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St Paul Outside the Walls
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls

St Paul Outside the Walls

The tomb of Paul · Rome, Italy

Paul, who had carried the gospel across the Roman world, was beheaded near Rome under Emperor Nero, according to early tradition. He was buried along the road to Ostia, and Constantine built a church over his grave that was later enlarged into a great basilica. After a fire in 1823 it was rebuilt in the same form. Today you can see his sarcophagus below the altar, and a long row of portraits of every pope along the walls.

Did you know?

In 2009 bone fragments from the sarcophagus under the altar were carbon-dated to the 1st or 2nd century.

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An inspiring story

Bring my cloak

What do you ask for at the end?

Paul's last letter was written from a prison in Rome. He knew his end was near. 'I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.' But between those great words are small, human ones. Most people had left him; only Luke was still with him. He asked Timothy to come quickly, before winter, and to bring the cloak he had left behind and his books. And: 'Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me.' The same Mark he had once refused to take along. Why him? Because people change, and Paul had learned to forgive.

Even the great apostle was cold, lonely and in need of friends. Faith does not make you less human.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.2 Timothy 4:7

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