Santa Maria in Palmis (; ), also known as Chiesa del Domine Quo Vadis, is a small

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

southeast of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. It is located about some 800 m from

Porta San Sebastiano The Porta San Sebastiano is the largest and one of the best-preserved gates passing through the Aurelian Walls in Rome (Italy). History Originally known as the Porta Appia, the gate sat astride the Appian Way, the ''regina viarum'' (queen of the ...

, where the

Via Ardeatina The Via Ardeatina (Ardeatine Way) was an ancient road of Rome leading to the town of Ardea, after which it is named. Ardea lay 24 miles (39 kilometers) distant from Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most ...

branches off the

Appian Way The Appian Way (Latin and Italian language, Italian: Via Appia) is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient Roman Republic, republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is in ...

, on the site where, according to the

apocryphal Apocrypha () are biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of scripture, some of which might be of doubtful authorship or authenticity. In Christianity, the word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to ...

Acts of Peter The Acts of Peter is one of the earliest of the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles (genre), Acts of the Apostles in Christianity, dating to the late 2nd century AD. The majority of the text has survived only in the Vetus Latina, Latin translation of ...

'',

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

met the risen

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

while Peter was fleeing persecution in Rome. According to the tradition, Peter asked him, "Lord, where are you going?" (). Christ answered, "I am going to Rome to be crucified again" ().

History

There has been a sanctuary on the spot since the ninth century, but the current church is from 1637. The current façade was added in the 17th century. Roma - Chiesa di Santa Maria in Palmis - 2023-12-08 23-02-07 010

Roma - Chiesa di Santa Maria in Palmis - 2023-12-08 23-02-07 010

It has been supposed that the sanctuary might have been even more ancient, perhaps a Christian adaptation of an already existing

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

: the church is in fact located in front of the sacred ''campus'' dedicated to Rediculus, the Roman "God of the Return". This ''campus'' hosted a sanctuary for the cult of the deity that received devotion by travellers before their departure, especially those going to face long and dangerous journeys to far-off places like

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

or the East. Those travellers upon their safe return also stopped to thank the god for the happy outcome of their journey. The presence of the Apostle Peter in this area, where he is supposed to have lived, appears to be confirmed in an epigraph in the

Catacombs of Saint Sebastian The Catacombs of Rome () are ancient catacombs, underground burial places in and around Rome, of which there are at least forty, some rediscovered since 1578, others even as late as the 1950s. There are more than fifty catacombs in the underg ...

that reads ''Domus Petri'' (). An

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word derives from the Greek (, "inscription", from [], "to write on, to inscribe"). This literary device has been practiced for over two millennia ...

by Pope Damasus I (366–384) in honor of Peter and Paul of Tarsus, Paul reads: "You that are looking for the names of Peter and Paul, you must know that the saints have lived here." The two footprints on a marble slab at the center of the church — nowadays a copy of the original, which is kept in the nearby Basilica of San Sebastiano fuori le mura — are popularly believed to be a miraculous sign left by Jesus.Erik Inglis, “Inventing Apostolic Impression Relics in Medieval Rome,” Speculum 96/2 (April, 2021), 309-66. The official name of the church alludes to these footprints: ''palmis'' refers to the soles of Jesus' feet. An inscription above the front door on the church's façade used to say: "Stop your walking, traveller, and enter this sacred temple in which you will find the footprint of our Lord Jesus Christ when He met with St. Peter who escaped from the prison. An alms for the wax and the oil is recommended in order to free some spirits from

Purgatory In Christianity, Purgatory (, borrowed into English language, English via Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman and Old French) is a passing Intermediate state (Christianity), intermediate state after physical death for purifying or purging a soul ...

Pope Gregory XVI Pope Gregory XVI (; ; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in June 1846. He had adopted the name Mauro upon enteri ...

found the advertising tone of this inscription so inappropriate that he ordered its removal in 1845. There is also a modern column with a bust of

Henryk Sienkiewicz Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz ( , ; 5 May 1846 – 15 November 1916), also known by the pseudonym Litwos (), was a Polish epic writer. He is remembered for his historical novels, such as The Trilogy, the Trilogy series and especially ...

, the Polish author of the famous historical fiction novel '' Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero'' (1886). It is said that Sienkiewicz was inspired to write his novel while sitting in this church. The church is currently administered by priests of the

Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel The Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel () abbreviated CSMA, also known as the Michaelites, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men (brothers and priests) founded by the beatification, Blessed Father Broni ...

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Roman Catholic churches in Rome Relics associated with Jesus Roman Catholic churches completed in 1637 Rome Q. IX Appio-Latino 1637 establishments in Italy Legendary footprints

History

See also

References

External links