Basilica of Santi Marcellino e Pietro

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The basilica Santi Marcellino e Pietro in Rome is the oldest Christian sacred building , which served the martyr cult over the catacombs and was also used for Christian burials. A short time later, Emperor Constantine the Great had a large circular mausoleum built on the east side of the basilica , the so-called Helenamausoleum .

Site of the former communal basilica SS. Marcellino e Pietro with the Helenamausoleum in the background

Location and patronage

Christ between Peter and Paul, including the martyrs Marcellinus, Peter, Gorgonius and Tiburtius before the Lamb of God. Mural in the catacomb of hll. Marcellinus and Peter
Communal basilica SS. Marcellino e Pietro with both courtyards and the Helena mausoleum, floor plan
Communal basilica SS. Marcellino e Pietro and Helenamausoleum, cross-section

On the Via Labicana outside the Aurelian Wall , the cemetery of the Equites singulares ('imperial cavalry') had been located on the imperial grounds ad duas lauros ("near the two laurel trees") since the 2nd century and immediately since the middle of the 3rd century next to it there was also an underground Christian cemetery ( catacomb ), which developed into the most important in the city and finally into the parish cemetery of the Christian community in Rome. The martyrs executed during the persecution of Christians under Emperor Diocletian around 303 were buried here, including the particularly venerated Petrus exorcista and Marcellinus presbyter , after whom the catacomb was later named.

As reported in the Liber Pontificalis , Emperor Constantine had a coemeterial basilica built around 315 on the site of the cemetery of the imperial bodyguards that he had disbanded and in the immediate vicinity of the catacomb with the graves of the martyrs Marcellinus and Peter . The gravestones of the bodyguards were used as building material in the foundations in the sense of a damnatio memoriae (erasure of memory). “Through the foundation of the church above the cemetery of the Guard, which opposed him on the Ponte Milvio , the emperor recommended himself and the state to the care of the Christian God and made the faith that the martyrs had witnessed available to the citizens of the empire for veneration . "

It is not known which patronage the basilica had. It is certain, however, that in addition to Marcellinus and Peter, Tiburtius of Rome and Gorgonius of Rome and the Quatuor coronati were venerated there.

Building history

The basilica Santi Marcellino e Pietro is built in the same structural form and with approx. 65 × 29 m also has comparable dimensions as the three other basilica of the first construction period, namely the basilica at Tor de'Schiavi on Via Praenestina , the Basilica Apostolorum ( San Sebastiano fuori le mura ) on the Via Appia and the basilica on the Via Ardeatina. As the founder and builder of the basilica Santi Marcellino e Pietro, Emperor Constantine is passed down, who was partly supported by his mother Helena and by Pope Silvester I (314–335).

It was a three-aisled pillar basilica , the aisles of which ran semicircularly around the central nave; Seven pillars each with arcades separated the central nave from the side aisles and there were seven more pillars in the curve. On the east side, the basilica opened up through three arches into an inclined narthex . The floor of the basilica was covered with tombs from the beginning, namely as 'shaft tombs', which were surrounded by walls and covered in a gable-like manner with brick slabs placed against each other, sometimes in several levels. It is not known what flooring the basilica had. Small mausoleums were attached to the basilica. There were large atria on both long sides.

In a second construction phase around 326, at Constantine's behest, a large circular mausoleum with its own vestibule was added to the narthex on the east side of the basilica. In this way, a close axial connection was created between the sacred building and the mausoleum, each with an altar donated by Constantine in the apse of the basilica and in front of the sarcophagus in the mausoleum; the imperial tomb was integrated into the Christian church. “Through this architectural integration of the martyr cult and veneration of the emperor, Constantine apparently tried to replace the traditional divinization of the ruler, the elevation of the emperor to the circle of deities after death, and thus the traditional imperial cult , an essential element of the Roman constitution State to Christianize. "

The round mausoleum, later known as the Mausoleo di S. Helena, has been preserved as a mighty ruin, while only remains of the wall of the basilica can be seen.

In the 9th century the flow of pilgrims to the basilica Santi Marcellino e Pietro and the catacomb began to subside. The reason given is partly that the commissioner of Einhard, the head of the school of scholars of Charlemagne in Aachen , acquired the relics of the two title saints in Rome in a controversial manner in 827 and then moved them to the basilica built by Einhard and consecrated to these martyrs in Michelstadt-Steinbach im Odenwald before Einhard had donated the relics for the Benedictine monastery of St. Marcellinus and Petrus (Seligenstadt) in Ober-Mühlheim am Main, which he subsequently founded . In fact, the two martyrs Marcellinus and Petrus were venerated there during the Carolingian era as the patron saints of the empire , which led to the renaming of the little-known town of Ober-Mühlheim as Seligenstadt in the 9th century .

literature

  • Hugo Brandenburg: The early Christian churches in Rome from the 4th to the 7th century. Regensburg 2013, pp. 54f. and 289f.
  • Walther Buchowiecki: Handbook of the Churches of Rome. The Roman sacred building in history and art from early Christian times to the present. Hollinek, Vienna 1970, Vol. 2, pp. 331ff.
  • Steffen Diefenbach: Roman memory rooms. Memory of saints and collective identities in Rome from the 3rd to 5th centuries AD Berlin 2007, p. 100ff.
  • Ursula Leipziger: The Roman basilicas with handling. Research history inventory, historical classification and primary function. Erlangen 2006, p. 33ff.
  • Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum. Freiburg, 2nd edition 2017, pp. 71f.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hugo Brandenburg: The early Christian churches in Rome from the 4th to the 7th century. Regensburg 2013, p. 54ff.
  2. ↑ Ursula Leipziger: The Roman basilicas with handling. Research historical inventory, historical classification and primary function , Erlangen 2006, p. 33ff.
  3. ↑ Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum. Freiburg, 2nd edition 2017, p. 86f.
  4. ^ Hugo Brandenburg: The early Christian churches in Rome from the 4th to the 7th century , Regensburg 2013, p. 56ff.
  5. ↑ Lexicon for Theology and Church (LThK), Freiburg 2006, Volume 6, Sp. 130
  6. ↑ Walther Buchowiecki: Handbook of the Churches of Rome. The Roman sacred building in history and art from early Christian times to the present. Vienna 1970, Vol. 2, p. 333

Coordinates: 41 ° 52 ′ 44.9 "  N , 12 ° 32 ′ 53.1"  E