Stone & Incense Search
Start hereCurious, or no faithEvangelical, Pentecostal or ProtestantFrom another faithSomeone I love is CatholicBecoming CatholicI was Catholic once Today in the ChurchLibraryHard questionsVoices of the revivalTake the next stepAboutSources & methodSupport the site
The saints

The First Martyrs of the Church of Rome

The unnamed Christians Nero blamed for the fire of Rome.

Feast: 30 June · 64 · The early Church · Rome

Read the story 1 min read
Painting of a crowd in an ancient Roman arena, with a martyr lying dead on the ground.

Henryk Siemiradzki, 1897. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / The First Martyrs of the Church of Rome

Rome, after the fire of 64

In July of 64, a great fire burned much of Rome.1

Rumors blamed the emperor Nero, so he blamed the Christians.1

The historian Tacitus wrote that they were crucified, torn by dogs and burned as torches.

Patronage No official patronage we can cite yet. The Church remembers them as the Christians killed by Nero after the fire of Rome.

01The First Martyrs of the Church of Rome

Nameless

We know almost none of their names, but they were the first Christians of Rome to die for Christ.1

Live it this week

Pray for persecuted Christians today

The first Roman martyrs were scapegoats. This week, learn about one country where Christians are persecuted right now, and pray for them every day by name.

Notes

How we know · 1 source for this page
  1. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “First Martyrs of the Church of Rome”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.