The First Martyrs of Rome

Tacitus, who did not like Christians, is our witness: after the fire of 64, Nero looked for culprits and named "those whom the crowd called Christians". They were dressed in animal skins to be torn by dogs, crucified, smeared with pitch to light the imperial gardens after dark. The historian notes that the cruelty of the spectacle ended by stirring pity, even among those who thought them guilty. This is the first attested persecution, and the ground on which Peter and Paul would die. Their memory, long merged with the apostles', received its own feast the day after theirs in 1969.