The First Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church

In July 64 a great fire destroyed much of Rome. The historian Tacitus writes that, to stop the rumor that he had ordered it, the emperor Nero blamed the Christians. A great number were arrested and put to death with mockery: some were sewn into animal skins and torn apart by dogs, others crucified, and others set alight to serve as torches at night in Nero’s gardens.

Clement of Rome, writing about thirty years later, also recalls “a great multitude” of the chosen who suffered there. Their names are not known. The memorial was added to the Roman calendar in 1969, the day after the feast of Peter and Paul, who by tradition died in the same persecution.