persecution, wrote to strengthen and inspire his former flock in the face of
the same “fiery ordeal” befalling them:
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the exiles of the Dispersion in
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia…
…Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes
upon you to prove you, as though something strange were
happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you share Christ's
sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is
revealed” (1 Pet. 1, 1; 4, 12-13).
Everywhere, Nero’s soldiers were on the hunt for the leaders of the hated
Christians. Apostles and Evangelists were together caught in the storm. St.
Luke abruptly ended his composition of the Acts of the Apostles and
accompanied St. Paul to Greece. However, in 66 AD, St. Paul was arrested
near Troy and brought in chains back to Rome, where he was kept in close
confinement, abandoned and alone. Put on trial for his life, St. Paul
defended himself with his customary skill, extending his opponents to two
court sessions before being given the appropriate punishment for a Roman
citizen – death by beheading. The sentence was carried out three miles
outside of Rome on the Ostian Way, near the present Church of St. Paul’s
Outside the Walls, probably in the year 67 AD (according to St. Jerome).
Finally, the great Apostle of the Gentiles had received the reward he
envisaged when writing earlier to his beloved disciple, St. Timothy:
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept
the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to
me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved
his appearing” (2 Tim. 4, 7-8).
For St. Peter, justice would be much more summary in nature. According to
tradition, while fleeing Rome, Christ appeared to him carrying his Cross
towards the Eternal City. Upon asking Christ where He was going (“Quo
vadis, Domine?”), St. Peter was told, “Back to Rome to be re-crucified.” St.
Peter understood this to mean that he should return and suffer martyrdom
for Christ together with the afflicted Christians in Rome. After being
arrested, St. Peter was condemned to die by crucifixion, but out of humility
did not want to die as his Master did, and so asked to be crucified upside
down. The Romans gladly obliged, setting the cross on Vatican hill, in the
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