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Rome of Peter and Paul · Stop 7 · Day 2
San Pietro in Vincoli
In the Bible
In Jerusalem Peter slept between two soldiers, bound with two chains; an angel woke him, and the chains fell off his wrists.
Acts 12:6–7
On the night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, with sentries standing guard at the entrance to the prison. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists.Tradition
Since the 5th century the church has kept chains venerated as Peter's: by tradition, those of his Jerusalem prison and of his Roman one.
Here today
A 5th-century basilica: the chains lie in a case beneath the altar, and Michelangelo's Moses sits at the tomb monument of Pope Julius.
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Land outlines: Natural Earth (public domain).