Separation of Peter and Paul from the Capella della Separazione

 Image: enciclopedia su roma; see also Wisch, “Embracing Peter and Paul,” fig. 8.1 (photograph of 1892)

Clavis number: ECMA 140

Note: much of the information in this entry is derived from Barbara Wisch’s comprehensive study “Embracing Peter and Paul” (listed in bibliography below).

Other descriptors: none

Location: the Capella della Separazione (Chapel of the Separation) once stood about a kilometer past the Porta San Paolo on the Via Ostiense. It was built by the brethren of the Arciconfraternita della ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini e Convalescenti in 1562. Before the construction of the chapel, a marble column with a painting of Peter and Paul marked the location where the apostles were separated before being taken to their martyrdom sites. The earliest record of this column is from a German codex dated to 1448. A subsequent reference in 1452 describes the marker as a cross; Wisch argues that the cross crowned the marble column (p. 187), and this seems to be confirmed by contemporary maps of the area (pp. 188–90 with images). The church was rebuilt in 1568 due to the widening of the Via Ostiense. It was finally destroyed in 1910.

Category: inscriptions; reliefs

Related literature: Epistle of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite to Timothy, Passion of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul (Ps.-Marcellus)

Featured characters and locations: Lemobia, Paul (apostle), Peter (apostle), Rome.

1. DESCRIPTION

1.1 Inscription

Image: Soprintendenza Speciale di Roma (copy); for photograph of the original inscription from Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini see Wisch, “Embracing Peter and Paul,” fig. 8.9.

Location: the inscription and the bas relief (see below) were originally placed above the entrance to the 1568 chapel. Following the destruction of the chapel, the inscription was placed in the retro-sacristy of the church of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini e Convalescenti in 1935. A nineteenth-century copy of the inscription (white marble, 37.5 × 18 in.), along with the bas relief of Peter is located in the Museo della Via Ostiense–Porta San Paol.

Material: marble

Size: 34.5 × 16 in.

In questo luogo si separarono S. Pietro e S. Paulo andando al martirio et disse Paolo a Pietro: La luce sia con teco, fundamento de la chiesia et pastore di tutti li agnelli di Christo, et Pietro a Paolo: Va in pace, predicator de buoni et guida de la salute de giusti.

On this spot Peter and Paul parted, when they went to martyrdom. Then Paul said to Peter, “Peace to you, founder of the churches and shepherd of the sheep and lambs of Christ.” Peter then said to Paul, “Go in peace, preacher of good tidings, mediator and chief of the salvation of the just.”

1.2. Bas Relief

Image: Soprintendenza Speciale di Roma (copy); for photograph of the original inscription from Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini see Wisch, “Embracing Peter and Paul,” fig. 8.12

Location: originally placed above the entrance to the chapel above the inscription. Currently at the Museo della Via Ostiense in Rome. A facsimile of the relief with an inscription about the construction of the chapel was installed in 1975 on a building at Via Ostiense 106 (see Wisch, “Embracing Peter and Paul,” fig. 8.19).

Material: marble

Size: 24.5 × 25 in.

Date: no outside dating earlier than 1833

1.3. Paintings

Two sets of three images relating to the life of Paul were painted in 1571–1572 by the commission of Bartolomeo Rusconi. Egidio Fortini provided a description of these paintings in 1859. On the left side of the chapel were scenes of Paul’s conversion based on Acts 9. On the right were scenes of Paul’s martyrdom: 1. Paul, with Peter, requests the veil from Lemobia, 2. The beheading of Paul, 3. Paul, with Peter, appears to Lemobia. For a full description and a floor plan see Wisch, “Embracing Peter and Paul,” 203–206.

2. RELATION TO APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE

The meeting of Paul and Peter in Rome, depicted in the bas relief, is recounted in the Passion and Acts of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul (and its Greek translation Acts of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul):

After Paul had said these things and other similar things, the Jews hastened to Peter and said to him, “Paul came from the Hebrews and asks you to come to him, because those who brought him are saying that they are not able to release him, so that he may see whomever he wishes, before they take him to Caesar.” Hearing these things Peter rejoiced greatly, got up immediately, and went to him. Seeing each other, they wept for joy, and after embracing each other for a long time, they soaked each other with their tears. (Pass. Holy Pet. Paul 3; trans. David L. Eastman, The Ancient Martyrdom Accounts of Peter and Paul [WGRW 39; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2015], 221–316)

The relief simultaneously depicts the separation of Peter and Paul, each one taken to site of their martyrdom. This scene is found in the Epistle of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite to Timothy:

When the terrible moment of their end had come, however, and they were separated from each other, then the soldiers bound the pillars of the world, and the brothers left each other with groaning and weeping. Then Paul said to Peter, “Peace to you, founder of the churches and shepherd of the sheep and lambs of Christ.”  Peter then said to Paul, “Go in peace, preacher of good tidings, mediator and chief of the salvation of the just.” (Ep. Tim Dion. 4:5–7; trans. David L. Eastman, The Ancient Martyrdom Accounts of Peter and Paul [WGRW 39; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2015], 343–65)

The inscription incorporates Peter’s and Paul’s words to each other from this portion of the Epistle.

The cycle of three images of Paul’s martyrdom are based also on the Epistle:

O beloved brother, listen to a miracle and behold a sign that occurred on the day of their sacrifice. I was present at the time of their separation. After their deaths I saw them one after the other entering the gates of the city hand in hand, and I saw them dressed in garments of light and adorned with bright and radiant crowns. I was not the only one who saw this, but Lemobia, a handmaid in the service of the emperor and a disciple of Paul, also saw it. When Paul was being led to a martyr’s death and was leaving the city, he met this handmaid, who was weeping with sorrow. Then Paul said to her, “Do not weep, but give me the veil that is covering your head, and I will give it back to you immediately.” After the executioner had struck and cut off the head of Paul, the most blessed man spread out the veil on the wound and collected his own blood with the veil. He then tied the veil, wrapped it, and gave it back to that woman. When the executioner was returning, holy Lemobia said to the soldier, “Where did you send my master Paul?” The soldier responded, “He lies together with his friend there outside the city in the valley of the fighters, and his face is covered with your veil.” However, she responded and said, “Behold, Peter and Paul have already entered, dressed in radiant garments, and they had on their heads shining crowns radiating light.” And she took out the veil stained with blood and showed it to them. On account of this deed, very many believed in the Lord and became Christians. (8; trans. Eastman)

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Armellini, Mariano. Le chiese di Roma dal secolo IV al XIX. Rome: Vatican City, 1891 (pp. 926–27). (2nd ed. in 2 vols.; Rome: R.O.R.E., 1942; 2:1148–49).

Laumonier, Abbé. The Pilgrim’s Guide to Rome. English translation of Guide du Pèlerin à Rome by Charles J. Munich. London: R & T Washbourne, 1900 (description of the chapel, p. 86).

Wisch, Barbara. “Embracing Peter and Paul: The Arciconfraternita della SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini e Convalescenti and the Cappella della Separazione in Rome.” Pages 178–216 in Space, Place, and Motion: Locating Confraternities in the Late Medieval and Early Modern City. Edited by Diana Bullen Presciutti, Leiden: Brill, 2017.