The Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls
Image by Wisconsin Denizen
The Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls or St Paul-without-the-Walls (Italian: Basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura) is one of four churches considered to be the great ancient basilicas of Rome. As well as St Paul’s, the Roman Catholic Church counts among them St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Peter’s.
The basilica was founded by the Roman Emperor Constantine I over the burial place of Saint Paul, where it was said that, after the Apostle’s execution, his followers erected a memorial, called a cella memoriae, over his grave. This first edifice was expanded under Valentinian I.
In 386, Emperor Theodosius I began the erection of a much larger and more beautiful basilica with a nave and four aisles with a transept; the work including the mosaics was not completed till the pontificate of Leo I. In the 5th century it was even larger than the Old St. Peter’s Basilica. The Christian poet Prudentius, who saw it at the time of emperor Honorius, describes the splendours of the monument in a few, expressive lines. As it was dedicated also to Saints Taurinus and Herculanus, martyrs of Ostia in the 5th century, it was called the basilica trium Dominorum ("basilica of Three Lords").
Under Gregory the Great (590-604) the basilica was again extensively modified: the pavement was raised, in order to place the altar directly over Paul’s tomb. A confession permitted the access to the Apostle’s sepulcher. In that period there were two monasteries near the basilica: St. Aristus’s for men and St. Stefano’s for women. Masses were carried out by a special body of clerics instituted by Pope Simplicius. In the course of time the monasteries and the clergy of the basilica declined; Pope Saint Gregory II restored the former and entrusted the monks with the care of the basilica.
As it lay outside the Aurelian Walls, the basilica was damaged during the Saracen invasions in the 9th century. In consequence of this Pope John VIII fortified the basilica, the monastery, and the dwellings of the peasantry, forming the town of Joannispolis (Italian: Giovannipoli: it existed until 1348 when an earthquake totally destroyed it.
In 937, when Saint Odo of Cluny came to Rome, Alberic II of Spoleto, Patrician of Rome, entrusted the monastery and basilica to his congregation and Odo placed Balduino of Monte Cassino in charge. Pope Gregory VII was abbot of the monastery and in his time Pantaleone of Amalfi presented the bronze doors of the basilica maior, which were executed by Constantinopolitan artists. Pope Martin V entrusted it to the monks of the Congregation of Monte Cassino. It was then made an abbey nullius. The jurisdiction of the abbot extended over the districts of Civitella San Paolo, Leprignano and Nazzano, all of which formed parishes; the parish of San Paolo in Rome, however, is under the jurisdiction of the cardinal vicar.
The graceful cloister of the monastery was erected between 1220 and 1241.
From 1215 until 1964 it was the seat of the Latin Patriarch of Alexandria.
