Faithful to Christ unto the ultimate sacrifice

The memory of the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome is celebrated immediately after the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. This commemoration has always been connected to the location of the Circus built by Emperor Caligula, later known as Nero’s Circus. It stood in the Gardens of Agrippina (Caligula’s mother), on the southern slope of the Vatican Hill, from where the Via Aurelia, Via Cornelia, and Via Triumphalis began.