caption death_date death_place feast_day imagesize venerated_in titles image article_title name
'' by guercino , 1630-2 . the martyrdom of john and paul '' , ~ 362 ad rome 26 june 300px roman catholic church eastern orthodox church martyrs guercino _ - _ martirio_dei_santi_giovanni_e_paolo . jpg john and paul
 saints john and paul
john and paul

`` for the musical partnership of john lennon and paul mccartney , see lennon -- mccartney '' john and paul were saints in the roman empire .
they were martyred at rome on 26 june .
they should not be confused with the famous apostles of the same name -lrb- see saint paul ; saint john the apostle -rrb- .
the year of their martyrdom is uncertain according to their `` acts '' ; it occurred under julian the apostate -lrb- 361 -- 3 -rrb- .
in the second half of the fourth century , byzantius , the roman senator , and saint pammachius , his son , fashioned their house on the cælian hill into a christian basilica .
in the fifth century the `` presbyteri tituli byzantii '' -lrb- priests of the church of byzantius -rrb- are mentioned in an inscription and among the signatures of the roman council of 499 .
the church was also called the `` titulus pammachii '' after byzantius 's son , the pious friend of st. jerome .
in the ancient apartments on the ground-floor of the house of byzantius , which were still retained under the basilica , the tomb of two roman martyrs , john and paul , was the object of veneration as early as the fifth century .
the `` sacramentarium leonianum '' already indicates in the preface to the feast of the saints , that they rested within the city walls '' -lrb- `` sacr .
leon . ''
, ed .
feltoe , cambridge , 1896 , 34 '' -rrb- , while , in one of the early itineraries to the tombs of the roman martyrs , their grave is assigned to the church on the cælian -lrb- `` de rossi , `` roma sotterrania '' , i , 138 , 175 '' -rrb- .
the `` titulus byzantii '' or `` pammachii '' was consequently known at a very early date by the names of the two martyrs -lrb- `` titulus ss .
joannis et pauli '' -rrb- .
that the two saints are martyrs of the roman church is historically certain ; as to how and when their bodies found a resting-place in the house of pammachius under the basilica , we only know that it certainly occurred in the fourth century .
the year and circumstances of their martyrdom are likewise unknown .
