Little Gems
Ss. Giovanni e Paolo Martiri
A veritable thriller of the lost bodies of two wealthy brothers: Giovanni and Paolo, officers in the Imperial Roman Army who had converted to Christianity. They were murdered for their beliefs during the brief reign (361-363 AD) of Emperor Julian the Apostate, who tried to turn the clock back to pagan worship. The brothers just disappeared. Their bodies were hidden in their enormous apartment house (4 stories, 20 rooms) located next to Emperor Claudius' temple and overlooking the Colosseum. Two other people were murdered when they spread the word of the missing brothers.
A century later (410 AD) the house became a church and the brothers were beatified. In the 12 C the ravages of the Norman Robert Guiscard were repaired (as had been those of Alaric and his 5 C hordes).
This is the titular church of the Cardinal of New York.
Portico 12C. Eight columns leading to the entrance door surrounded by tiny mosaics and a pair of carved lions.
Inside The high altar columns of alabaster are Egyptian. The church was prettily redecorated in the 18C. On the right of the choir are stairs down to the old house. With luck one can visit it, replete with marvelous Roman frescoes from 3 and 4C. To the left of the chapel of St. Paul is a Roman bathroom on the lowest level.
In the Monastery garden large substructures, "vivaria," are the remains of the cages that housed wild animals destined to die in the Colosseum.
St. Gregorio Magno
Gregory was from a noble Roman family which had already produced one Pope (St. Felix III). He turned his own house on this hill which overlooked the Palatino into an Oratorio - a hall for preaching to the masses rather than holding Mass (575 AD).
In the late Middle Ages this became a church. Two Englishmen are buried here: Robert Peckham and Edward Carne who came to Rome in 1561 to plead for the divorce of Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon. (Since the Catholic Church categorically said "No" the English king started the Anglican Church, in which he himself replaced the Pope). This is a large complex now, with a small building occupied by the nuns of Mother Teresa of Calcutta on the left side of the church, and a Monastery of Armenian monks overlooking a charming courtyard on the right.
The facade and atrium were totally revamped by G. B. Soria in 1629, and the interior by Francesco Ferrari in 1725. A beautiful small square with cypresses houses Roman vestige believed to be the wall of Gregory's house.
There is a shop in one of the outbuildings below the stairs which sells products from the Monastery of Camaldolesi near Arezzo: honey, natural products for hair and skin, and marvelous flower scents.
