THE TITULUS FASCIOLAE
written by Sergio Caggìa with Paul Gwynne for © Nerone the Insider's Guide to Rome

 

The medieval tourist to Rome also had a guidebook (written in Latin!) called the Mirabilia Urbis. Here for the first time at the end of the twelfth century, the name "Domine, quo vadis?" ("Lord, where are you going?") was given to the chapel previously known as Sancta Maria Ubi Dominus Apparuit (Saint Mary's where the Lord Appeared). The name was inspired by a legend first recounted by Pseudo Lino who, wrote an apocryphal biography of Saint Peter in the second century A.D. This is the legend... Among the noble Roman women who were following Saint Peter's exortation to chastity there was a certain Santippe. Her hausband Albino, not surprisingly, was alarmed and upset by his wife's new attitude. He decided to find out those responsable, and discussing the problem with his friend, the prefect Agrippa, discovered that he too was having the same problem with his four concubines, who had also adopted Peter's strict advice! For this reason they decided to close the Apostle's mouth forever. Santippe, uncovering the conspiracy, warned Peter and advised him to leave Rome. As he was hurrying from the city Christ appeared to Peter walking in the opposit direction towards Rome. Peter asked "Where are you going, Lord?" He was greeted with the reply "I'm going to Rome to be crucified again". By this Peter understood that he should retourn to Rome to face his martyrdom. On his return he was arrested and then crucified. Elements of the story told by Pseudo Lino take their origin, according to Franchi de' Cavalieri, from a bas relief on an ancient sarcofagus which depicts the meeting with Jesus and Peter dressed as a pilgrim. There are not other details in the scene apart from a rooster, probably included merely to indicate the drawn. The church "Domine, quo vadis?" can be found on the Via Appia Antica, taking bus number 218 from San Giovanni in Laterano. At the southern end of Via delle Terme di Caracalla you'll find a church named after the two saints Nereus and Achilleus whose feast day is celebrated on 12 May. Their story is connected with that of saint Peter. According to legend, on his escape from the Mamertine prison as he was hurrying along the Appian Way, Peter lost the cloth with which he had bandaged the sores on his ankles rubbed by chains during his imprisonment. This bandage was found by a woman named Fasciola who lived near-by. A chapel was later built on the site of her house. This chapel was called Titulus Fasciolae. The word Titulus was used in the name of vhurches in which were keptrelics of the martyrs. Nereus and Achilleus were two eunuchs in the service of the Roman lady Domitilla, niece of the Emperors Titus and Domitian. Converted to Christianity and baptized by Saint Peter, they persuaded they mistress to consecrate her virginity to God. But Domitilla's boyfriend was not so impressed by the idea. The two eunuchs were first banished to tha island of Ponza where they were tortured; then they were moved to Terracina, tortured again and finally killed. Their bodies were brought back to Rome and buried in the chapel Titulus Fasciolae, which then became known as the Titulus Sanctorum Nerei et Achillei. Here too is the final resting place of their mistress Domitilla who was martyred under emperor Trajan. The church of Saints Nereus and Achilleus, which Georgina Masson refers to as "one of the most appealling of Rome's smaller churches", is open only in the summer (10am-12 and 4pm-6pm), and also open on the saints' feast day: 12 may.