our) churches in Africa!

One Lord God does she acknowledge, the Creator of the universe, and Christ Jesus (born) Page 45 of 84 of the Virgin Mary, the Son of God the Creator; and the Resurrection of the flesh; the law and the prophets she unites in one volume with the writings of evangelists and apostles, from which she drinks in her faith. This she seals with the water (of baptism), arrays with the Holy Ghost, feeds with the Eucharist, cheers with martyrdom, and against such a discipline thus (maintained) she admits no gainsayer. This is the discipline which I no longer say foretold that heresies should come, but from which they proceeded. However, they were not of her, because they were opposed to her. Even the rough wild-olive arises from the germ of the fruitful, rich, and genuine olive; also from the seed of the mellowest and sweetest fig there springs the empty and useless wild-fig. In the same way heresies, too, come from our plant, although not of our kind; (they come) from the grain of truth, but, owing to their falsehood, they have only wild leaves to show.

Page 46 of 84 The first Church historian Eusebius writes of Paul’s final years.

Written ca 324.

{In Book III, Chapter 1, the famous church historian quotes Origen on the fact that Paul suffered martyrdom under Nero.}

{Earlier in Book II, Chapter XXII, Eusebius argues that Paul was released from his first captivity in Rome, went on additional missionary journeys, wrote the so-called Pastoral Epistles, was accompanied by Luke who wrote the Acts during this time, and returned to Rome for martyrdom (along with Peter) in the year 67. The technical footnotes, which are longer than the text, have been included for their critical analysis of dates and sources. The footnotes are the original 19th century translator’s and remain numbered as in the original.}

{For example, from footnote 474: Eusebius is the first writer to record the release of Paul from a first, and his martyrdom during a second Roman imprisonment. He introduces the statement with the formula  which indicates probably that he has only an oral tradition as his authority, and his efforts to establish the fact by exegetical arguments show how weak the tradition was.  }

{In Book II, chapter XXV, Eusebius describes the martyrdom of Peter and Paul in Rome. “This tradition, that Paul suffered martyrdom in Rome, is early and universal, and disputed by no counter-tradition and may be accepted as the one certain historical fact known about Paul outside of the New Testament accounts.” A.C.McG. Details are in footnote 541.} from The Church History of Eusebius Translated with prolegomena and notes by The Rev. Arthur Cushman McGiffert, Ph.d. Professor of Church History in Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati, 1890. transcribed onto the web by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library Calvin College 3201 Burton St. SE Grand Rapids, MI 49546 USA http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.viii.i.html#iii.viii.i-Page_133

Book III, Chapter I.—The Parts of the World in which the Apostles preached Christ.

{Eusebius is the only source for this fragment from Origen.} {Translator’s footnotes removed.}

Page 47 of 84 Peter appears to have preached in Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Asia to the Jews of the dispersion. And at last, having come to Rome, he was crucified head- downwards; for he had requested that he might suffer in this way. What do we need to say concerning Paul, who preached the Gospel of Christ from Jerusalem to Illyricum, and afterwards suffered martyrdom in Rome under Nero? These facts are related by Origen in the third volume of his Commentary on Genesis.

{Eusebius, in an earlier book, gives more details of Paul’s martyrdom.} http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.vii.xxiii.html

Book II, Chapter XXII -- Paul having been sent bound from Judea to Rome, made his Defense, and was acquitted of every Charge.

1. Festus469 was sent by Nero to be Felix’s successor. Under him Paul, having made his defense, was sent bound to Rome.470 Aristarchus was with him, whom he also somewhere in his epistles quite naturally calls his fellow-prisoner.527 And Luke, who wrote the Acts of the Apostles,528 brought his history to a close at this point, after stating that Paul spent two whole years at Rome as a prisoner at large, and preached the word of God without restraint.529

2. Thus after he had made his defense it is said that the apostle was sent again upon the ministry of preaching,530 and that upon coming to the same city a second time he suffered

469 The exact year of the accession of Festus is not known, but it is known that his death occurred before the summer of 62 a.d. ; for at that time his successor, Albinus, was already procurator, as we can see from Josephus, B. J. VI. 5. 3. But from the events recorded by Josephus as happening during his term of office, we know he must have been procurator at least a year; his accession, therefore, took place certainly as early as 61 a.d. , and probably at least a year earlier, i.e. in 60 a.d. , the date fixed by Wieseler. The widest possible margin for his accession is from 59–61. Upon this whole question, see Wieseler, p. 66 sqq. Festus died while in office. He seems to have been a just and capable governor,—in this quite a contrast to his predecessor.

470 Acts xxv. sqq. The determination of the year in which Paul was sent as a prisoner to Rome depends in part upon the determination of the year of Festus’ accession. He was in Rome (which he reached in the spring) at least two years before the Neronic persecution (June, 64 a.d. ), therefore as early as 62 a.d. He was sent from Cæsarea the previous autumn, therefore as early as the autumn of 61. If Festus became procurator in 61, this must have been the date. But if, as is probable, Festus became procurator in 60, then Paul was sent to Rome in the autumn of the same year, and reached Rome in the spring of 61. This is now the commonly accepted date; but the year 62 cannot be shut out (cf. Wieseler, ibid. ). Wieseler shows conclusively that Festus cannot have become procurator before 60 a.d. , and hence Paul cannot have been taken to Rome before the fall of that year.

527 Col. iv. 10.

528 See below, Bk. III. chap. 4.

529 See Acts xxviii. 30.

Page 48 of 84 martyrdom.531 In this imprisonment he wrote his second epistle to Timothy,532 in which he mentions his first defense and his impending death. 3. But hear his testimony on these matters: “At my first answer,” he says, “no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.”533

4. He plainly indicates in these words that on the former occasion, in order that the preaching might be fulfilled by him, he was rescued from the mouth of the lion,

530 Eusebius is the first writer to record the release of Paul from a first, and his martyrdom during a second Roman imprisonment. He introduces the statement with the formula  which indicates probably that he has only an oral tradition as his authority, and his efforts to establish the fact by exegetical arguments show how weak the tradition was. Many maintain that Eusebius follows no tradition here, but records simply his own conclusion formed from a study of the Pastoral Epistles, which apparently necessitate a second imprisonment. But were this the case, he would hardly have used the formula  The report may have arisen solely upon exegetical grounds, but it can hardly have originated with Eusebius himself. In accordance with this tradition, Eusebius, in his Chron., gives the date of Paul’s death as 67 a.d. Jerome ( de vir. ill. 5) and other later writers follow Eusebius (though Jerome gives the date as 68 instead of 67), and the tradition soon became firmly established (see below, chap. 25, note 5). Scholars are greatly divided as to the fact of a second imprisonment. Nearly all that defend the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles assume a second imprisonment, though some (e.g. Wieseler, Ebrard, Reuss and others) defend the epistles while assuming only one imprisonment; but this is very difficult. On the other hand, most opponents of the epistles (e.g. the Tübingen critics and the majority of the new critical school) deny the second imprisonment. As to the place where Paul spent the interval—supposing him to have been released—there is again a difference of opinion. The Pastoral Epistles, if assumed to be genuine, seem to necessitate another visit to the Orient. But for such a visit there is no ancient tradition, although Paul himself, in the Epistle to the Philippians, expresses his expectation of making such a visit. On the other hand, there is an old tradition that he visited Spain (which must of course have been during this interval, as he did not reach it before the first imprisonment). The Muratorian Fragment (from the end of the second century) records this tradition in a way to imply that it was universally known. Clement of Rome ( Epistle to the Corinthians, c. 5.) is also claimed as a witness for such a visit, but the interpretation of his words is doubtful, so that little weight can be laid upon his statement. In later times the tradition of this visit to Spain dropped out of the Church. The strongest argument against the visit is the absence of any trace of it in Spain itself. If any church there could have claimed the great apostle to the Gentiles as its founder, it seems that it must have asserted its claim and the tradition have been preserved at least in that church. This appears to the writer a fatal argument against a journey to Spain. On the other hand, the absence of all tradition of another journey to the Orient does not militate against such a visit, for tradition at any place might easily preserve the fact of a visit of the apostle, without preserving an accurate account of the number of his visits if more than one were made. Of the defenders of the Pastoral Epistles, that accept a second imprisonment, some assume simply a journey to the Orient, others assume also the journey to Spain. Between the spring of 63 a.d. , the time when he was probably released, if released, and the date of his death (at the earliest the summer of 64), there is time enough, but barely so, for both journeys. If the date of Paul’s death be put later with Eusebius and Jerome (as many modern critics put it), the time is of course quite sufficient. Compare the various Lives of Paul, Commentaries, etc., and especially, among recent works, Schaff’s Church Hist. I. p. 231 sqq.; Weiss’ Einleitung in das N. T. p. 283 sqq.; Holtzmann’s Einleitung, p. 295 sqq.; and Weizsäcker’s Apostolisches Zeitalter, p. 453 sqq.

531 See below, chap. 25, note 6.

532 Eusebius looked upon the Pastoral Epistles as undoubtedly genuine, and placed them among the Homologumena, or undisputed writings (compare Bk. III. chaps. 3 and 25). The external testimony for them is very strong, but their genuineness has, during the present century, been quite widely denied upon internal grounds. The advanced critical scholars of Germany treat their non-Pauline authorship as completely established, and many otherwise conservative scholars follow their lead. It is impossible here to Page 49 of 84 referring, in this expression, to Nero, as is probable on account of the latter’s cruelty. He did not therefore afterward add the similar statement, “He will rescue me from the mouth of the lion”; for he saw in the spirit that his end would not be long delayed.

5. Wherefore he adds to the words, “And he delivered me from the mouth of the lion,” this sentence: “The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom,”534 indicating his speedy martyrdom; which he also foretells still more clearly in the same epistle, when he writes, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.”535

6. In his second epistle to Timothy, moreover, he indicates that Luke was with him when he wrote,536 but at his first defense not even he.537. Whence it is probable that Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles at that time, continuing his history down to the period when he was with Paul.538 give the various arguments for or against their genuineness; we may refer the reader particularly to Holtzmann’s Die Pastoralbriefe, kritisch und exegetisch behandelt (1880), and to his Einleitung (1886), for the most complete presentation of the case against the genuineness; and to Weiss’ Einleitung in das N. T. (1886), p. 286 sqq., and to his Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles, in the fifth edition of the Meyer Series, for a defense of their genuineness, and also to Woodruff’s article in the Andover Review, October, 1886, for a brief and somewhat popular discussion of the subject. The second epistle must have been written latest of all Paul’s epistles, just before his death,—at the termination of his second captivity, or of his first, if his second be denied.

533 2 Tim. iv. 16, 17.

534 2 Tim. iv. 18.

535 Ibid. iv. 6.

536 See 2 Tim. iv. 11.

537 See 2 Tim. iv. 16

538 This is a very commonly accepted opinion among conservative commentators, who thus explain the lack of mention of the persecution of Nero and of the death of Paul. On the other hand, some who accept Luke’s authorship of the Acts, put the composition into the latter part of the century and explain the omission of the persecution and the death of Paul from the object of the work, e.g. Weiss, who dates the Gospel of Luke between 70 and 80, and thus brings the Acts down to a still later date (see his Einleitung, p. 585 sqq.). It is now becoming quite generally admitted that Luke’s Gospel was written after the destruction of Jerusalem, and if this be so, the Acts must have been written still later. There is in fact no reason for supposing the book to have been written at the point of time at which its account of Paul ceases. The design of the book (its text is found in the eighth verse of the first chapter) was to give an account of the progress of the Church from Jerusalem to Rome, not to write the life of Paul. The record of Paul’s death at the close of the book would have been quite out of harmony with this design, and would have formed a decided anti- climax, as the author was wise enough to understand. He was writing, not a life of Paul, nor of any apostle or group of apostles, but a history of the planting of the Church of Christ. The advanced critics, who deny that the Acts were written by a pupil of Paul, of course put its composition much later,—some into the time of Domitian, most into the second century. But even such critics admit the genuineness of certain portions of the book (the celebrated “We” passages), and the old Tübingen theory of intentional misrepresentation on the part of the author is finding less favor even among the most radical critics.

Page 50 of 84 7. But these things have been adduced by us to show that Paul’s martyrdom did not take place at the time of that Roman sojourn which Luke records.

8. It is probable indeed that as Nero was more disposed to mildness in the beginning, Paul’s defense of his doctrine was more easily received; but that when he had advanced to the commission of lawless deeds of daring, he made the apostles as well as others the subjects of his attacks.539

Now skipping Chapter XXIII -- The Martyrdom of James, who was called the Brother of the Lord. and Chapter XXIV -- —Annianus the First Bishop of the Church of Alexandria after Mark. we come to:

Chapter XXV.—The Persecution under Nero in which Paul and Peter were honored at Rome with Martyrdom in Behalf of Religion.

1. When the government of Nero was now firmly established, he began to plunge into unholy pursuits, and armed himself even against the religion of the God of the universe.

2. To describe the greatness of his depravity does not lie within the plan of the present work. As there are many indeed that have recorded his history in most accurate narratives,536 every one may at his pleasure learn from them the coarseness of the man’s extraordinary madness, under the influence of which, after he had accomplished the destruction of so many myriads without any reason, he ran into such blood-guiltiness that he did not spare even his nearest relatives and dearest friends, but destroyed his mother and his brothers and his wife,537 with very many others of his own family as he would private and public enemies, with various kinds of deaths.

3. But with all these things this particular in the catalogue of his crimes was still wanting, that he was the first of the emperors who showed himself an enemy of the divine religion.

539 Whether Eusebius’ conclusion be correct or not, it is a fact that Nero became much more cruel and tyrannical in the latter part of his reign. The famous “first five years,” however exaggerated the reports about them, must at least have been of a very different character from the remainder of his reign. But those five years of clemency and justice were past before Paul reached Rome.

536 Tacitus ( Ann. XIII.–XVI.), Suetonius ( Nero ), and Dion Cassius (LXI.–LXIII.).

537 Nero’s mother, Agrippina the younger, daughter of Germanicus and of Agrippina the elder, was assassinated at Nero’s command in 60 a.d. in her villa on Lake Lucrine, after an unsuccessful attempt to drown her in a boat so constructed as to break to pieces while she was sailing in it on the lake. His younger brother Britannicus was poisoned by his order at a banquet in 55 a.d. His first wife Octavia was divorced in order that he might marry Poppæa, the wife of his friend Otho, and was afterward put to death. Poppæa herself died from the effects of a kick given her by Nero while she was with child.

Page 51 of 84 4. The Roman Tertullian is likewise a witness of this. He writes as follows:538 “Examine your records. There you will find that Nero was the first that persecuted this doctrine,539 particularly then when after subduing all the east, he exercised his cruelty against all at Rome.540 We glory in having such a man the leader in our punishment. For whoever knows him can understand that nothing was condemned by Nero unless it was something of great excellence.”

5. Thus publicly announcing himself as the first among God’s chief enemies, he was led on to the slaughter of the apostles. It is, therefore, recorded that Paul was beheaded in Rome itself.541 And that Peter likewise was crucified under Nero.542 This

538 Tertullian, Apol. V.

539 We learn from Tacitus, Ann. XV. 39, that Nero was suspected to be the author of the great Roman conflagration, which took place in 64 a.d. (Pliny, H. N. XVII. I, Suetonius, 38, and Dion Cassius, LXII. 18, state directly that he was the author of it), and that to avert this suspicion from himself he accused the Christians of the deed, and the terrible Neronian persecution which Tacitus describes so fully was the result. Gibbon, and in recent times especially Schiller ( Geschichte der Römischen Kaiserzeit unter der Regierung des Nero, p. 584 sqq.), have maintained that Tacitus was mistaken in calling this a persecution of Christians, which was rather a persecution of the Jews as a whole. But we have no reason for impeaching Tacitus’ accuracy in this case, especially since we remember that the Jews enjoyed favor with Nero through his wife Poppæa. What is very significant, Josephus is entirely silent in regard to a persecution of his countrymen under Nero. We may assume as probable (with Ewald and Renan) that it was through the suggestion of the Jews that Nero’s attention was drawn to the Christians, and he was led to throw the guilt upon them, as a people whose habits would best give countenance to such a suspicion, and most easily excite the rage of the populace against them. This was not a persecution of the Christians in the strict sense, that is, it was not aimed against their religion as such; and yet it assumed such proportions and was attended with such horrors that it always lived in the memory of the Church as the first and one of the most awful of a long line of persecutions instituted against them by imperial Rome, and it revealed to them the essential conflict which existed between Rome as it then was and Christianity.

540 Footnote omitted as its exclusive concern is the translation of the phrase “illic reperietis primum Neronem in hanc sectam cum maxime Romæ orientem Cæsariano gladio ferocisse.”

541 This tradition, that Paul suffered martyrdom in Rome, is early and universal, and disputed by no counter-tradition and may be accepted as the one certain historical fact known about Paul outside of the New Testament accounts. Clement ( Ad. Cor. chap. 5) is the first to mention the death of Paul, and seems to imply, though he does not directly state, that his death took place in Rome during the persecution of Nero. Caius (quoted below, §7), a writer of the first quarter of the third century, is another witness to his death in Rome, as is also Dionysius of Corinth (quoted below, §8) of the second century. Origen (quoted by Euseb. III. 1) states that he was martyred in Rome under Nero. Tertullian (at the end of the second century), in his De præscriptione Hær. chap. 36, is still more distinct, recording that Paul was beheaded in Rome. Eusebius and Jerome accept this tradition unhesitatingly, and we may do likewise. As a Roman citizen, we should expect him to meet death by the sword.

542 The tradition that Peter suffered martyrdom in Rome is as old and as universal as that in regard to Paul, but owing to a great amount of falsehood which became mixed with the original tradition by the end of the second century the whole has been rejected as untrue by some modern critics, who go so far as to deny that Peter was ever at Rome. (See especially Lipsius’ Die Quellen der römischen Petrus-Sage, Kiel, 1872; a summary of his view is given by Jackson in the Presbyterian Quarterly and Princeton Review, 1876, p. 265 sq. In Lipsius’ latest work upon this subject, Die Acta Pauli und Petri, 1887, he makes important concessions.) The tradition is, however, too strong to be set aside, and there is absolutely no trace of any conflicting tradition. We may therefore assume it as overwhelmingly probable that Peter was in Rome and suffered martyrdom there. His martyrdom is plainly referred to in John xxi. 10, though the place of it is not given. The first extra-biblical witness to it is Clement of Rome. He also leaves the place of the martyrdom Page 52 of 84 account of Peter and Paul is substantiated by the fact that their names are preserved in the cemeteries of that place even to the present day.

6. It is confirmed likewise by Caius,543 a member of the Church,544 who arose545 under Zephyrinus,546 bishop of Rome. He, in a published disputation with Proclus,547 the leader of the Phrygian heresy,548 speaks as follows concerning the places where the sacred corpses of the aforesaid apostles are laid:

unspecified ( Ad Cor. 5), but he evidently assumes the place as well known, and indeed it is impossible that the early Church could have known of the death of Peter and Paul without knowing where they died, and there is in neither case a single opposing tradition. Ignatius ( Ad Rom. chap. 4) connects Paul and Peter in an especial way with the Roman Church, which seems plainly to imply that Peter had been in Rome. Phlegon (supposed to be the Emperor Hadrian writing under the name of a favorite slave) is said by Origen ( Contra Celsum, II. 14) to have confused Jesus and Peter in his Chronicles. This is very significant as implying that Peter must have been well known in Rome. Dionysius, quoted below, distinctly states that Peter labored in Rome, and Caius is a witness for it. So Irenæus, Clement, Tertullian, and later Fathers without a dissenting voice. The first to mention Peter’s death by crucifixion (unless John xxi. 18 be supposed to imply it) is Tertullian ( De Præscrip. Hær. chap. 36), but he mentions it as a fact already known, and tradition since his time is so unanimous in regard to it that we may consider it in the highest degree probable. On the tradition reported by Origen, that Peter was crucified head downward, see below, Bk. III. chap. 1, where Origen is quoted by Eusebius.

543 The history of Caius {200-220} is veiled in obscurity. All that we know of him is that he was a very learned ecclesiastical writer, who at the beginning of the third century held a disputation with Proclus in Rome (cf. Bk. VI. chap. 20, below). The accounts of him given by Jerome, Theodoret, and Nicephorus are drawn from Eusebius and furnish us no new data. Photius, however ( Bibl. XLVIII.), reports that Caius was said to have been a presbyter of the Roman Church during the episcopates of Victor and Zephyrinus, and to have been elected “Bishop of the Gentiles,” and hence he is commonly spoken of as a presbyter of the Roman Church, though the tradition rests certainly upon a very slender foundation, as Photius lived some six hundred years after Caius, and is the first to mention the fact. {The rest of this very lengthy footnote has been omitted as it wanders too far afield.}

544  

545 . Crusè translates “born”; but Eusebius cannot have meant that, for in Bk. VI. chap. 20 he tells us that Caius’ disputation with Proclus was held during the episcopate of Zephyrinus. He used therefore, as to indicate that at that time he came into public notice, as we use the word “arose.”

546 On Zephyrinus, see below, Bk. V. chap. 28, §7.

547 This Proclus probably introduced Montanism into Rome at the beginning of the third century. According to Pseudo-Tertullian ( Adv. omnes Hær. chap. 7) he was a leader of one division of the Montanists, the other division being composed of followers of Æschines. He is probably to be identified with the Proculus noster, classed by Tertullian, in Adv. Val. chap. 5, with Justin Martyr, Miltiades, and Irenæus as a successful opponent of heresy.

548 The sect of the Montanists. Called the “Phrygian heresy,” from the fact that it took its rise in Phrygia. Upon Montanism, see below, Bk. IV. chap. 27, and especially Bk. V. chap. 16 sqq.

Page 53 of 84 7. “But549 I can show the trophies of the apostles. For if you will go to the Vatican550 or to the Ostian way,551 you will find the trophies {by this is understood a shrine, or cella memoriae} of those who laid the foundations of this church.”552 8. And that they both suffered martyrdom at the same time is stated by Dionysius, bishop of Corinth,553 in his epistle to the Romans,554 in the following words: “You have thus by such an admonition bound together the planting of Peter and of Paul at Rome and Corinth. For both of them planted and likewise taught us in our Corinth.555 And they taught together in like manner in Italy, and suffered martyrdom at the same time.”556 I have quoted these things in order that the truth of the history might be still more confirmed.

549 The here makes it probable that Caius, in reply to certain claims of Proclus, was asserting over against him the ability of the Roman church to exhibit the true trophies of the greatest of all the apostles. And what these claims of Proclus were can perhaps be gathered from his words, quoted by Eusebius in Bk. III. chap. 31, §4, in which Philip and his daughters are said to have been buried in Hierapolis. That these two sentences were closely connected in the original is quite possible.

550 According to an ancient tradition, Peter was crucified upon the hill of Janiculum, near the Vatican, where the Church of San Pietro in Montorio now stands, and the hole in which his cross stood is still {1890} shown to the trustful visitor. A more probable tradition makes the scene of execution the Vatican hill, where Nero’s circus was, and where the persecution took place. Baronius makes the whole ridge on the right bank of the Tiber one hill, and thus reconciles the two traditions. In the fourth century the remains of Peter were transferred from the Catacombs of San Sebastiano (where they are said to have been interred in 258 a.d. ) to the Basilica of St. Peter, which occupied the sight of the present basilica on the Vatican.

551 Paul was beheaded, according to tradition, on the Ostian way, at the spot now occupied by the Abbey of the Three Fountains. The fountains, which are said to have sprung up at the spots where Paul’s head struck the ground three times after the decapitation, are still shown, as also the pillar to which he is supposed to have been bound! {1890} In the fourth century, at the same time that Peter’s remains were transferred to the Vatican, Paul’s remains are said to have been buried in the Basilica of St. Paul, which occupied the site now marked by the church of San Paolo fuori le mura. There is nothing improbable in the traditions as to the spot where Paul and Peter met their death. They are as old as the second century; and while they cannot be accepted as indisputably true (since there is always a tendency to fix the deathplace of a great man even if it is not known), yet on the other hand if Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome, it is hardly possible that the place of their death and burial could have been forgotten by the Roman church itself within a century and a half.

552 Neither Paul nor Peter founded the Roman church in the strict sense, for there was a congregation of believers there even before Paul came to Rome, as his Epistle to the Romans shows, and Peter cannot have reached there until some time after Paul. It was, however, a very early fiction that Paul and Peter together founded the church in that city.

553 On Dionysius of Corinth, see below, Bk. IV. chap. 23.

554 Another quotation from this epistle is given in Bk. IV. chap. 23. The fragments are discussed by Routh, Rel. Sac. I. 179 sq.

555 Whatever may be the truth of Dionysius’ report as to Peter’s martyrdom at Rome, he is almost certainly in error in speaking as he does of Peter’s work in Corinth. It is difficult, to be sure, to dispose of so direct and early a tradition, but it is still more difficult to accept it. The statement that Paul and Peter together planted the Corinthian church is certainly an error, as we know that it was Paul’s own church, founded by him alone. The so-called Cephas party, mentioned in 1 Cor. i., is perhaps easiest explained by the previous presence and activity of Peter in Corinth, but this is by no means necessary, and the absence of any reference to the fact in the two epistles of Paul renders it almost absolutely impossible. It is barely possible, though by no means probable, that Peter visited Corinth on his way to Rome (assuming the Roman Page 54 of 84 The Apocryphal “Acts of Peter and Paul with the story of Perpetua” expand on the tradition.

Written between 2nd and 5th Centuries, probably the 4th .

{It has proven difficult to locate on-line translations of these works with commentary and sources. The New Advent web site appends “The Story of Perpetua” to the “Acts of Peter and Paul” without comment or interruption. It may well be that they are continuous parts of the same document, but I cannot verify this. The “Acts of Peter and Paul” are listed within the “Church Fathers-Apocrypha” section of the New Advent site. Also note that this Perpetua is not to be confused with the Perpetua from the “Acts of Perpetua and Felicitas” who along with three others was martyred in Carthage around the year 200 and whose diary from prison is. } http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0815.htm from

The Acts of Peter and Paul

It came to pass, after Paul went out of the island Gaudomeleta, that he came to Italy; and it was heard of by the Jews who were in Rome, the elder of the cities, that Paul demanded to come to Caesar. Having fallen, therefore, into great grief and much despondency, they said among themselves: It does not please him that he alone has afflicted all our brethren and parents in Judea and Samaria, and in all Palestine; and he has not been pleased with these, but, behold, he comes here also, having through imposition asked Caesar to destroy us.

Having therefore made an assembly against Paul, and having considered many proposals, it seemed good to them to go to Nero the emperor, to ask him not to allow Paul to come to Rome. Having therefore got in readiness not a few presents, and having carried them with them, with supplication they came before him, saying: We beseech you, O good emperor, send orders into all the governments of your worship, to the effect that Paul is journey) and that thus, although the church had already been founded many years, he became connected in tradition with its early days, and finally with its origination. But it is more probable that the tradition is wholly in error and arose, as Neander suggests, partly from the mention of Peter in 1 Cor. i., partly from the natural desire to ascribe the origin of this great apostolic church to the two leading apostles, to whom in like manner the founding of the Roman church was ascribed. It is significant that this tradition is recorded only by a Corinthian, who of course had every inducement to accept such a report, and to repeat it in comparing his own church with the central church of Christendom. We find no mention of the tradition in later writers, so far as I am aware.

556  allows some margin in time and does not necessarily imply the same day. Dionysius is the first one to connect the deaths of Peter and Paul chronologically, but later it became quite the custom. One tradition put their deaths on the same day, one year apart (Augustine and Prudentius, e.g., are said to support this tradition). Jerome ( de vir. ill. 1) is the first to state explicitly that they suffered on the same day. Eusebius in his Chron. (Armen.) puts their martyrdom in 67, Jerome in 68. The Roman Catholic Church celebrates the death of Peter on the 29th and that of Paul on the 30th of June, but has no fixed tradition as to the year of the death of either of them.

Page 55 of 84 not to come near these parts; because this Paul, having afflicted all the nation of our fathers, has been seeking to come hither to destroy us also. And the affliction, O most worshipful emperor, which we have from Peter is enough for us.

And the Emperor Nero, having heard these things, answered them: It is according to your wish. And we write to all our governments that he shall not on any account come to anchor in the parts of Italy. And they also informed Simon the magician, having sent for him, that, as has been said, he should not come into the parts of Italy.

{Now skipping most of the document with its magical/miraculous confrontations and competitions with Simon the Magician, the reading from a letter by Pontius Pilate, quotations from many of Paul’s epistles as well as many fantastic stories to get to the martyrdoms …}



Then Nero ordered a lofty tower to be made in the Campus Martius, and all the people and the dignities to be present at the spectacle. And on the following day, all the multitude having come together, Nero ordered Peter and Paul to be present, to whom also he said: Now the truth has to be made manifest. Peter and Paul said: We do not expose him, but our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whom he has falsely declared himself to be.

And Paul, having turned to Peter, said: It is my part to bend the knee, and to pray to God; and yours to produce the effect, if you should see him attempting anything, because you were first taken in hand by the Lord. And Paul, bending his knees, prayed. And Peter, looking steadfastly upon Simon, said: Accomplish what you have begun; for both your exposure and our call is at hand: for I see my Christ calling both me and Paul. Nero said: And where will you go to against my will? Peter said: Whithersoever our Lord has called us. Nero said: And who is your lord? Peter said: Jesus the Christ, whom I see calling us to Himself. Nero said: Do you also then intend to go away to heaven? Peter said: If it shall seem good to Him that calls us. Simon said: In order that you may know, O emperor, that these are deceivers, as soon as ever I ascend into heaven, I will send my angels to you, and will make you come to me. Nero said: Do at once what you say.

Then Simon went up upon the tower in the face of all, and, crowned with laurels, he stretched forth his hands, and began to fly. And when Nero saw him flying, he said to Peter: This Simon is true; but you and Paul are deceivers. To whom Peter said: Immediately shall you know that we are true disciples of Christ; but that he is not Christ, but a magician, and a malefactor. Nero said: Do you still persist? Behold, you see him going up into heaven. Then Peter, looking steadfastly upon Paul, said: Paul, look up and see. And Paul, having looked up, full of tears, and seeing Simon flying, said: Peter, why are you idle? Finish what you have begun; for already our Lord Jesus Christ is calling us. And Nero hearing them, smiled a little, and said: These men see themselves worsted already, and are gone mad. Peter said: Now you shall know that we are not mad. Paul said to Peter: Do at once what you do.

Page 56 of 84 And Peter, looking steadfastly against Simon, said: I adjure you, you angels of Satan, who are carrying him into the air, to deceive the hearts of the unbelievers, by the God that created all things, and by Jesus Christ, whom on the third day He raised from the dead, no longer from this hour to keep him up, but to let him go. And immediately, being let go, he fell into a place called Sacra Via, that is, Holy Way, and was divided into four parts, having perished by an evil fate.

Then Nero ordered Peter and Paul to be put in irons, and the body of Simon to be carefully kept three days, thinking that he would rise on the third day. To whom Peter said: He will no longer rise, since he is truly dead, being condemned to everlasting punishment. And Nero said to him: Who commanded you to do such a dreadful deed? Peter said: His reflections and blasphemy against my Lord Jesus Christ have brought him into this gulf of destruction. Nero said: I will destroy you by an evil taking off. Peter said: This is not in your power, even if it should seem good to you to destroy us; but it is necessary that what our Master promised to us should be fulfilled.

Then Nero, having summoned Agrippa the propraetor, said to him: It is necessary that men introducing mischievous religious observances should die. Wherefore I order them to take iron clubs, and to be killed in the sea-fight. Agrippa the propraetor said: Most sacred emperor, what you have ordered is not fitting for these men, since Paul seems innocent beside Peter. Nero said: By what fate, then, shall they die? Agrippa answered and said: As seems to me, it is just that Paul's head should be cut off, and that Peter should be raised on a cross as the cause of the murder. Nero said: You have most excellently judged.

Then both Peter and Paul were led away from the presence of Nero. And Paul was beheaded on the Ostesian road.

And Peter, having come to the cross, said: Since my Lord Jesus Christ, who came down from the heaven upon the earth, was raised upon the cross upright, and He has deigned to call to heaven me, who am of the earth, my cross ought to be fixed head down most, so as to direct my feet towards heaven; for I am not worthy to be crucified like my Lord. Then, having reversed the cross, they nailed his feet up.

And the multitude was assembled reviling Caesar, and wishing to kill him. But Peter restrained them, saying: A few days ago, being exhorted by the brethren, I was going away; and my Lord Jesus Christ met me, and having adored Him, I said, Lord, whither are You going? And He said to me, I am going to Rome to be crucified. And I said to Him, Lord, wast Thou not crucified once for all? And the Lord answering, said, I saw you fleeing from death, and I wish to be crucified instead of you. And I said, Lord, I go; I fulfill Your command. And He said to me, Fear not, for I am with you. On this account, then, children, do not hinder my going; for already my feet are going on the road to heaven. Do not grieve, therefore, but rather rejoice with me, for today I receive the fruit of my labours. And thus speaking, he said: I thank You, good Shepherd, that the sheep which You have entrusted to me, sympathize with me; I ask, then, that with me they may have a part in Your kingdom. And having thus spoken, he gave up the ghost.

Page 57 of 84 And immediately there appeared men glorious and strange in appearance; and they said: We are here, on account of the holy and chief apostles, from Jerusalem. And they, along with Marcellus, an illustrious man, who, having left Simon, had believed in Peter, took up his body secretly, and put it under the terebinth near the place for the exhibition of sea-fights in the place called the Vatican.

And the men who had said that they came from Jerusalem said to the people: Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, because you have been deemed worthy to have great champions. And know that Nero himself, after these not many days, will be utterly destroyed, and his kingdom shall be given to another.

And after these things the people revolted against him; and when he knew of it, he fled into desert places, and through hunger and cold he gave up the ghost, and his body became food for the wild beasts.

And some devout men of the regions of the East wished to carry off the relics of the saints, and immediately there was a great earthquake in the city; and those that dwelt in the city having become aware of it, ran and seized the men, but they fled. But the Romans having taken them, put them in a place three miles from the city, and there they were guarded a year and seven months, until they had built the place in which they intended to put them. And after these things, all having assembled with glory and singing of praise, they put them in the place built for them.

And the consummation of the holy glorious Apostles Peter and Paul was on the 29th of the month of June—in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and strength.

The Story of Perpetua

And as Paul was being led away to be beheaded at a place about three miles from the city, he was in irons. And there were three soldiers guarding him who were of a great family. And when they had gone out of the gate about the length of a bow- shot, there met them a God-fearing woman; and she, seeing Paul dragged along in irons, had compassion on him, and wept bitterly. And the name of the woman was called Perpetua; and she was one-eyed. And Paul, seeing her weeping, says to her: Give me your handkerchief, and when I turn back I shall give it to you. And she, having taken the handkerchief, gave it to him willingly. And the soldiers laughed, and said to the woman: Why do you wish, woman, to lose your handkerchief? Do you not know that he is going away to be beheaded? And Perpetua said to them: I adjure you by the health of Caesar to bind his eyes with this handkerchief when you cut off his head. Which also was done. And they beheaded him at the place called Aquae Salviae, near the pine tree. And as God had willed, before the soldiers came back, the handkerchief, having on it drops of blood, was restored to the woman. And as she was carrying it, straightway and immediately her eye was opened.

And the three soldiers who had cut off the head of Saint Paul, when after three hours they came on the same day with the Bulla bringing it to Nero, having met Perpetua, they said to her: What is it, woman? Behold, by your confidence you have lost your handkerchief. But she said to them: I have both got my handkerchief, and my eye has recovered its

Page 58 of 84 sight. And as the Lord, the God of Paul, lives, I also have entreated him that I may be deemed worthy to become the slave of his Lord. Then the soldiers who had the Bulla, recognizing the handkerchief, and seeing that her eye had been opened, cried out with a loud voice, as if from one mouth, and said: We too are the slaves of Paul's master. Perpetua therefore having gone away, reported in the palace of the Emperor Nero that the soldiers who had beheaded Paul said: We shall no longer go into the city, for we believe in Christ whom Paul preached, and we are Christians. Then Nero, filled with rage, ordered Perpetua, who had informed him of the soldiers, to be kept fast in irons; and as to the soldiers, he ordered one to be beheaded outside of the gate about one mile from the city, another to be cut in two, and the third to be stoned. And Perpetua was in the prison; and in this prison there was kept Potentiana, a noble maiden, because she had said: I forsake my parents and all the substance of my father, and I wish to become a Christian. She therefore joined herself to Perpetua, and ascertained from her everything about Paul, and was in much anxiety about the faith in Christ. And the wife of Nero was Potentiana's sister; and she secretly informed her about Christ, that those who believe in Him see everlasting joy, and that everything here is temporary, but there eternal: so that also she fled out of the palace, and some of the senators' wives with her. Then Nero, having inflicted many tortures upon Perpetua, at last tied a great stone to her neck, and ordered her to be thrown over a precipice. And her remains lie at the Momentan gate. And Potentiana also underwent many torments; and at last, having made a furnace one day, they burned her.

Page 59 of 84 St. Jerome writes a brief biography of Paul.

Written 492.

{Although this work has a completely different tone, it adds nothing to the details of Paul’s martyrdom already covered by Eusebius.} from Jerome and Gennadius: Lives of Illustrious Men.

Translated, with Introduction and Notes, by Ernest Cushing Richardson, Ph.D., Librarian of Princeton College. Published 1892. transcribed onto the web by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library Calvin College 3201 Burton St. SE Grand Rapids, MI 49546 USA http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf203.v.iii.vii.html?highlight=paul,martyr#highlight

Translator’s note: The work of Jerome was written at Bethlehem in 492. It contains 135 writers from Peter up to that date. In his preface Jerome limits the scope of his work to those who have written on Holy Scriptures, but in carrying out his plans he includes all who have written on theological topics; whether Orthodox or Heretic, Greek, Latin, Syriac, and even Jews and Heathen (Josephus, Philo, Seneca). The Syriac writers mentioned are however few. Gennadius apologizes for the scanty representation which they have in Jerome on the ground that the latter did not understand Syriac, and only knew of such as had been translated.

The motive of the work was, as the preface declares, to show the heretics how many and how excellent writers there were among the Christians. The direct occasion of the undertaking was the urgency of his friend Dexter, and his models were first of all Suetonius, and then various Greek and Latin biographical works including the Brutus of Cicero.

Jerome expressly states in his preface that he had no predecessor in his work, but very properly acknowledges his indebtedness to the Church History of Eusebius, from whom he takes much verbatim. The first part of the work {in particular the life of Paul} is taken almost entirely from Eusebius.

II. Jerome.

Lives of Illustrious Men.

Chapter V.

Page 60 of 84 Paul,2355 formerly called Saul, an apostle outside the number of the twelve apostles, was of the tribe of Benjamin and the town of Giscalis2356 in Judea. When this was taken by the Romans he removed with his parents to Tarsus in Cilicia. Sent by them to Jerusalem to study law he was educated by Gamaliel a most learned man whom Luke mentions. But after he had been present at the death of the martyr Stephen and had received letters from the high priest of the temple for the persecution of those who believed in Christ, he proceeded to Damascus, where constrained to faith by a revelation, as it is written in the Acts of the apostles, he was transformed from a persecutor into an elect vessel. As Sergius Paulus Proconsul of Cyprus was the first to believe on his preaching, he took his name from him because he had subdued him to faith in Christ, and having been joined by Barnabas, after traversing many cities, he returned to Jerusalem and was ordained apostle to the Gentiles by Peter, James and John. And because a full account of his life is given in the Acts of the Apostles, I only say this, that the twenty-fifth year after our Lord’s passion, that is the second of Nero, at the time when Festus Procurator of Judea succeeded Felix, he was sent bound to Rome, and remaining for two years in free custody, disputed daily with the Jews concerning the advent of Christ. It ought to be said that at the first defence, the power of Nero having not yet been confirmed, nor his wickedness broken forth to such a degree as the histories relate concerning him, Paul was dismissed by Nero, that the gospel of Christ might be preached also in the West. As he himself writes in the second epistle to Timothy, at the time when he was about to be put to death dictating his epistle as he did while in chains; “At my first defence no one took my part, but all forsook me: may it not be laid to their account. But the Lord stood by2357 me and strengthened me; that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and that all the Gentiles might hear, and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion”2358—clearly indicating Nero as lion on account of his cruelty. And directly following he says “The Lord delivered me from the mouth of the lion” and again shortly “The Lord delivered me2359 from every evil work and saved me unto his heavenly kingdom,”2360 for indeed he felt within himself that his martyrdom was near at hand, for in the same epistle he announced “for I am already being offered and the time of my departure is at hand.”2361 He then, in the fourteenth year of Nero on the same day with Peter, was beheaded at Rome for Christ’s sake and was buried in the Ostian way, the twenty-seventh year after our Lord’s passion. He wrote nine epistles to seven churches: To the Romans one, To the Corinthians two, To the Galatians one, To the Ephesians one, To the Philippians one, To the Colossians one, To the Thessalonians two; and besides these to his disciples, To Timothy two, To Titus one, To Philemon one. The epistle which is called the Epistle to the Hebrews is not considered his, on account of its difference from the others in style and language, but it is reckoned, either according to Tertullian to be the work of

2355 Died 67?, probably after 64 at least. 2356 Giscalis, supposed thus to have originated at Giscalis and to have gone from there to Tarsus, but this is not generally accepted. 2357 The Lord stood by all mss. and eds; God. Her. 2358 lion. 2 Tim. 4. 16–17 2359 from the mouth of the lion, and again shortly “The Lord delivered me” (substantially) A H 25 30 31 a e etc.; omit T. Her. There are slight variations; God H 21 Bamb Bern. Norimb.; I was delivered Val. Cypr. Tam. Par 1512 etc. 2360 The Lord … kingdom 2 Tim. 4. 18 2361 for I … at hand 2 Tim. 4. 6 Page 61 of 84 Barnabas, or according to others, to be by Luke the Evangelist or Clement afterwards bishop of the church at Rome, who, they say, arranged and adorned the ideas of Paul in his own language, though to be sure, since Paul was writing to Hebrews and was in disrepute among them he may have omitted his name from the salutation on this account. He being a Hebrew wrote Hebrew, that is his own tongue and most fluently while the things which were eloquently written in Hebrew were more eloquently turned into Greek2362 and this is the reason why it seems to differ from other epistles of Paul. Some read one also to2363 the Laodiceans but it is rejected by everyone.

2362 into H 31 a e. and many others; in A T 25 30. 2363 also to A H T 25 30 a e Norimb, Bamb.; also 3l; omit, Her. who seems to have omitted on some evidence possibly Bern. Page 62 of 84 A description of the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls.

Written 1892.

(A Victorian traveler and archaeology enthusiast surveys the pagan temples, monuments, Christian memorials, catacombs, and churches as they existed in the late 1800s in Rome. He spends a lot of time exploring St. Paul’s Outside the Walls.} from “Christian Churches;” being Chapter III of Pagan and Christian Rome by Rodolfo Lanciani published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company Boston and New York, 1892 and transcribed onto the web by Bill Thayer as part of his LacusCurtius project: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/ _Texts/Lanciani/LANPAC/3*.html#sec24 (Transcribers footnotes removed for clarity.)

Wonder has been manifested at the behavior of Constantine towards S. Paul, whose basilica at the second milestone of the Via Ostiensis appears like a pigmy structure in comparison to that of S. Peter. Constantine had no intention of placing S. Paul in an inferior rank, or of showing less honor to his memory. He was compelled by local circumstances to raise a much smaller building to this apostle. As before stated, there were three rules which builders of sacred memorial edifices had to observe: first, that the tomb-altar of the saint in whose honor the building was to be erected should not be molested or moved from its original place either vertically or horizontally; second, that the edifice should be adapted to the tomb so as to give it a place of honor in the centre of the apse; third, that the apse and the front of the edifice should look towards the east. The position of S. Peter's tomb in relation to the circus of Nero and the cliffs of the Vatican was such as to give the builders of the basilica perfect freedom to extend it in all directions, especially lengthwise. This was not the case with that of S. Paul, which was only •a hundred feet distant from an obstacle which could not be overcome, — the high- road to Ostia, the channel by which the city of Rome was fed. The road to Ostia ran east of the grave; hence the necessity of limiting the size of the church within these two points. Discoveries made in 1834, when the foundations of the present apse were strengthened, and again in 1850, when the foundations of the baldacchino of Pius IX. were laid have enabled Signor Paolo Belloni, the architect, to reconstruct the plan of the original building of Constantine. His memoir is full of useful information well illustrated. One of his illustrations, representing the comparative plans of the original and modern churches, is here reproduced.

Page 63 of 84 The plan needs no comment, but one particular cannot be omitted. In the course of the excavations for the baldacchino, the remains of classical columbaria were found a few feet from the grave of the apostle, with their inscriptions still in place. He must, therefore, have been buried, like S. Peter, in a private area, surrounded by pagan tombs.

In 386 Valentinian, Theodosius, and Arcadius asked Flavius Sallustius, prefect of the city, to submit to the Senate and the people a scheme for the reconstruction a fundamentis of the basilica, so as to make it equal in size and beauty to that of the Vatican. To fulfill this project, without disturbing either the grave of the apostle or the road to Ostia, there was but one thing to do; this was to change the orientation of the church from east to west, and extend it at pleasure towards the bank of the Tiber. The consent of the S. P. Q. R. was easily obtained, and the magnificent temple, which lasted until the fire of July 15, 1823, was thus raised so as to face in a direction opposite to the usual one.

Page 64 of 84 {Redactor’s interruption: here is a sketch of the reversed basilica classic “retro” design and floor plan to compare with the above sketches.}

Perspective sketch and floor plan of basilica.

http://www.tu-dresden.de/phfikm/Kunstgeschichtefinal/Monumentenliste/068685b.jpg

{The following satellite image from Google Maps shows how the apse of the new basilica butts up against the Via Ostensia.}

Page 65 of 84 Detailed floor plan showing location of Paul’s shrine and tomb. http://sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-san-paolo-pictures/floor-plan.jpg

Page 66 of 84 Satellite view of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls

from http://maps.google.com/maps? ll=41.858503,12.476124&spn=0.004046,0.007196&t=h&hl=en

{And now back to Lanciani’s tour of the basilica.}

Page 67 of 84 The Burning of S. Paul's, July 15, 1823. (From an old print.)º

The name of Pope Siricius, who was then governing the church, can still be seen engraved on one of the columns, formerly in the left aisle, now in the north vestibule: — SIRICIVS EPISCOPVS A [chi-rho] Ω TOTA MENTE DEVOTVS.

Another rare monument of historical value, in spite of its humble origin, came to light at the beginning of the last century, and was published by Bianchini and Muratori, who failed, however, to explain its meaning. It is a brass label once tied to a dog's collar, with the inscription "[I belong] to the basilica of Paul the apostle, rebuilt by our three sovereigns [Valentinianus, Theodosius, and Arcadius]. I am in charge of Felicissimus the shepherd." Such inscriptions were engraved on the collars of dogs and slaves, so that in case they ran away from their masters, their legal ownership would be known at once by the police, or whoever chanced to catch them.

In course of time the basilica became the centre of a considerable group of buildings, especially of monasteries and convents. There were also chapels, baths, fountains, hostelries, porticoes, cemeteries, orchards, farmhouses, stables, and mills. This small suburban city was exposed to a constant danger of pillage, on account of its location on the high-road from the coast. In 846 it was ransacked by the Saracens, before the Romans could come to the rescue. For these considerations, Pope John VIII (872-882) determined to put the church of S. Paul and its surroundings under shelter, and to raise a fort that could also command the approach to Rome from this most dangerous side.

The construction of Johannipolis, by which the history of the classical and early mediaeval fortifications of Rome is brought to a close, is described by one document only: an inscription above the gate of the castle, which was copied first by Cola di

Page 68 of 84 Rienzo, and later by Pietro Sabino, professor of rhetoric in the Roman archigymnasium (Sapienza), towards the end of the fifteenth century. A few fragments of this remarkable document are still preserved in the cloister of the monastery. It states that Pope John VIII. raised a wall for the defence of the basilica of S. Paul's and the surrounding churches, convents, and hospices, in imitation of that built by •Leo IV. for the protection of the Vatican suburb. The determination to fortify the sacred buildings at the second milestone of the Via Ostiensis was taken, as I have just said, in consequence of the inroads of the Saracens, which, under the pontificate of John, had become so frequent. The atrocities which marked their second landing on the Roman coast were so appalling that the whole of Europe was shaken with terror. Having failed in his attempt to secure help from Charles the Bald, John placed himself at the head of such scanty forces as he could gather from land and sea, under the pressure of events. Ships from several harbors in the Mediterranean met in the roads of Ostia; and on hearing that the hostile fleet had sailed from the bay of Naples, the Pope set sail at once. The gallant little squadron confronted the infidels under the cliffs of Cape Circeo, and inflicted upon them such a bloody defeat that the danger was averted, at least for a time. The church galleys came back to the mouth of the Tiber, laden with a considerable booty.

It seems that the advance fort of Johannipolis was finished and consecrated by Pope John soon after the naval battle of Cape Circeo (A.D. 877), because the inscription above referred to speaks of him as a triumphant leader, — SEDIS APOSTOLICAE PAPA JOHANNES OVANS.

The location of this fortified outpost could not have been more judiciously selected. It commanded the roads from Ostia, Laurentum, and Ardea, those, namely, from which the pirates could most easily approach the city. It commanded also the water-way by the Tiber, and the tow-paths on each of its banks. It is a great pity that no stone of this historical wall should be left standing. It saved the city from further invasions of the African pirates, as the agger of Servius Tullius had saved it, centuries before, from the attacks of the Carthaginians. I have examined the ground between S. Paul's, the Fosso di Grotta Perfetta, the Vigna de Merode, at the back of the apse, and the banks of the river, without finding a trace of the fortifications. I believe, however, that the wall which encloses the garden of the monastery on the south side runs on the same line with John's defences, and rests on their foundations. We must not wonder at the disappearance of Johannipolis, when we have proofs that even the quadri-portico, by which the basilica was entered from the river-side, has been allowed to disappear through the negligence and slovenliness of the monks. •Pope Leo I. erected in the centre of the quadri-portico a fountain crowned by a Bacchic Kantharos, and wrote on its epistyle a brilliant epigram, inviting the faithful to purify themselves bodily and spiritually, before presenting themselves to the apostle within. When Cola di Rienzo visited the spot, towards the middle of the fourteenth century, the monument was still in good condition. He calls it "the vase of waters (cantharus aquarum), before the main entrance (of the church) of the blessed Paul." One century later the whole structure had become a heap of ruins. Fra Giocondo da Verona looked in vain for the inscription of Leo I.; he could only find a fragment "lying among the nettles and thorns" (inter orticas et spineta). The same indifference was shown towards the edifices by which the basilica was surrounded. They fell, or were overthrown, one by one.

Page 69 of 84 In 1633, when Giovanni Severano wrote his book on the Seven Churches, only one bit of ruins could be identified, the door and apse of the church of S. Stephen, to which a powerful convent had once been attached. Stranger still is the total destruction of the portico, two thousand yards long, which connected the city gate — the Porta Ostiensis — with the basilica. This portico was supported by marble columns, one thousand at least, and its roof was covered with sheets of lead. Halfway between the gate and S. Paul's, it was intersected by a church, dedicated to an Egyptian martyr, S. Menna. The church of S. Menna, the portico, its thousand columns, even its foundation walls, have been totally destroyed. A document discovered by Armellini in the archives of the Vatican says that some faint traces of the building (vestigia et parietes) could be still recognized in the time of Urban VI. This is the last mention made by an eye-witness.

Here, also, we find the evidence of the gigantic work of destruction pursued for centuries by the Romans themselves, which we have been in the habit of attributing to the barbarians alone. The barbarians have their share of responsibility in causing the abandonment and the desolation of the Campagna; they may have looted and damaged some edifices, from which there was hope of a booty; they may have profaned churches and oratories erected over the tombs of martyrs; but the wholesale destruction, the obliteration of classical and mediaeval monuments, is the work of the Romans and of their successive rulers. To them, more than to the barbarians, we owe the present condition of the Campagna, in the midst of which Rome remains like an oasis in a barren solitude.

S. Paul was executed on the Via Laurentina, near some springs called Aquae Salviae, where a memorial chapel was raised in the fifth century. Its foundations were discovered in 1867, under the present church of S. Paolo alle Tre Fontane (erected in the seventeenth century by Cardinal Aldobrandini) together with historical inscriptions written in Latin and Armenian. I have also to mention another curious discovery. The apocryphal Greek Acts of S. Paul, edited by Tischendorff assert that the apostle was beheaded near these springs under a stone pine. In 1875, while the Trappists, who are now intrusted with the care of the Abbey of the Tre Fontane, were excavating for the foundations of a water-tank behind the chapel, they found a mass of coins of Nero, together with several pine-cones fossilized by age, and by the pressure of the earth.

Tombstone of S. Paul.

Page 70 of 84 The "Liber Pontificalis," i. 178, asserts that Constantine placed the body of S. Paul in a coffin of solid bronze; but no visible trace of it is left. I had the privilege of examining the actual grave December 1, 1891, lowering myself from the fenestella {n.b. fenestella – an oval or circular opening to allow light into a dome or vault} under the altar. I found myself on a flat surface, paved with slabs of marble, on one of which (placed negligently in a slanting direction) are engraved the words: PAVLO APOSTOLO MART. . .

The inscription belongs to the fourth century. It has been illustrated since by my kind and learned friend, Prof. H. Grisar, to whom I am indebted for much valuable information on subjects which do not come exactly within my line of studies.

Page 71 of 84 Lecture Notes on the tombs of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul

Written 1913. from George Edmundson’s The Church in Rome in the First Century

The Bampton Lectures For 1913

The Church in Rome in the First Century: an examination of various controverted questions relating to its history, chronology, literature and traditions. Eight lectures preached before the University of Oxford in the year 1913 on the foundation of the late Rev. John Bampton, M.A. Canon of Salisbury

By George Edmundson, M.A. transcribed onto the web by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library Calvin College 3201 Burton St. SE Grand Rapids, MI 49546 USA http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edmundson/church.xii.v.html?highlight=paul#highlight

{skipping all eight lectures on the history of the early Christians in Rome and going directly to the point of interest:}

Note E

The tombs of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul

‘If thou wilt go to the Vatican or to the Ostian road thou wilt find the trophies of the Apostles who founded this Church.’ These words of the Roman presbyter Gaius {or Caius} (identified by Dr. Lightfoot557 with the well-known Hippolytus bishop of Portus) in his treatise against the heretic Proclus are a positive testimony to the existence at the end of the Second Century of trophies or memoriae—i.e. small oratories—over the graves of the Apostles Peter and Paul. It further indicates in what localities these visible monuments were to be found. Eusebius, to whom we are indebted for the preservation of this piece of valuable evidence, makes the further statement that the names of the Apostles were to be seen in the cemeteries of Rome in his day.558

The ‘Liber Pontificalis’ contains what appears to be an authentic record of the construction of one of these memoriae. Of bishop Anacletus (Anencletus) it is said ‘Hic memoriam Beati Petri construxit et composuit.’ The erection of these monuments may

557 Apost. Fathers , part i. vol. ii. pp. 318, 377–83. 558 Eusebius; Hist. Eccl. ii. 25. Page 72 of 84 therefore be placed in the early years of Domitian’s reign {began 81, therefore early 80s}.

The evidence from traditional sources as to the exact position of the spots where the two Apostles were martyred and afterwards buried is very detailed and complete, and, as is usual in topographical references, is accurate, even though the narratives, in which these references occur, are in the main apocryphal fictions of a late date.

The principal authorities in the case of St. Peter are as follows:

{extensive documentation follows, and finally . . . }

Let us now turn to the tomb of St. Paul on the Ostian Way. The Apocryphal Acts all declare that St. Paul as became his status as a Roman citizen suffered martyrdom by decapitation—honestiores capite puniantur, and that he was led out to a place known as Aquae Salviae, near the third mile-stone on the Ostian Way. This tradition has not been seriously disputed. In the Greek Acts the addition is made that the Apostle suffered under a pine-tree.

An extant inscription of Gregory the Great, 604 A.D., records the gift by him of a piece of land at the Aquae Salviae to the basilica of St. Paul—‘Valde incongruum ac esse durissimum videretur ut illa ei specialiter possessio non serviret in qua palmam sumens martyrii capite est truncatus ut viveret, utile iudicavimus eandem massam quae Aquas Salvias nuncupatur . . . cum Christi Gratia luminaribus deputare.’511 A memorial chapel was built here in the fifth century, whose remains were discovered in 1867 under the present Church of S. Paolo alle Tre Fontane, and in 1875 in the course of some excavations for a water tank behind this church a number of coins of Nero were found together with several pine-cones fossilised by age.

The body of St. Paul according to tradition was buried by a Christian matron of the name of Lucina in a plot of ground, which was her property, about a mile nearer to Rome. It was not a subterranean cemetery but one on the surface, and the piece of land was confined, being hemmed in between the Ostian Road and another road, which has since disappeared, known as the Via Valentiniana.512 This spot in the time of the presbyter Gaius {or Caius}, about 200 A.D., was marked like that of St. Peter on the Vatican by a memorial oratory (trophy) probably erected by Anencletus at the same time as the Petrine memoria already referred to {early 80’s}.

That the bodies of the Apostles did not continuously remain undisturbed in their first resting places is one of those traditions which can be supported by a body of evidence, leaving indeed some points doubtful and obscure, but as regards the main fact almost conclusive. In that Kalendar of the Church known as the ‘Feriale Philocalianum’ (about 354 A.D.) under the heading ‘Depositio Martyrum’ occurs the following entry:

‘III. Kal. Iul. Petri in Catacumbas et Pauli Ostense—Tusco et Basso cons.’

511 Marucchi, Elém. d’Arch. Chrét. ii. p. 74; De Rossi, Roma Sotterranea , i. p. 182; Bullet. di Arch. Crist . 1869, pp. 81 ff.; Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome , pp. 156–7. 512 Stevenson, ‘L’area di Lucina sulla Via Ostiense’ in Nuovo Bullet:. di Arch. Crist . 1898, pp. 68 ff. Page 73 of 84 The names of the Consuls fix the date as 258 A.D. and show that this entry is taken from some official source.

{ (http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-late-imperial-roman-consuls and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_late_imperial_Roman_consuls ) do list M. Nummius Tuscus and Mummius Bassus as consuls in 258.}

It is clearly unintelligible as it stands. De Rossi however discovered at Berne a Codex of the ‘Martirologium Hieronymianum’ {from Wikipedia: In its present form the Martyrologium Hieronomianum or "Martyrology of Jerome" is a popular 9th century compilation from various calendars and lists of martyrs, amended and interpolated, the names distorted and multiplied or moved from one date to another according to local cultus. which exhibits the same entry in a fuller form:

‘III. Kal. Iul. Romae natale apostolorum sanctorum Petri et Pauli—Petri in Vaticano via Aurelia Pauli vero in Via Ostensi, utrumque in Catacumbis, passi sub Nerone, Basso et Tusco consulibus.’513

This can only mean that on June 29 the Feast of the Apostles was kept in three places or stations—at the Vatican, on the Ostian Road, and in a place known as the Catacombs in memory of some event which took place in the consulate of Tuscus and Bassus, 258 A.D. The words bassi sub Nerone must be regarded as a parenthesis. The existence of these three stations is proved by a hymn of pseudo-Ambrose for June 29, as these lines show:

Tantae per urbis ambitum Stipata tendunt agmina; Trinis celebrator viis Festum sacrorum Martyrum.

Now it can be proved that these consular dates in the Kalendar signify in other cases a translation of remains, and the conclusion is that a translation of the bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul to the Catacombs took place in 258 A.D.

There are many testimonies to the fact that the bodies of the two Apostles did actually rest in the cemetery ad Catacumbas, but the authorities differ as to the period at which the translation took place and also as to the duration of time during which the relics remained in their temporary tomb. The story contained in the Apocryphal ‘Acta Petri et Pauli’ speaks of certain unknown people from the East who after the Apostles’ martyrdom attempted to carry off the bodies to their own country, but being overtaken by an earthquake the people of Rome took the bodies from them at the third milestone on the Appian Way at the place called ad Catacumbas. Here the remains were deposited for one year and seven months until tombs were built for them on the Vatican and the Ostian Way. Now this story, of which there are several slightly differing versions, is almost certainly based upon a real historical event, the translation which took place in 258. The late writers of the ‘Acta’ were utterly indifferent to chronology, and the deposition in the cemetery on the Appian Way when Tuscus and Bassus were consuls was associated with

513 Duchesne, Lib. Pont . i. p. cv. {Liber Pontificalis reference} Page 74 of 84 the martyrdoms and relegated with the accompaniment of many confused and legendary details to the time of Nero. All probability is against the story of the ‘Acta.’ Even if the Apostles were put to death at the same time, and I have shown that there is a very strong presumption that St. Peter’s death preceded that of St. Paul by two years, nothing could be more unlikely than the bringing back of their bodies to be interred in the vicinity of their places of execution when once they had been laid safely to rest in the cemetery on the Appian Way. There were as yet no sacred associations connected with the Vatican Hill and the Ostian Way to move the Roman Christians to act in the manner described in these apocryphal narratives.514

The cause of the translation of 258 A.D. is not difficult to divine, for this was the year of the outbreak of the persecution of Valerian. An Edict had been issued against the Christians, forbidding their meetings in the cemeteries. It might well be that fears were aroused lest the sacred tombs of the Apostles should be desecrated, and so the bodies were removed to a place of greater safety. The researches of archaeologists have shown that the cemetery ad Catacumbas must in those days have been admirably adapted for the purpose. It was ancient already, it lay apart from other cemeteries, and it resembled rather a pagan than a Christian place of burial (Duchesne, ‘Lib. Pont.’ cvii). It has been in recent years most carefully examined and studied and in the chamber known as the Platonia or Platoma a double tomb may still be seen, said to be that in which the bodies were placed.515 Here Damasus (366–387 A.D.) built a basilica, which until the eighth century was known as the Basilica of the Apostles, and on the walls of the Chamber he placed an inscription in verse. In the ‘Liber Pontificalis’ we read—‘Hic fecit basilicas duas: una beato Laurentio iuxta theatrum . . . et in Catacumbas ubi iacuerunt corpora sanctorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli, in quo loco platomam ipsam, ubi iacuerunt corpora sancta, versibus exornavit.’ This poem of Damasus has fortunately been preserved. The text runs thus:

Hic habitare prius sanctos cognoscere debes Nomina quisque Petri pariter Paulique requiris Discipulos oriens misit quod sponte fatemur Sanguinis ob meritum Christum qui per astra secuti Aetherios petiere sinus regnaque piorum Roma suos potius meruit defendere cives Haec Damasus vestras referat nova sidera laudes.516

Those words discipulos oriens misit may possibly have given rise to the later apocryphal fictions about the unknown men from the East, who tried to carry off the bodies of the Apostles. Damasus however here clearly means by these words the Apostles themselves, the word discipulos being used instead of Apostolos through the exigencies of the metre. He says in effect that though the East had sent the Apostles, Rome, which had been the scene of their labours and their deaths, had the best claim to retain them.

514 A letter of Gregory the Great to the Empress Constantina about 600 A.D. shows that the legend of the early translation was current in his time and accepted by him. Opp. St. Greg . ii. ep. 30. 515 Dr. A. De Waal, Die Apostelgruft ad Catacumbas an der Via Appia ; Marucchi, Le Merorie degli Apostoli Pietro e Paolo in Roma , 1903, pp. 75–92. 516 De Rossi, Inscr. Crist . ii. p. 52. Page 75 of 84 But even if it be granted that the notices in the ‘Feriale Philocalianum’ and the ‘Hieronymian Martyrology’ contain an official authentic statement that a translation of the relics to the cemetery ad Catacumbas took place in 258 A.D., as such authorities as the Abbé Duchesne, Monsignor de Waal, Professor Marucchi, and Father A. S. Barnes admit, there are other difficulties to be overcome, and they differ from one another in their interpretation of documentary evidence, and in their views as to whether there were two translations or one only, and as to the duration of the sojourn of the relics in the Platonia. The Apocryphal ‘Acta’ say that the bodies were taken to the Catacombs immediately after the martyrdom of the Apostles and were removed to the tombs that had been prepared on the Vatican and on the Ostian Way one year and seven months afterwards. The Itineraries or Pilgrim Guides of the fifth and sixth centuries make the sojourn to be forty years: ‘Et iuxta eandem viam (Appiam) ecclesia est S. Sebastiani martyris, ubi ipse dormit, et ibi aunt sepulchra Apostolorum Petri et Pauli; in quibus xl annos requiescebant (‘De locis S.S. Martyrum’); ‘Postea pervenies via Appia ad S. Sebastianum martyrem, cuius corpus iacet in inferiori loco, et ibi sunt sepulchra Apostolorum Petri et Pauli in quibus xl annos requiescebant’ (‘Salzburg Notitia’). As Duchesne and Barnes say, the term forty years is here undoubtedly intended as a round number, though the former is inclined, it seems to me, to extend it too widely.517

The exact number of forty years would bring us to an impossible date, the height of the fiercest persecution which the Christian Church had to endure—that of Diocletian. The period of one year and seven months mentioned in the Apocryphal ‘Acta’ has, I have little doubt, some historical basis, which now it is impossible to discover,518 but that the relics of the Apostles remained in the Platonia at least until the year 284 the ‘Acta’ of St. Sebastian testify. According to these ‘Acta ’ the Saint was buried in the Catacomb which still bears his name close to the Platonia because he had in a vision expressed the wish that his body might lie near the vestigia of the holy Apostles.519

There is another difficulty to be surmounted. In the biography of Pope Cornelius, 251– 253 A.D., in the ‘Liber Pontificalis’ the statement is made that at the request of a certain matron Lucina by name the bodies of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul were taken up by night; and that Lucina first buried the blessed Paul in her own ground (in praedio suo) on the Ostian Road and then that Cornelius placed the body of Peter close to the spot where he was crucified among the bodies of the holy bishops—‘in templum Apollinis, in Monte Aureo in Vaticanum palatii Neroniani iii Kai. Iul.’ Now it is clear that if the bodies of the Apostles were only brought to the cemetery ad Calacumbas in 258 A.D., they cannot have been restored to their former tombs some years earlier. Duchesne, Marucchi, and Barnes are all of opinion that this paragraph in the notice of Cornelius has been somehow misplaced.520 Further it is stated that after the martyrdom of this Pope this same Lucina gathered together his remains (cuius corpus noctu collegit) and buried it in her own ground (praedio suo) in a crypt close to the Cemetery of Callistus. Apparently

517 Duchesne ( Lib. Pont . cv and cvii) suggests a date after 313 A.D. , Barnes ( St. Peter in Rome ) 308 or 309 A.D. 518 See suggestion infra , p. 269. 519 Acta Sanctorum , Jan. 2, p. 622. 520 Duchesne, Liber Pont . i. p. 151; Marucchi, Le Memorie degli Apostoli Pietro e Paolo , p. 56; Barnes, St. Peter in Rome , pp. 116 ff. Page 76 of 84 therefore Lucina had property, which she converted into a cemetery, both on the Ostian and the Appian Way.

Now Barnes has proposed a solution of this difficulty which is both ingenious and well worthy of consideration.521 He suggests that in some worn MS. the name Marcellus has been read as Cornelius and that the passage relating to the restoration of the bodies of the Apostles to their original tombs belongs to the biography of Marcellus. The Pontificate of Marcellus is separated from that of his predecessor Marcellinus by an interregnum due to the persecution of Diocletian, and its date was probably 306–309 A.D. In the biography of this Pope there is again mention of a certain matron, Lucina, the widow of a man named Marcus. On the martyrdom of Marcellus she gathered together his remains (cuius corpus collegit) and buried it in the Cemetery of Priscilla. Lucina, it is said, gave all her property to the Church, and a comparison of the various documents seems to point to that portion of the cemetery of Priscilla on the Via Salaria Nova, where Marcellus and his successors were buried, having been the property of this Lucina. By the time of the accession of Marcellus the bodies of the Apostles had been in the Platonia nearly 50 years. The abdication of Diocletian in 305 A.D. led to peace522 being restored to the Christian Church in Rome by the advent of Maxentius to power. This then would be a very fitting time for a new pope to prepare the removal of the Apostolic relics from the catacomb to their original tombs. There is extant an inscription of Damasus523 which tells us that the severity of Marcellus to those who had lapsed in the persecution stirred up violent strife and discord leading to sedition and the shedding of blood.

Veridicus rector, lapsos quia crimina fiere Praedixit, miseris fuit omnibus hostis amarus; Hinc furor, hinc odium sequitur, discordia, lites, Seditio, caedes; solvuntur foedera pacis. Crimea ob alterius, Christum qui in pace negavit, Finibus expulsus patriae est feritate tyranni. Haec breviter Damasus voluit comperta referre Marcelli ut populus meritum cognoscere posset.

This inscription contains no reference to Marcellus having brought back the bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul to the Vatican and the Ostian Way, but the brevity of the poetical encomium of Damasus, as he himself states, made him confine himself to praising those actions of the bishop which were the cause of the suffering and exile that befell him.524

521 St. Peter in Rome , pp. 119–127. 522 Gibbon, Decline and Fall , vol. ii. p. 161: ‘The revolt of Maxentius immediately restored peace to the Churches of Italy and Africa, and the same tyrant who oppressed every other class of his subjects showed himself just, humane, and even partial towards the afflicted Christians.’ 523 De Rossi, Inscr. Crist . ii. pp. 62, 103, 138. 524 That there is confusion in the traditions relating to Cornelius and Marcellus is evident from the fact that in the Liber Pontificalis Cornelius is beheaded in Rome, in the Liberian Catalogue in exile at Centumcellis, cum gloria dormitionem accepit . Damasus makes Marcellus apparently die in exile. In the Liber Pontificalis he is condemned to tend horses in stables at Rome and dies of ill-usage. The inscription of Damasus is however authentic, as is the extant slab containing the words Cornelius Martyr, in the crypt where this Pope was buried. Page 77 of 84 I would suggest, however, that in these discords and tumults, to which the inscription refers, may be found perhaps an explanation of the delay of one year and seven months in the entombment of the Apostles of which the Apocryphal ‘Acta’ (Passio Petri el Pauli) speak. The strange passage, which tells of how ‘while the bodies of the Apostles were being carried off by the Greeks to be taken to the East, there was a great earthquake and the Roman people ran out and seized them in the place which is called Catacumba at the third milestone on the Via Appia, and the bodies were kept there for one year and seven months, until the places were built in which their bodies were placed, and then they were brought back with glory of hymns and were deposited that of St. Peter in the Vatican and that of St. Paul on the Ostian Way at the second milestone,’ may well be a distorted and misdated version of events that really took place in the days of Marcellus. Let us suppose that on the first anniversary day of the Apostles, June 29, after the accession of Maxentius an attempt was made to remove the relics from the Catacombs, but that it was frustrated by the sudden attack of a hostile crowd, from whose hands the bodies were with difficulty rescued and taken back to the Platonia. Then about a year and a half later after all preparations had been carefully made the translation was successfully carried out. Now in the ‘Liberian Catalogue’ under the heading depositio martyrum the entry occurs ‘viii. kl. Martias fatale Petri de Cathedra,’ and this commemoration Professor Marucchi states was according to ancient documents observed from the Fourth century with such feasting that it gained the popular name of ‘dies sancti Petri epularum.’525 Further in the Laterculum of Silvias, 448 A.D., it is said that in earlier times this commemoration, held on February 22, was a joint festival of SS. Peter and Paul.526 Was it not then on this date that after a year and seven months the actual translation took place?

What may be called the Marcellus hypothesis remains however little more than a plausible conjecture, for no positive evidence can be brought forward to establish its truth.

Nevertheless an examination of the Apocryphal ‘Acta’ reveals the fact that a certain Marcellus was supposed to be the writer of the ‘Passio Petri et Pauli’ from which the extract quoted above about the attempt to carry off the Apostles’ bodies, and about their lying for a year and seven months in the Catacombs, is taken. Marcellus it is who after the martyrdom takes the lead in burying St. Peter ‘near the Naumachia in the place called the Vatican.’ Lipsius in his work on the Apostolic legends devotes a whole section to what he styles ‘der sogenannte Marcellustext.’527

Nor is this all. On late authority St. Paul was said to have been buried by a certain matron Lucina in her own property (in praedio suo) on the Ostian Way,528 In the ‘Liber Pontificalis’ the Lucina of the Cornelius biography buries St. Paul on the return from the Catacombs on the Ostian Way ‘in praedio suo.’ The Lucina of the Marcellus biography is the widow of Marcus, in the ‘Passio Petri et Pauli’ Marcus is the father of Marcellus. In

525 Marucchi, Elém. d’Arch. Chrét . ii. pp. 453–6; De Rossi, Bullett. d. Arch. Crist . 1890, p. 72 ff. 526 Blunt, Annot. Book of Common Prayer (‘The Conversion of St. Paul’) 527 Lipsius, Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden , 2er Band 1e Hälfte, pp. 284–386. One MS. Cod. Urbin . is headed—‘ III. Kl. Iulii Passio beatorum Petri et Pauli a Marcello discipulo Petri edita quique idem interfuit passioni. ’ 528 De Rossi, Roma Sotterranea , ii. p. 262; Stevenson, ‘L’area di Lucina sulla Via Ostiense,’ Nuovo Bullett . 1898, p. 60 ff. Page 78 of 84 all probability the three Lucinas are one and the same person, whose activity was connected with the life of Pope Marcellus. If this should be so, it will at once appear that a strong case is made for placing the return of the relics from the Platonia in the pontificate of Marcellus, about 307 A.D.

That the bodies of the Apostles were believed to lie in the tombs on the Vatican and on the Ostian Way when Constantine determined to erect basilicas over their remains is certain. The exact year in which these were built is unknown, except that it was in the Pontificate of Pope Silvester, 314–335. The words of the ‘Liber Pontificalis’ (Duchesne, 176 and 178) tell us that the object of the Emperor was to do honour to the sacred tombs of the Apostles. The sarcophagus which contained the body of St. Peter he enclosed in bronze from Cyprus and fixed it at the central point of a cubical chamber of masonry—‘cuius loculum undique aere Cypro conclusit, quod est immobile; ad caput, pedes V; ad pedes, pedes V; ad latus dextrum, pedes V; ad latus sinistrum, pedes V; subter, pedes V; supra, pedes V; sic inclusit corpus beati Petri et recondit.’ He then placed on the coffin a cross of gold (with an inscription)—‘super corpus Petri, supra aera quod conclusit, fecit crucem ex auro purissimo, pens. lib. cl. in mensuram loci, ubi scriptum est hoc CONSTANTINVS AVGVSTVS ET HELENA AVGVSTA HANC DOMVM REGALEM SIMILI FVLGORE CORVSCANS AVLA CIRCVMDAT, scriptum ex litteris nigellis in cruce ipsa.’

Constantine likewise built a basilica on the Ostian Way to the memory of St. Paul, whose sarcophagus was, like St. Peter’s, enclosed in bronze and a cross of gold placed over it ‘cuius corpus ita recondit in aere et conclusit sicut beati Petri . . . et crucem auream super locum beati Pauli apostoli posuit pens. lib. cl.’ The scrupulous care that was taken not to disturb the tombs in any way was conspicuously shown in the instance of the Constantinian basilica of St. Paul. It was the custom in the early basilicas that the altar upon the tomb of the saint or martyr to whom the church was dedicated should be placed at the west end at the central point of the chord of an apse round which the clergy sat on either side of the bishop or other dignitary. The Celebrant stood with his back to this apse facing eastward with the congregation before him in the nave. Now the tomb of St. Paul lay so near to the Ostian Way, one of the main roads from Rome, that this first basilica was of diminutive proportions. Before however many years were past it was felt that so small a church was unworthy of St. Paul, and another basilica on the same scale as that of St. Peter was erected in 386 A.D. To effect this without touching the tomb and altar led to a completely new departure in the internal arrangements of the basilica, a new departure that was to have permanent results by being generally adopted.529 The church was reversed, the apse was now placed at the east end, but the celebrant still stood on the west side of the altar facing eastwards, with result that he looked towards the clergy in the apse and had his back to the congregation in the nave: a custom which has since become universal. Another innovation arose from the desire to cover all the consecrated ground, where the first basilica had stood, and a transverse nave at right angles to the main nave was built, and thus came into existence in 386 A.D. the earliest known example of a cruciform church. No stronger evidence could be brought forward to show the scrupulous and

529 Barnes, St. Peter in Rome , p. 215 ff.; Belloni, Della grandezza et la disposizione della primitiva Basilica Ostiense . Page 79 of 84 reverential care with which the early Christians cherished and guarded the burial places of their dead. In this they were aided by the laws of the State, which declared every tomb to be ‘locus sacer, locus religiosus,’ and there is seen to be no impossibility in the assumption that the sarcophagi which Constantine enclosed in bronze really contained the bodies of the Apostles. Whatever care was bestowed on other tombs, those of St. Peter and of St. Paul would from the first be regarded with exceptional veneration, and be watched over and tended with peculiar devotion, so that it would be most unlikely that those who translated the relics to the catacombs in 258 A.D. should have made any mistake.

The question whether these sarcophagi encased in bronze by Constantine are still in existence, or whether they were destroyed by the Saracens in 846 A.D. or by the soldiery of Bourbon in 1527, can only be answered positively by excavations which it may safely be said will never be undertaken. Probability on the whole seems to be that, though the shrines were plundered and destroyed, the tombs themselves were untouched. If the story told by Bonanni,530 who professes to be giving from the MS. of a contemporary of the event (Torrigio) the evidence of eyewitnesses, be true, then in some alterations that were being made in 1594 by the orders of Pope Clement VIII to the altar of the Confession an aperture was opened through which the sarcophagus of St. Peter with the gold cross gleaming upon it was seen by the Pope himself, and Cardinals Bellarmine, Antoniano and Sfondrato. By Clement’s command the aperture was filled up with cement and has not been opened since. Further in the excavations by Paul V in 1615 and by Urban VIIl in 1626, in the immediate vicinity of the shrine, conclusive evidence was obtained that the early Christian sepulchres which clustered round the sacred resting place of the Apostle had never been disturbed.

In the case of St. Paul’s shrine a very interesting discovery made in 1835, when the basilica was being rebuilt after the great fire of 1823, points to the conclusion that the tomb had not been interfered with since the fourth century. A slab of marble measuring seven feet by four feet was uncovered with the simple inscription

PAVLO APOSTOLO MART.

The opinion of archaeologists who have examined the slab is unanimous that the character of the inscription and the form of the letters fix the date as belonging to the age of Constantine. Under the name531 is a round aperture, the ancient billicum confessionis, sometimes called the fenestrella or little window, through which handkerchiefs or other objects were lowered so as to be hallowed by contact with the sarcophagus.

530 Bonanni, Temp. Vatic. Historia , published in 1696, p. 149. 531 There are also two square apertures of later date, purpose unknown.

Page 80 of 84 St. Paul’s Outside the Walls.

A brief history from Wikipedia. http://romanchurches.wikia.com/wiki/San_Paolo_fuori_le_Mura

San Paolo fuori le Mura is a patriarchal basilica dedicated to St Paul, near the site of his tomb.

After his execution, St Paul was buried in a cemetery at this site, about two kilometres from the city walls by the road to Ostia. A shrine, or cella memoriae, was soon erected, and many early Christians came to venerate the Apostle.

The first church here was, according to the Liber Pontificalis, built by Emperor Constantine and consecrated on 18 November 324. It was a small church, built over the grave of St Paul. Between 384 and 386, Emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius and Arcadius demolished the church and built a large basilica. The architect was Cyriades. According to the inscription on the triumphal arch, it was consecrated in 390 by Siricius, and completed in 395 under Emperor Honorius. Although heavily restored, not least after it was damaged by fire, the present basilica looks much the same as it did in the 4th century.

Pope St Leo the Great (440–461) started restoring the church. About 50 years later, Pope St Symmachus (498–514) ordered the reconstruction of the apse, which was unsafe. Several more restorations and changes were carried out, under Pope St Gregory the Great (the transept), Pope Sergius I (the roof and some rooms), Pope Hadrian I (the aisles and atrium) and Pope Leo III (the transept, roof and floor, and added apse mosaic).

In 883, the walls and tower encircling the church were completed. This was knows as the "Johannipolis" (in Italian Giovannipoli), or "City of John" after Pope John VIII, and was built to protect the church from Lombards and Saracens. The defence works were tested in 1083–1084, when they withstood several attacks by Emperor Henry IV.

Fire broke out in 1115, and Pope Innocent II had a wall with columns built in the transept to support the unsafe roof. The transept was divided into two aisles by this wall.

Disaster struck again in 1349, when an earthquake badly damaged the basilica and destroyed the bell-tower and part of the portico. Pope Clement VI had the damages repaired.

Major restorations started under Pope Boniface IX, when he allowed all donations to the church to be used for repairs. Pope Martin V continued the work, and in 1426 the work was intensified under the rector of the church, Gabriele Condulmer, later Pope Eugene IV.

In 1653 Francesco Borromini designed plans for a total restructuring of the church. Due to a lack of funds, only the roof was changed under Pope Clement X.

Page 81 of 84 At the end of the Holy Year of 1700, the Tiber flooded the area, and the basilica could not be visited. Its functions for the Jubilee were transferred to Santa Maria in Trastevere.

The portico was rebuilt in 1724 in preparation for the Holy Year of 1725 by Antonio Canevari. The former one, recently built by Alessandro Specchi, had collapsed on 1 May 1724. The ancient narthex was demolished at this time, and columns from the early four- sided portico were removed. At the same time, a series of other restorations were completed.

On the night between 15 and 16 July 1823, large parts of the basilica was damaged by fire. It was probably started by a careless worker while the roof was repaired. The atrium and more than half of of the nave were completely destroyed. It is said that Pope Pius VII, who was very ill and died on 20 August that year, was never told what had happened, after advice from his most trusted fellows such as the Secretary of State, Cardinal Consalvi.

Pope Leo XII was elected on 18 November 1823 and he decided to restore the basilica to its former glory rather than replace it with a new church in a more modern style. The first architect to lead the rebuilding was Pasquale Belli; Giuseppe Valadier had been appointed first but his plans for radical changes were eventually rejected and he was removed from the project in November 1825. Salvi, Paccagnini and Andrea Alippi were appointed as Belli's assistents. Work started in 1826, after a collection had been taken. Pope Gregory XVI took a great interest in the rebuilding; he was elected at the time when the first of the eighty columns in the nave was erected. In 1833 Luigi Poletta became the new chief architect. He was assisted by Bosio, Camporese and Virgino Vespigniani.

The high altar was re-consecrated on 5 October 1840 by Pope Gregory XVI. At that time, the nave was nowhere near completion, and only the transept could be used. The rebuilding would continue well into the 20th century.



Ancient cemetery

Under the covered building in the middle of the road outside the church are tombs of the cemetery in which St Paul was buried. It was reported on December 7th 2006 that Giorgio Filippi, an archeologist and inscriptions expert at the Vatican Museums and working for the Vatican, had unearthed a marble sarcophagus dating from "at least 390" as they worked to excavate the ancient crypt beneath the church. The sarcophagus has Paolo Apostolo Martyr (Paul Apostle Martyr) written on it and is very likely to contain the remains of Saint Paul who was executed by the Emperor Nero in 65AD.

In 2002 and 2003, Filippi examined the sarcophagus after having removed pavement stones to access chambers below the bascilica. Three vertical holes leading down to the lid were found, one of which is closed but thought to have lead directly into the sarcophagus. This was likely used to allow objects to come into contact with the remains of St. Paul in order to create secondary relics. These were popular in the late fourth

Page 82 of 84 century after Emperor Theodosius banned the trade of corporal relics. The New Testament states in Acts 19:11-12 "God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them."

Page 83 of 84 Photo Gallery: San Paolo fuori le Mura, Rome

A gallery of photos taken recently. from

(http://sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-san-paolo-pictures/index.htm )

A gallery of 217 photos to accompany the article on the Basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura (St. Paul Outside the Walls), a major basilica containing the relics of the Apostle Paul in Rome, Italy.

Aside from the first few general images, the photo tour begins on the west at the magnificent quadriportico, then proceeds through the basilica interior to the Chapel of the Reliquaries, Cloister, and Pinoteca.

All photos were taken by the author and © Sacred Destinations unless otherwise indicated.

Enjoy!

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