Saints John and Paul (4th century) brothers and Roman martyrs
Acta
According to their Acta,
which are legendary and perhaps not very reliable historically, John and
Paul were brothers, employed as 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 the rooms of their own house
on the Caelian Hill (362 AD), where they were buried and a church was
subsequently erected. A second opinion would date their martyrdom
earlier in the reign of Diocletian (304 AD), as the martyrdoms of Julian
took place not in Rome, but mainly in the East.
House and Christian basilica on the Caelian Hill
In
the second half of the fourth century, Byzantius, the Roman senator,
and Saint Pammachius, his son, fashioned the house on the Caelian Hill
into a Christian basilica and the tomb of John and Paul was venerated
there from as early as the fifth century. The church was damaged during
the sack of rome by Alaric I (410) and because of an earthquake (442),
restored by Pope Paschal I (824), sacked again by the Normans (1084),
and again restored, with the further building of a monastery and a bell
tower.
Rediscovery of the rooms and original tomb
The
rooms of the ground-floor of the house were rediscovered in the 19th
century under the Basilica of Saint John and Paul by the Passionist
Fathers who now have charge of the Basilica.
They are decorated with
important and interesting frescoes, while the original tomb (confessio)
of Saints 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.
Names in the Roman Canon and Sacramentarium Veronense
John
and Paul's early veneration is also indicated by the fact that the
names of the two saints were inserted into the Roman Canon (First
Eucharistic Prayer) of the Mass.
Also the Sacramentarium Veronense,
which dates back to Pope Leo the Great (440-461, indicates in the
preface to the feast of the saints that they rested within the city
walls.
Honoured at Venice
Besides the Basilica of Santi
Giovanni e Paolo in Rome, the Basilica di San Zanipolo in Venice
("Zanipolo" being Venetian for "John and Paul") is dedicated to them,
Saints John and Paul's Day
The
feast of St John and Paul is kept on 26th June.
The Lüneberg manuscript
(c. 1440–1450) mentions the day of John and Paul in an early German
account of the Pied Piper of Hamelin:
In the year of 1284,
on the day of Saints John and Paul
on the 26th of June
130 children born in Hamelin were seduced
by a piper, dressed in all kinds of colors,
and lost at the place of execution near the koppen.
Home to the Passionists and link with New York
Since 1773 the Basilica
of St John and Paul has been home to the Passionist order and is the
burial place of its founder St. Paul of the Cross. The present cardinal
priest of the basilica is Edward Egan, archbishop emeritus of New York.
Among previous cardinal priests of this church are two who became pope:
Pope Honorius III (Cencio Savelli, elevated to cardinal in 1198) and
Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli, elevated to cardinal in 1929).
Since
Cardinal Francis Spellman received the red hat in 1946, the title has
been held by the archbishop of New York.