John and Paul

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The martyrdom of John and Paul, by Guercino, 1630-2.

John and Paul ((Italian) Giovanni e Paolo) are saints in the Roman Catholic Church. They were martyred at Rome on 26 June. They should not be confused with the famous apostles of the same name (see Saint Paul; Saint John the Apostle). The basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Rome is dedicated to them, as well as the Basilica di San Zanipolo in Venice ("Zanipolo" is a Venetian corruption of "Giovanni e Paolo"). The year of their martyrdom is uncertain according to their Acts; it occurred under Julian the Apostate (361-3).

In the second half of the fourth century, Byzantius, the Roman senator, and Saint Pammachius, his son, fashioned their house on the Cælian Hill into a Christian basilica. In the fifth century the presbyteri tituli Byzantii (priests of the church of Byzantius) are mentioned in an inscription and among the signatures of the Roman Council of 499. The church was also called the titulus Pammachii after Byzantius's son, the pious friend of St. Jerome.

The original Roman house below the present-day Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo

In the ancient apartments on the ground-floor of the house of Byzantius, which were still retained under the basilica, the tomb of two Roman martyrs, John and Paul, was the object of veneration as early as the fifth century.

The Sacramentarium Leonianum already indicates in the preface to the feast of the saints, that they rested within the city walls ("Sacr. Leon.", ed. Feltoe, Cambridge, 1896, 34), while, in one of the early itineraries to the tombs of the Roman martyrs, their grave is assigned to the church on the Cælian (De rossi, "Roma sotterrania", I, 138, 175).

The titulus Byzantii or Pammachii was consequently known at a very early date by the names of the two martyrs (titulus SS. Joannis et Pauli). That the two saints are martyrs of the Roman Church is historically certain; as to how and when their bodies found a resting-place in the house of Pammachius under the basilica, we only know that it certainly occurred in the fourth century. The year and circumstances of their martyrdom are likewise unknown.

1 Acts
2 Cult in Venice
3 Saints John and Paul's Day
4 External links

[edit] Acts

According to their Acts, which are of a purely legendary character and without historical foundation, the martyrs were eunuchs of Constantina, daughter of Constantine the Great, and became acquainted with a certain Gallicanus, who built a church in Ostia. At the command of Julian the Apostate, they were beheaded secretly by Terentianus in their house on the Cælian, where their church was subsequently erected, and where they themselves were buried.

The rooms on the ground-floor of the above-mentioned house of Pammachius were rediscovered under the Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Rome. They are decorated with important and interesting frescoes, while the original tomb (confessio) of Sts. John and Paul is covered with paintings of which the martyrs are the subject. The rooms and the tomb form one of the most important early Christian memorials in Rome.

Since the erection of the basilica, the two saints have been greatly venerated, and their names have been inserted in the Canon of the Mass.

Their feast is kept on 26 June.

The Acts of Saints John and Paul are also connected with the legend of St Bibiana, which has has no historical claim to belief.