About the Basilica of Saint John at the Latin Gate:
The church here commemorates the attempted martyrdom of Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist in 95 AD under Emperor Domitian. According to tradition, recorded by Tertullian and Saint Jerome, John was arrested in Ephesus, where he governed the churches of Asia Minor, and brought to Rome in chains. Domitian, viewing him as a propagator of the worship of a crucified Jew (Jesus), sentenced him to be plunged into a cauldron of boiling oil outside Rome’s Latin Gate.
Miraculously, God preserved John, and the oil became like an invigorating bath, leaving him unharmed and even refreshed, reminiscent of the three youths in the Babylonian furnace (Daniel 3). Domitian, unmoved by the miracle, exiled John to the Island of Patmos, where he later wrote the Book of Revelation. John returned to Ephesus under Emperor Nerva’s milder reign (96–98 AD).
The Basilica of Saint John at the Latin Gate is, as you might expect, near the Latin Gate on the Aurelian Wall. Sometimes overlooked, it remains a significant site, with the nearby chapel of San Giovanni in Oleo marking the exact spot of the event.
There is even a Feast Day to commemorate the miracle: celebrated for over 1,500 years, appeared in the Roman Martyrology (begun in the 7th century) and Gregorian Sacramentaries. It was removed from the General Calendar in 1960 by Pope John XXIII’s Liturgical Commission, which eliminated many secondary feasts, though it remains in the Traditional Latin Mass.
Traveling to the Basilica of Saint John at the Latin Gate in Rome:
Address: Via di Porta Latina, 17, 00179 Roma RM, Italy
Phone: +39 06 7047 5938