Pilgrimage series: St. Paul Outside the Walls

Editor's note: Tenth in a series on the sacred places and tombs of saints included in The Compass pilgrimage to Rome and Paris that retired Green Bay Bishop Robert Banks will lead May 3-13. (More information on pilgrimage)

By Tony Staley

	Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls What: One of Rome's four major basilicas When: Original was built in 324 by Constantine; replaced in 386 by Theodosius; and reconstructed in 1825 by Pope Leo XII after it was destroyed by fire in 1823 Where: Outside the Aurelian Wall in Rome

The fourth day of touring in Italy, the pilgrims will go to St. Paul Outside the Walls, the last of the four major basilicas of Rome they will visit (St. Peter's, St. John Lateran and St. Mary Major are the other three).

St. Paul Outside (or Without) the Walls sits on land considered Vatican territory. It ranks behind St. Peter's as Rome's second-largest church (St. Paul had been the largest until the new St. Peter's was built in the 16th century). The "walls" it is outside is the Aurelian Wall, which Marcus Aurelius built in the 3rd century to protect against barbarian invasions.

Emperor Constantine founded the basilica at the spot where St. Paul was beheaded. Early Christians had built a shrine there in memory of the man who went from a tireless persecutor of Christians to the equally tireless Apostle of the Gentiles.

The basilica is at a place called The Three Fountains because legend says three springs emerged from where Paul's head hit the ground. A statue in front of the basilica shows Paul holding the sword used on him.

The small first church was consecrated on Nov. 18, 324. Emperor Theodosius demolished it in 386 to build a larger basilica. The inscription on its triumphal arch says Pope Siricius consecrated it in 390, although Emperor Honorius did not finish it until 395. More than 1,600 years later, the basilica looks much as it did then.

Over the centuries, different popes placed the basilica under the care of various groups of monks. The walls and tower encircling the church were completed in 883 to protect it from invading Lombards and Saracens. The area, known as "Johannipolis" or "City of John," was named for Pope John VIII (872-882). The walls withstood several attacks by Emperor Henry IV in 1083-1084.

The monastery cloisters were built from 1220 to 1241.

On July 15, 1823, a negligent worker repairing the lead on the roof started a fire that destroyed the basilica - the only Rome church that had kept its original character for 1,435 years.

Because Pope Pius VII (1800-1823) was gravely ill, he was not even told of the fire. After the election of Pope Leo XII in November 1823 he decided to restore the basilica as it had been rather than replace it with a modern church. Work began in 1826.

The whole world is said to have contributed to the restoration. The Viceroy of Egypt sent alabaster pillars, the Emperor of Russia gave malachite and lapis lazuli for the tabernacle. The Italian government completed the facade and declared the church a national monument. The basilica reopened in 1840 and Pope Pius IX reconsecrated it in 1855.

The only portions of the basilica left from the 4th century are the interior portion of the apse, its triumphal arch and mosaics. Parts of the door dating to 1070, the baldachino, some additional mosaics and a tabernacle, all from the 13th century, also survived the 1823 fire.

The basilica's windows, which from the inside look like stained glass, are made of translucent alabaster.

On Dec. 11, 2006, the Vatican announced that several feet under the basilica's main altar it had found a roughly cut marble sarcophagus beneath a historic inscription that reads: "Paul Apostle Martyr." One end of the sarcophagus can be seen; the rest remains buried under building material.

(Staley is a retired editor of The Compass.)

Next: Catacombs of St. Callistus, Rome