St Paul was condemned to death for being a Christian but as a Roman citizen he was afforded the dubious right to be beheaded rather than crucified. The sentence was carried out at Aquae Salviae, now known as Tre Fontaine from the fountains that allegedly gushed forth as the severed head of the saint rebounded three times to the ground.
His body was then claimed by a pious matron, Lucina, who arranged burial in the family tomb in a vineyard by the Ostian Way.
The tomb immediately became an object of veneration and when Emperor Constantine put an end to Christian persecution in 313 AD a small basilica was built over the spot.This was replaced in 380 AD by the last major construction project of Imperial Rome, a basilica that was the largest in Christendom until the building of the new St Peters in the 16th century.
The basilica that we see today is a faithful reconstruction of that 4th century building that was destroyed by fire in 1823.
The portico that leads to the modern church echoes the original which stretched from Porta di San Paolo. The basilica is one of the seven pilgrimage churches of rome and one of the four patriachal basilicas. Interestingly it is the only one of the four not to have an obelisk as part of the building.
As you enter the huge nave you get a feel of what an ancient Roman basilica must have been like.
Fragments of the original church survived including this paschal candlestick and the apse mosaics created by workers from Venice. They were commisioned by Pope Honorius III, a tiny image of whom can be seen at Christ's feet, wrapped up in a bundle
Miraculously the relics of the saint below the altar also survived the fire.
The whole world contributed to the rebuilding after the fire including Tzar Nicholas who provided malachite and lapis lazuli used in the two side altars.
The gold medallions along the side of the nave contain portraits of the popes and are modern reconstructions. Recent popes are to be found to the right of the altar and include blank medallions for future papal portraits.
These medallions form part of a tale told around the time of the fire. People had noticed that there was no more room in the basilica for another papal medallion and wondered what disaster was about to befall.
The pope at the time lay dying in the Quirinale palace and was said to be troubled by strange dreams of disaster regarding the church in Rome. The basilica of San Paolo was dear to him as he had begun his religious life as a monk there so when the news of its destruction reached the Quirinale it was kept from him. He died shortly afterwards without knowing of the tragedy.
The gorgeous cosmatesque cloister was fortunately also spared by the fire. It was completed around 1214 and is considered to be one of the most beautiful in Rome. It was decorated by Pietro Vassalletto who also completed the cloisters at San Giovanni in Laterino.
