“Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” – Hebrews 11:1
Around the year 64 A.D. a great fire broke out in Rome, destroying much of the city. Rumors were spreading just as fast as the flames that the Emperor Nero himself had started the blaze. He needed a scapegoat, and who better to blame than the loathsome outlaws known as Christians?
They were scoundrels who believed in “a most mischievous superstition.” They were a class of people who were “hated for their abominations.” So, Nero “fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures” upon them:
Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired (The Annals of Tacitus, 15.44)
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| My wife, Catherine, and me at St. Peter's Basilica. |
Nero watched with pleasure, as the Christian scum were tortured inside of the circus located in the Vatican meadows. He looked on with satisfaction as their leader, an old man they called Peter, was crucified upside down. The last thing this public enemy likely saw was the towering obelisk in the center of the circus, a symbol of Roman imperial supremacy. Finally, the Christians had been crushed…
Peter was buried upon the Vatican Hill, just outside of Nero’s circus. Today a basilica stands over the tomb in which he was laid. It is the largest Christian church in the world. In an apartment near the basilica lives a man who goes by the name of Francis. He is the 265th man to succeed Peter as the Bishop of Rome and leader of the universal Church.
A large public square opens up directly to the east of St. Peter’s Basilica, and in the center of this piazza stands the same ancient obelisk that once stood in Nero’s circus. It was moved there in 1586, and at the same time a large metal cross containing a relic of the true Cross of Jesus was placed on top of the obelisk. The following words were inscribed at the base of the monument: “Christus vincit. Christus regnat. Christus imperat (Christ conquers. Christ reigns. Christ emperor).”
I wonder if Saint Peter, as he was being killed, could have possibly imagined what would one day stand on Vatican Hill. In the Second Reading for this Sunday, Saint Paul tells us that “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Even though Nero could not see Jesus, Peter’s death gave witness to the fact that Christ was and is the true Emperor. The faith of Peter and the hopes of the early Church were realized through the triumph of Christianity over the Roman Empire.
Merciful Father, restore our faith in Your power and make us more faithful citizens of Your Kingdom. Amen.
