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Rome of Peter and Paul · Stop 6 · Day 2
Mamertine Prison
In the Bible
Paul writes as a prisoner: Onesiphorus searched for him in Rome until he found him; I am chained like a criminal, but the word of God cannot be chained.
2 Tim 1:16–17
May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he has often refreshed me and was unashamed of my chains. Indeed, when he arrived in Rome, he searched diligently until he found me.2 Tim 2:9
for which I suffer to the extent of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God cannot be chained!Tradition
By tradition, Peter and Paul were held in the lower cell, the Tullianum, before their deaths; a spring in its floor is shown as the water with which Peter baptized his guards.
Here today
The ancient state prison of Rome beneath a church at the foot of the Capitol: two cells, one above the other, and a small museum.
Through the eyes of old pilgrims
We stood reverently … in the Mamertine Prison, where he was confined, where he converted the soldiers, and where tradition says he caused a spring of water to flow in order that he might baptize them.Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, 1869
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Land outlines: Natural Earth (public domain).