Church of Domine Quo Vadis, Rome

Welcome to this beautiful small church. Its official name is the Church of St. Mary in Palamis, but it's more known as the Church of Domine Quo Vadis. This church, built next to the Appian Way, has a long and intriguing history. The legend has it this was the spot where St. Peter, who was fleeing Rome to escape persecution, had a vision of a risen Christ. According to the apocryphal acts of Peter, Peter asks Jesus, Domine Quo Vadis, meaning Lord, where are you going? And Jesus answers, I am going to Rome to be crucified again. This made Peter turn around and go back to Rome to face his martyrdom. Evidence suggests a strong presence of the Apostle Peter in this area, not only because it was where he met Jesus, this was also the area where he is supposed to have lived. An epigraph found in the catacombs of St. Sebastian supports this as it says, Domus Petri, meaning the house of Peter. An epigram by Pope Damasus I from the 4th century honors St. Peter and St. Paul and further strengthens the belief that this was the area where the Apostles lived. It reads, You that are looking for the names of Peter and Paul, you must know that the saints have lived here. There are indications that this site has been a place of holy worship before this church was built and even prior to the legend of St. Peter and Jesus. This church is in fact located just in front of an ancient squared campus, dedicated to the Roman god Ridiculus, not to be confused with the word ridiculous. His name derives from the Latin verb ridire, meaning to come back, and he was known as the god of return. The fact that the sanctuary of Ridiculus was located here along the Appian Way was no coincidence. The road was the most important one of all of Rome's roads and was the road travelers going south or east took. Journeys to distant places like Egypt, Greece and the Far East were often dangerous and not all would return from their voyages. This site was the last place where you could get a good glimpse of Rome, so the travelers stopped here and prayed to Ridiculus that they would return to see Rome once again. The first Christian building on the site was a small church built in the 9th century on the basis of the St. Peter's legend. The current church was however built in the year 1637 and the current facade was added later in the 17th century. Very little is known about the original 9th century church, the Church of St. Marian Palmus. The word Palmus does however stand for the soles of Jesus' feet. Inside the church, you can find two footprints on a marble stone which would be a miraculous sign left by Jesus when he appeared before Peter. The stone you can see inside the church is only a replica, as the real stone is kept safely in the relics chapel at the nearby Basilica of San Sebastiano. There used to be an inscription on the front facade of the church telling travelers to stop walking and instead enter this sacred temple, as it is the place where St. Peter met Jesus. However, Pope Gregory XVI found it inappropriate, almost as a kind of advertisement, in which he ordered it to be removed in 1845. Today's facade inscription, right above the main entrance, is more modest. If you look at the inscription, you can see D.O.M., which reads Dominus Optimus Maximus, meaning Father Almighty. Below it, you can read a Latin phrase meaning, It was here Peter asked Jesus, Lord where are you going? Despite the small size of the church, it still holds a very special place in the Christian hearts. In 1983, Pope John Paul II further emphasized this and he defined the church as a place that has a special importance in the history of Rome and in the history of the church.