Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us As We Honor St. Peters Basilica

Stand In The Gap With Us As We Honor  Churches named after  Saints Peter aand Paul 11/18/2023

St. Peter’s is probably the most famous church in Christendom.

Massive in scale and a veritable museum of art and architecture,it began on a much humbler scale.

Vatican Hill was a simple cemetery where believers gathered at Saint Peter’s tomb to pray. In 319, Constantine built a basilica on the site that stood for more than a thousand years until, despite numerous restorations, it threatened to collapse. In 1506,

Pope Julius II ordered it razed and reconstructed, but the new basilica was not completed and dedicated for more than two centuries.

St. Paul’s Outside-the-Walls stands near the Abaazia delle Tre Fontane, where Saint Paul is believed to have been beheaded. The largest church in Rome until St. Peter’s was rebuilt, the basilica also rises over the traditional site of its namesake’s grave. The most recent edifice was constructed after a fire in 1823. The first basilica was also Constantine’s doing.

Constantine’s building projects enticed the first of acenturies-long parade of pilgrims to Rome.

From the time the basilicas were first built until the empire crumbled under “barbarian” invasions,

the two churches, although miles apart, were linked by a roofed colonnade of marble columns.

Saint Peter’s Basilica was originally built in 323 by the emperor Constantine.

The basilica was constructed over the tomb of Peter the Apostle, the Church’s first Pope. After standing for more than a thousand years, Pope Julius II ordered the building to be torn down due to structural concerns. The construction of the new church spanned over 200 years before its completion. It was dedicated on Nov. 18, 1626. It is considered the most famous church in Christendom.