Dazzling Discoveries

The "titular churches" were Christianity's
earliest places of worship. Perhaps
the earliest of all was the Basilica SS.
Giovanni e Paolo on the Coelian Hill

Perhaps the greatest thrill for any visitor to the churches of Rome is stepping into rooms where, two millennia before our times, the first Christians professed their new faith and often awaited suffering and death.

Long before the Emperor Constantine ended the era of persecutions (Edict of Milan, 313), the faithful gathered in the homes of wealthy Roman Christians. After the legalization of Christianity the domus ecclesiae, or house churches, became the official property of the Christian community. These edifices, identified with a wooden plate, or titulus, above the front door, were then referred to as tituli, in honor of their original owners. In the fourth century, with the triumph of Christianity over paganism, splendid basilicas were built over the earlier domus ecclesiae for the liturgical purposes of the expanding Christian population.

There were 25 tituli - Rome's original parish churches. The Liber Pontificalis ( a history of the earliest Popes composed in the 6th century from earlier sources) relates that Pope Cletus (76-88), following St. Peter's instructions, ordained 25 presbyters, or senior priests, and that Pope Evaristus (97-105) assigned the 25 presbyters to 25 titular churches. The titular churches later became associated with cardinal priests, and down through the ages cardinals have taken their titles from them.

It is most amazing that the 25 original parish churches (confirmed by the Church synods of 499 and 595) still exist and may be visited by the pilgrim to Rome! Inside the Vatican has already explored some of these evocative sites.

We have descended to the excavated villa of the Roman Consul Titus Flavius Clemens (San Clemente, April 1994), visited churches over the homes of martyred virgins (S. Cecilia, November 1996; S. Susanna, December 1995) and courageous Roman matrons (S. Pudenziana and S. Prassede, May 1994; S. Sabina, June 1994), and admired buildings which belonged to Rome's first converts in Trastevere (S. Crisogono, January 1997; S. Maria in Trastevere, October, 1993). Chronological inventories usually list the present-day Basilica of SS. Giovanni e Paolo (Sts. John and Paul) as the earliest of Rome's titular churches (J. P. Kirsch,1918; A. Testini, 1980). It is there we will direct our steps this month.

Time Stands Still

High on the Coelian Hill (the former site of Nero's Golden Palace), hidden by greenery, surrounded by country gardens and orchards, preceded by mossy walls and the untidy ruins of aqueducts and classical arches, the Basilica of SS. Giovanni e Paolo seems to be isolated in time and space. The complex of medieval structures rises above a cobblestone piazza, far from tourists and traffic, and fortuitously preserved from the ravages of modern "improvements."

This is a wonderful place to sit and savor the spirit of another - perhaps more spiritual - age. The church spreads it broad portico across one entire side of the square. Eight dignified classical columns support the 12th-century porch, as well as a high (13th-century) brick gallery. Above all this soars the triangular summit of the basilica's original facade.

Is it possible that a Christian edifice of this height, now dwarfing all the buildings of the surrounding area, could have been built in Christianity's infancy?

Another side of the piazza is walled by a medieval monastery with mullioned Gothic windows. On the corner, the tall Romanesque belfry (12th century) is decorated by colored ceramic tiles in the form of crosses or roundels; its base is formed by travertine blocks taken from the close-by Temple of Claudius (emperor 41-54). (The graceful dome emerging from behind the basilica is actually from the 19th century chapel to St. Paul of the Cross.)

Before entering the basilica, a visitor should go to the back of the church for a truly lovely view. Descending a narrow road which still bears its Roman name, Clivus Scauri, and passing under a series of medieval arches, we glance up at the Lombard-style decorative arcade of the apse, unique in Rome. Across the hill are the ruins of the Palatine. On one side of the church a tablet tells us that this is the house (discovered in 1887) of two early Christian martyrs. And here we can begin our story.

Martyrs' Testimony

The earliest record of Sts. John and Paul, to whom our church is dedicated, comes from a 6th-century devotional text known as the passio ("passion"), which describes their life and martyrdom. According to this, they (probably brothers) had been officers in the service of Constantine (emperor 306-337), and guardians of his daughter Constantia. During a particularly fierce military campaign, the brothers revealed themselves as Christians to their superior officer, Gallicanus, and by their prayers won a decisive victory for his beleaguered legion. Thus, upon Constantine's death (337), they were allowed to retire in wealth and renown to their luxurious home on the Coelian Hill. With the accession of the Emperor Julian the Apostate (emperor 360-363), who returned to paganism and persecution of Christians, John and Paul were called back to military action. Refusing to serve the "idolatrous" court, the brothers were beheaded in their home (361) and secretly buried by other pious Christians. A later addition to the passio states that the priest Crispus, the cleric Crispinian, and the matron Benedicta were later found praying at the brothers' tomb, beheaded, and buried on the same spot.

Modern scholars often disparage the passio as fervent fantasy. However, the fact that the brother-martyrs' grave almost immediately became a sanctuary of devotion and pilgrimage, and that an imposing basilica was built here not long after their death, seemed to vindicate tradition. If that were not enough, the 1887 discovery of a sumptuous Roman house under the church, and consistent discoveries from then until 1958, appear to confirm that we are, indeed, in the very rooms of two venerated early Christian martyrs.

Excavations below the Basilica SS. Giovanni e Paolo reveal a complex of republican to imperial age Roman structures (1st to 3rd centuries), including shops (facing the Clivus Scauri), a thermal establishment, and a rich villa (or several villas) of at least 20 rooms. We can descend to this ancient subterranean world from inside the basilica. Grilled bridges with railings lead us over dizzying arches and rooms on at least three levels to the nympheum, an indoor water-garden with fountain, fine mosaic floor, and a truly beautiful pagan marine fresco (2nd century) in subaqueous hues. The adjacent triclinium, or dining room, is also pagan in spirit, with its (2nd-3rd-centuries) border of handsome youths, cavorting cupids, and realistically observed birds, ducks and peacocks. In the tablinum, or reception room, we finally discover, up in a corner, an obviously Christian symbol: an orante, or tunic-clad figure with arms outstretched in prayer (3rd century).

And then, by a short staircase, we arrive at our most important discovery: the oratory, the assumed burial place of the brother-martyrs John and Paul. This tiny room contains (4th-century) frescoes showing, on the upper left wall, the arrest by soldiers, and, on the upper right wall, the beheading of two men and a woman. It is believed that these represent Crispus, Crispinian, and Benedicta (see above), and that the main portrayal of John's and Paul's martyrdom had been destroyed or lost. On the lower left and right walls are painted two unidentified males and two unidentified females. Single figures depicted on the shrine's front wall are assumed to be Sts. John and Paul, and another figure worshipped by bowing figures may be Christ.

Several bodies were found in the oratory area, an exceptional phenomenon for Rome, where burials and cremations were forbidden by law within the city walls. (See our articles on the Catacombs, October 1996, August 1996, and January 1995). The martyrs' sanctuary was connected to the church above by a shaft-like structure. In 1558, the saints' relics were brought to the upper church, and, in 1677, placed in a porphyry urn under the main altar. Relics of another 4th-century Roman martyr, Saturnius, are located in the first chapel on the right after entering the church..

The Titular Church

Apparently, soon after our saints' martyrdom, their villa was used as a house church. This explains the frescoes and the care taken for the burial site. And according to our earliest records, this became the Titulus Byzantiis named after the subsequent owner, the Roman Senator Byzantius who donated the edifice to Christians for their worship.

If we ascend to the church above we come to the site of the basilica, built (around 398) above the domus ecclesiae by Byzantius' son, Pammachius, and for some time thereafter known as the Titulus Pammachii (synod listing of 499). We know from Pammachius' correspondence with St. Jerome, a personal friend, that after many years of public service as a Roman senator, he (Pammachius) gave his money to the poor and retired to a life of seclusion and prayer. A 5th-century inscription found in the church also indicated Pammachius as the founder.

The basilica had a rough start - sacked by Alaric and the Visigoths in 410, and soon after (442) damaged by an earthquake. We can see evidence of these disasters in the gashes running across the high-up portion of the original facade. The basilica was reconstructed by Pope Leo I (440-461). In the synod listing of 595, the church already appeared as the Basilica of SS. Johanis e Pauli. It was again sacked (1084) by the Normans under Robert Guiscard. Pope Paschal II (1099-1118) began renovations and construction of the monastery and belfry, completed by Cardinal Giovanni Conti of Sutri (c. 1150), who honored himself with a large inscription on the portico architrave.

The interior of SS. Giovanni e Paolo today bears little resemblance to Pammachius' 4th-century basilica or Paschal's medieval reconstruction. Gutted and remodeled in the early 18th century (under Cardinal Fabrizio Paolucci, from 1715-1718), the church now has a late Baroque style and spirit. The Passionist Congregation serves the church since the late 18th century. The huge domed chapel off the right aisle (built in 1867) is dedicated to their founder, St. John of the Cross (1694-1775). Cardinal Francis Spellman, titular of the church from 1946-1967, with the help of American millionaire, Joseph Kennedy, restored the facade to its medieval state and underwrote excavations of the domus ecclesiae.

Dazzling Discoveries

The Basilica of SS. Giovanni e Paolo is still very beautiful. In fact, this writer, usually so critical of church refurbishings, was completely enchanted by these, both interior and exterior. Perhaps it was the way the light streamed past the Romanesque lions guarding the entrance portal, through two original 4th-century columns, and across the 13th-century cosmatesque pavement. Undoubtedly the kindness and enthusiasm of the sacristan, Passionist Padre Vincenzo played its part. As if by magic, an almost-heavenly blue-white light gradually filled the interior, from what seemed like hundreds of crystal chandeliers (actually only 35).

Father Vincenzo says this type of illumination is unique in Rome (made possible by generous assistance from the present titular cardinal, John O'Connor, and his New York City diocese). It certainly transformed Pomarancio's apsidal vault fresco (1588) of The Trinity in Glory, as well as otherwise mediocre paintings (early 16th century) below of Sts. John and Paul by Giacomo Triga, into pastel rainbows. Vincenzo also showed us two further treasures: Antoniazzo Romano's 1455 picture of the Madonna and Child with SS. John and Paul, located in the sacristy; and a "secret" Byzantine fresco (in an almost inaccessible closet-like room behind the altar) Christ With Apostles, datable to 1255 - a period in Roman art from which very litle has survived.

Although surrounded by an 18th-century shell, we easily recall that we are in Pammachius' ancient titular church honoring an early martyrs' sanctuary. To the right of the central nave, a walled-in section of the pavement marks the locus martyrii , the very place below where the brother-saints John and Paul were martyred and buried in their own home.