
During our 1991 trip to Rome my wife and I focused on the churches of the early Christian Era, and that turned out to be a most interesting and informative project. One of the places we visited is known as San Paulo furori il Muri, or St. Paul’s outside the walls. It was so named because it stands outside the ancient walls of Rome, the walls that were built before the ones that stand today, built by the emperor Aurelius in the fifth century.
The current church is a replacement of the original which was destroyed by a fire in 1835; however, the reconstruction was faithful to the original and allows us to see the church in a much more pristine condition than the original would have been today. Parts of the original church, however, remain, particularly the cloister where the sculptures and décor provide an example of fifth century architecture.
The significance of the site is that presumably it is the location of the very spot where the apostle Paul was beheaded during the Neronian persecution. Executions were forbidden within the city walls; hence, Paul was taken outside the city walls to be beheaded. (The current walls enclosed a much larger space, and thus, the church today stands within them.)
How was this identification made? A large slab of stone was found at the location with the inscription: Paulo Apostolo et Martyro (Paul, apostle and martyr). The provenance of the slab has not been determined, but assuming it is accurate, we may accept the tradition that Paul died here. Of course, the words are Italian and not Latin; thus, the inscription would date from the Medieval period after Latin had developed into vernacular Italian.
Yet, given the reasonableness of the tradition, I felt comfortable with the thought that I stood at the place where the apostle to the Gentiles ended his earthly sojourn. I looked up at the statue of Paul placed at the entrance of the church and facing outward, and thought of what may have transpired here.
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