Dedication of the Basilicas of Saint Peter and Saint Paul

Biography

Next to that same place, he is buried; and his grave is a preferred date for papal burials, from San Lino to San Victor, the first successors of San Pedro. The second successor, Saint Anacletus, Pope from 79 to 90, built a "memory" there, an oratory. In turn, the Apostle Saint Paul, beheaded on the Ostiense road, which leads to the port of Rome, is buried on the property of a pious woman, named Lucina. With satisfaction, at the end of the second century, the presbyter of Rome, Gaius, proclaims: "I can show you the tombs of the Apostles; if you come to the Vatican, and reach the Via Ostiense, you will see the glorious trophies of those who founded this Church." On them the Emperor Constantine built two basilicas, each to house the venerated body, protected by a secure bronze cover. And Pope Saint Sylvester solemnly dedicates those two basilicas: in the Vatican, that of Peter, rock and foundation of the Universal Church; and on the way to the sea, that of Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles.