The Closing Years of St. Paul’s Life in Rome

THE CLOSING YEARS OF ST. PAUL'S LIFE IN ROME. BY COL. R. M. BRYCE THOMAS, AUTHOR OF "mY REASONS FOR LEAV- ING THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND." V. Nero's favorite pursuits were music and chariot driving, but the supreme passion of his life was an insatiable desire for popular ap- plause. Dr. Plumptree in his commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, while quoting from the historian Tacitus, tells us that Nero and his lyre were in evidence everywhere, and that he was attended by a body-guard of the equestrian order, who acted as his "claqueurs" and led the applause of the multitude, that Cen- turions and Tribunes had to attend officially at spectacles which seemed to them to dishonor the Roman name, and that even Burrus, "consenting thus far to avoid worse deeds," stood by praising with his lips and groaning in his soul. With an emperor such as this, the general condition of Roman society and morals may easily be imagined; and it was with this form of life that the Apostle Paul was suddenly brought into contact. Dr. Plumptree considers that, strange as it may sound, this condition of things presented in some degree a more favorable opening for Paul' s work, than if he had found Rome under a wise niid vigorous ruler like Trajan or Aurelius. The Jews, as before stated, had been enjoying for some time the transient favor of Poppoea and of the Emperor, and especially was this the case with one Alturius, a Jew who took his part in the mimes of Nero, and was then high in the imperial favor as an actor. As the Romans at that period drew no practical distinction between Jews and Christians, it is not unlikely that the teachings of

ST. PAUL'S LIFE IN ROME. 649 those who had established the church in Rome previous to Paul's as well as Paul's own subsequent teach- arrival in that city, ings, may have penetrated to a considerable extent into the royal household; and I think that this view is in a measure sup- ported by the fact that the names mentioned in Romans xvi and in the second Epistle to Timothy coincide greatly with those afterwards found in the Columbaria of the imperial household on the Appian way to which reference has already once been made, thus leading to the inference that the gospel message had found its way among the freedmen of the palace, such names being found as Amplias, Tryphoena, Tryphosa, Aristobulus, Narcissus, Stachys, Urbanus, Appelles, Philologus, Hermes, Hermas, Patrobus, Nereus, Tychicus, Trophymus, Onesimus, and Dorcas. The earliest Christian church in Rome was probably founded by Aquila and Priscilla, who were residing there in the reign of the Emperor Claudius, the predecessor of Nero, and who had been ban- ished from that city when Claudius had commanded all Jews to de- part from Rome (Acts xviii: 2). They subsequently lived with Paul at Corinth (verse 3), and it would seem that after the death of Claudius they must have returned to Rome, for we find Paul, in writing to the Romans in A. D. 60, saying, "Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus: who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise greet the church that is in their h«use." (Rom. xvi: 3, 4, 5). Tradition has it that besides the church referred to by Paul, there were churches in the houses of Pudens, and of Clement who was afterwards Bishop of Rome. Over the house and oratory of Clement which were on the Coelian hill, was erected a church in the fourth century, which, however, was destroyed in A. D. 1084. Subsequently the ruins were filled in, and another church erected thereupon which still exists. The Rev. Father MuUooney, head of the Irish Dominicans in Rome, on excavating below the present church, discovered the earlier church of the fourth century, and below that again the original house and oratory of Clement in a wonderful state of preservation. The full names of Clement were Titus Flavins Clemens, indicating, as Dr. Plump tree suggests, that he was probably the first convert of the Flavian imperial house, which, in Vespasian and Titus, had

650 IMPROVEMENT ERA. been brought into close contact with Judaism, and which, under Domitian, furnished in Flavius Clemens, the consul, and his sister, Flavia Domitella, two illustrious sufferers for the new faith. Pudens, too, was a man of considerable wealth and position, and when converted to Christianity, opened his house as a hospice for all Christians who visited Rome, Alus Rufus Pudens Pudenti- nus, to give him his full names, held formerly an official military position of some importance in the southern part of Britain, and he possessed an estate near Chichester in the county of Sussex. He was then serving his country under Aulus Plautius, the Roman con- queror and governor of southern Britain. In A. D. 1723, an in- scription was discovered in Chichester which runs as follows: To Neptune and Minerva This temple For the welfare of the Divine (that is the Imperial) house By the authority of Tiberius, Claudius, Cogidubnus, Legate of Augustus ( the Emperor) in Britain, The guild of Smiths, and those in it who minister in sacred things, have At their own cost dedicated, The site being given by Pudens the son of Pudentinus. It is supposed that Paul's acquaintance with Pudens com- menced in all probability through a lady called Pomponia. Her original name was Gwladys, and she was the sister of Caradoc, or Caractacus, the British chief or king of Siluria; and was married to that same Aulus Plautus, of whom mention has just been made, as the Roman governor of Britain. From her extreme knowl- edge of Greek literature, she took the name of Pomponia Groecina. When Aulus Plautus returned to Rome, he took his British wife with him, and there received a great ovation from his own coun- trymen. Sometime after this Pomponia was chaiged with holding a "foreign superstition," a designation which seems to have been given at that time by pagan authors to Christianity, and Tacitus, the historian, has left us a description of the trial of this British princess. When charged before the Emperor, the latter handed the matter over to Pomponia's husband, Aulus, for his final adjudi-

ST. PAUL'S LIFE IN ROME. 651 cation, who thereupon assembled all the members of his family, and held a solemn inquisition upon his wife's character and con- duct, resulting in her full acquittal. She lived to a great age and died in A. D. 83, passing the last forty years of her life in mourn- ing and unworldliness. History informs us that when Caractacus after a heroic strug- gle was conquered, he was sent as a prisoner to Rome, and with him was sent his daughter who bore the same British name as her aunt Pomponia, namely, Gwladys. The Emperor Claudius was so struck with the noble bearing and defense of Caractacus, that he released him, and the chieftain then made his home for a time in Rome. His daughter Gwladys may perhaps have met Pudens when the latter was in military service in Britain, but be that as it may, an intimacy sprung up between them subsequently in Rome, owing to the fact that she was the niece of Pomponia and was frequently with her, while Pudens was an intimate friend of his old chief in Britain, namely Aulus the husband of Pomponia. The Emperor Claudius, in accordance with Roman custom, adopted Gwladys, whereupon she received the Roman name of Claudia Perigrina Rufus. Dr. Plumptree refers on this subject to many of the writ- ings of the poet Martial, from which it is very evident that the latter was a particularly intimate friend of Pudens. In his epi- grams the poet couples Pudens and Claudia as husband and wife, and, although he is usually very scurrilous in his jests, he treats these two with marked respect. He wrote an epithalmium on their union, and again saluted them with his pen on the birth of a child. While Pudens was away in the north the poet was ill, and ex- pressed his longing for his friend's presence as follows: Yea all but snatched where flow the gloomy streams, I saw the clouds that shroud th' Elysian plain; Still for thy face I groaned in weary dreams, And cold lips "Pudens," "Pudens," cried in vain. Epig. vi: 58. In second Timothy iv: 21, we find that Paul, writing from Rome, couples the names of Pudens and Claudia in the greetings of the saints to Timothy. The name "Linus" is certainly inserted between those of the other two, but it is known that Linus was the son of Caractacus and the brother of Claudia, his original British

652 IMPROVEMENT ERA. name being Llyn. This is the Linus who was afterwards the first Bishop of Rome, notwithstanding that the Romish church claims that Peter was the first occupant of that See. One of the names of Pudens was Rufus, as already stated, and he was the son of Pudentinus. Paul when writing to the Romans in A. D. 60 (Rom. xvi: 13), says: "Salute Rufus, the chosen of the Lord, and his mother and mine." Here Paul seems to assert that the mother of Rufus (or Pudens) was also his mother; and that such was really the case is evident from the fact that Paul's mother married Pudentinus the father of Pudens. Mr. Russell-Forbes writes thus in his Footsteps of St. Paul in Rome: ''Paul was born at Tar- sus,and although his father was a Pharisee, his mother may have been a Roman. She, on the death of her husband, returned to Rome, and there married the Roman Pudentinus, and thus became the mother of Pudens, who was consequently the half brother of St. Paul. It has been handed down by Hermes, and is the tra- dition of the Roman church that her Christian name was Priscilla." Here then is ;)robably the explanation of Paul's words, "His mother and mine." From verses 7 and 11 of chapter xvi of his epistle to the Romans, written in A. D. 60, a year previous to his first visit to Rome, we find that he had kinsmen in that city, namely Andronicus, and Junius, and Herodion, so we may fairly presume that these were his kinsmen through his Roman mother Priscilla. May not also the fact that Paul's mother was a Roman, account for his being a free-born Roman citizen, as claimed by him before the chief captain at Jerusalem? (Acts xxii: 28). By the marriage therefore of Pudens to the daughter of the chieftain Caractacus, and by that of Paul's mother to Pudentinus (the father of Pudens), Paul became connected to the British ruler. History tells us that Caractacus with some of his family returned to Britain in A. D. 58, leaving behind him his daughter Claudia and his son Linus, they having embraced Christianity. Caractacus probably carried the Christian religion for the first time into Britain. Pudens was the son of a senator, and a man of considerable position and wealth in Rome. When he embraced Christianity we find the poet Martial intimating to him that 'he would dedicate ' no more verses to him, seeing he had changed his religion;" but

ST. PAUL'S LIFE IN ROME. 653 notwithstanding this threat, it is a known fact that they lived and died as friends. Pudens died about A. D. 96, and his wife Claudia followed him to the tomb the year after. They left two daughters named Pudentiana and Praxedes, and a son named Novatus. They were earnest and pious Christians, and dedicated their great wealth to the service of their Master, Pudens before his death had founded an oratory or chapel in his house of which Hermes was the pastor, and Paul mentions the latter by name when he wrote his epistle to the Romans, (chap, xvi: 14): "Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Her- mas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them." We have a history of this family of Pudens handed down by a writer who assumed the name of Pastor, or the Shepherd, and who is said to have been the son of Hermes, and he tells us that when Pudentiana died, they concealed her body twenty-eight days in the oratory, and then buried her near her father Pudens in the tomb of Priscilk. Eleven months afterwards Novatus was martyred, and left his wealth to his sister Praxedes, and she then got Pius the bishop to erect a church in the baths of Novatus in memory of her sister Pudentiana. The bishop also consecrated a baptistry there. is said to be the mother This church of Sta. Pudentiana church of Rome, probably the primitive one of Christendom, and it stands above the original oratory of Pudens. The most con- spicuous of the substructions, according to Dr. Macduff, are a bath room, a chamber with a spacious archway, and another, on a lower level still with vaulted roof and mosaic pavement of the first cen- tury, together with some underground passages, where in former days were stored the "Amphoroe" of this old patrician palace. Dr. Macduff thinks that the upper church may, in a less amplified shape perhaps, have originally formed the very basilica of Pudens' palace, such basilicas being found attached to every great Roman mansion, and were equivalent to the baron's halls of olden times in England, where assemblages took place of retainers and vassals. The church dedicated to Praxedes (Church of Sta. Prax- edes), is on the Esquiline hill, near the present great cathedral of Sta. Maria Maggiore. It was amongst such as this and other similar Christian families, that Paul must have enjoyed the happiest days of his stay in Rome. Here he came into contact with congenial spirits.

654 IMPROVEMENT ERA. devoted men and women, braving: insult and persecution for the sake of truth, helping the needy, ministering to the suffering, and living lives of the loftiest self-sacrifice, a handful of infant believers (as Dr. Macduff calls them), in the city of the Caesars. The great apostle's days were doubtless passed in teaching, preaching, inditing his epistles, directing the '," affairs of those churches which he had founded in various parts of Asia, and in pleasant intercourse with his Christian friends. Amongst the most faithful of such friends were perhaps Luke the beloved phy- sician, and Aristarchus, both of whom had been his companions throughout his perilous journey from Judea; also Tychicus and Onesimus, whom Paul had despatched to Colosse towards the close of his imprisonment, with his epistles to the Colossians, and his letter to Philemon; the youthful Timothy; Mark, formerly indo- lent and careless (Acts xv: 37, 38), but now repentant, and of great help to the aged apostle in his heavy trials; Epaphras; De- mas, then an earnest worker with Paul, but who some two or three years afterwards forsook him, "hdving loved the present world," (II Timothy iv: 10) ; and Jesus surnamed Justus. These names are to be found in some of the epistles which Paul wrote while a prisoner in Rome, and it must have been a source of great comfort to him to have the love and encouragement of so devoted a band of brethren (and doubtless of sisters, too, for there must have been many others than those I have mentioned), to cheer him in his then very trying captivity. Pas de Calais, France. [to be continued.] THE REGIMENT OF GOD. Every mason in the quarry, every builder on the shore. Every woodman in the forest, every boatman at the oar, Hewing wood and drawing water, splitting stones and clearing sod, All the dusty roads of labor in the regiment of God, March together toward his temple, do the task his hands prepare; Honest toil is noble service, faithful work is praise and prayer. The Technical World Magazine.