Other Important Basilicas

St. Lorenzo fuori le Mura

(St. Lawrence outside the Walls). Also called St. Lorenzo in Verano, referring to the huge cemetery Verano, which stretches behind this church. From earliest times, the dead had to be buried beyond the walls of Rome, even if they were cremated.

This was the burial place of St. Lawrence whose body was taken by Matron (and later Saint) Cyriaca from his place of martyrdom and buried in the tufa rock under her field which became the small catacomb you can still visit.

This church is a pastiche of different churches and epochs, from the 4 C original to the post World War II repairs to the upper walls and roof.

The Bell Tower (Campanile) is 12 C. There is also a small tower dating to Emperor Constantine (see: Medieval Towers).

The restored portico has ancient columns and a series of handsome 13 C frescoes of the lives of St. Lawrence and St. Stephen. Also a 1954 monument by the artist Manzù of the leading postwar politician, Alcide de Gasperi.

The interior is schizophrenic and on 3 levels. You enter into the 5 C Madonna church, redecorated in the 12 C with one of Rome's first Cosmati floors. At the end of the aisle are flights of steps, going up and down, which mark the beginning of Constantine's 4 C church.
The stairs at the far sides go down to the level of the ancient church; while those at the center lead up to the choir remodeled by Honorius in the 13 C.
Springing from the lower level are the 12 massive fluted columns of the 4C, which seem strangely truncated by the Honorius level with its altar and choir.

The tombs of Saints Lawrence, Stephen and Justin are in a 4 C crypt down the center stairs.
The mosaics on the Chancel Arch, which divides the two churches, are 6 C.
The baldachin's porphyry columns are 12 C. Both pulpits are 13 C, as are the Episcopal throne and paschal candlestick.

The 12C cloister, to the right through the Sacristy, is wonderfully peopled with variegated columns, fragments and pagan sarcophagi. Mighty cypresses tower above the double arcades.

The 12 C Cosmatesque floors and tombs sunk into the floor.

St. Lorenzo fuori le Mura History 258. Lawrence, deacon of Pope Sixtus II, was martyred by being roasted on a gridiron during the persecution of Emperor Valerian. 330. Emperor Constantine built a small church over St. Lawrence's tomb on Via Tiburtina. 432-440. Pope Sixtus III built the Church of the Madonna next door. 845. After being pillaged by the Saracens, a fort was added to the church and monastery. 1216. Pope Honorius III joined the two churches, demolishing their apses. 1943. The only Rome church to suffer war damage, in a direct hit by allied aircraft. Restoration work started immediately, with a view to preserving its 13 C appearance.