Editing Colosseum (section)

== Significance in Christianity ==
[[File:Jean-Léon Gérôme - The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer - Walters 37113.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer'', by [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]] (1883)]]
[[File:Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg - View of the interior of the Colosseum - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright|''View of the interior of the Colosseum'', by [[Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg|C. W. Eckersberg]] (1815)]]
The Colosseum is generally regarded by Christians as a site of the martyrdom of large numbers of believers during the [[persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire]], as evidenced by Church history and tradition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.the-colosseum.net/history/h1.htm|title=The-Colosseum.net: Antiquity|work=the-colosseum.net}}</ref><ref name="newadvent.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04101b.htm|title=Catholic Encyclopedia: The Coliseum|work=newadvent.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tribunesandtriumphs.org/colosseum/colosseum-christian-martyrs.htm|title=Colosseum & Christian Martyrs|work=tribunesandtriumphs.org}}</ref> On the other hand, other scholars believe that the majority of martyrdoms may have occurred at other venues within the city of Rome, rather than at the Colosseum, citing a lack of still-intact physical evidence or historical records.<ref>[[#Hopkins|Hopkins]], p. 103</ref><ref name="Brockman2011">{{cite book|last=Brockman|first=Norbert C.|title=Encyclopedia of Sacred Places [2 volumes]|date= 2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-655-3|page=108|quote=Public executions were held there during the empire, and it is for these last events that the Colosseum became a Christian shrine. It is disputed whether many early Christian martyrs actually died in the Colosseum, since there is no mention of that in ancient Christian records.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Polidoro |first1=Massimo |author-link=Massimo Polidoro|title=Myths and Secrets of the Colosseum |journal=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |date=2018 |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=15–17 |url=https://www.csicop.org/si/show/myths_and_secrets_of_the_colosseum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618193426/https://www.csicop.org/si/show/myths_and_secrets_of_the_colosseum |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 June 2018 |access-date=19 June 2018}}</ref> These scholars assert that "some Christians were executed as common criminals in the Colosseum—their crime being refusal to reverence the Roman gods", but most [[Christian martyr]]s of the [[early Church]] were executed for their faith at the [[Circus Maximus]].<ref name="Brockman">{{cite book|last=Brockman|first=Norbert C.|title=Encyclopedia of Sacred Places [2 volumes]|date= 2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-655-3|page=108|quote=There seems little doubt that some Christians were executed as common criminals in the Colosseum-their crime being refusal to reverence the Roman gods. Most martyrs, however, died for their faith at the Circus Maximus. Some were even executed as members of what the Romans considered a Jewish sect, since both Jews and Christians refused to reverence the gods.}}<!--|access-date=30 April 2014--></ref><ref name="Potter1999">{{cite book|last=Potter|first=David Stone|title=Life, Death, and Entertainment in the Roman Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HPjqJWakX7IC&pg=PA227|year=1999|publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]]|isbn=978-0-472-08568-2|page=227|quote=The public execution of condemned offenders, including Christians, is associated above all with the amphitheater, although there were executions at various other venues. Gladiatorial games, hunting displays, and executions also took place at the Circus Maximus, even after the construction of the Colosseum (Humphrey 1987, 121).}}</ref> According to [[Irenaeus]] (died about 202), [[Ignatius of Antioch]] was fed to the lions in Rome around 107<!--checkp--> A.D. and although Irenaeus says nothing about this happening at the Colosseum, tradition ascribes it to that place.<ref name="Litfin2007"/><ref name="Flinn2006">{{cite book|last=Flinn|first=Frank K.|title=Encyclopedia of Catholicism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxEONS0FFlsC&pg=PA359|year=2006|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-0-8160-7565-2|pages=359|quote=He was caught up in the general persecution of the church under the emperor Trajan (r. 98–117), brought to Rome, and fed to the lions in the Coliseum around 107 C.E. His feast day is 17 October. Before his execution, Ignatius wrote seven letters to the churches along his route, one each to Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, and Philadelphia, two to the church at Smyrna, and one to Smyrna's bishop, Polycarp. The letters are a rich source about early theology, liturgy, and church organization.}}</ref><ref>[[#Hopkins|Hopkins]], p. 103: "It is likely that Christians ''were'' put to death there and that those said to have been martyred 'in Rome' actually died in the Colosseum. But, despite what we are often told, that is only a guess. One of the possible candidates for martyrdom in the Colosseum is St. Ignatius, a bishop of Antioch (in Syria) at the beginning of the second century AD, who was 'condemned to the beasts' at Rome."</ref><ref name="Norbert">{{cite book|last=Brockman|first=Norbert C.|title=Encyclopedia of Sacred Places [2 volumes]|year=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-655-3|page=108|quote=The Christians who did die in the Colosseum often did so under dramatic circumstances, thus cementing the legend. The hero St. Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of St. John the Beloved, was sent to the beasts by Trajan in 107. Shortly after, 115 Christians were killed by archers. When Christians refused to pray to the gods for the end of a plague in the latter part of the second century, Marcus Aurelius had thousands killed in the Colosseum for blasphemy.}}</ref>

In the Middle Ages, the Colosseum was not regarded as a monument, and was used as what some modern sources label a "quarry,"<ref>[[#Hopkins|Hopkins]], p. 160: "For most of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance the Colosseum was not so much a monument as a quarry. To describe this activity as 'robbery' is to give the wrong impression. For the most part, there was nothing illegal or unofficial about the removal of this stone."</ref> which is to say that stones from the Colosseum were taken for the building of other sacred sites.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.the-colosseum.net/history/quarry.htm|title=The-Colosseum.net: 1300–1700|work=the-colosseum.net}}</ref> This fact is used to support the idea that, at a time when sites associated with martyrs were highly venerated the Colosseum was not being treated as a sacred site.<ref name="New Advent">{{cite encyclopedia|title=The Coliseum|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04101b.htm|encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia|publisher=New Advent|access-date=24 April 2014|quote=In the Middle Ages, for example, when the sanctuaries of the martyrs were looked upon with so great veneration, the Coliseum was completely neglected; its name never occurs in the itineraries, or guide-books, compiler for the use of pilgrims to the Eternal City.}}</ref> It was not included in the itineraries compiled for the use of pilgrims nor in works such as the 12th century ''[[Mirabilia Urbis Romae]]'' ("Marvels of the City of Rome"), which claims the [[Circus Flaminius]] – but not the Colosseum – as the site of martyrdoms.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=The Coliseum|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04101b.htm|encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia|publisher=New Advent|access-date=24 April 2014|quote=The "Mirabilia Romae", the first manuscripts of which date from the twelfth century, cites among the places mentioned in the "Passions" of the martyrs the Circus Flaminius ad pontem Judaeorum, but in this sense makes no allusion to the Coliseum.}}</ref> Part of the structure was inhabited by a [[Religious order#Christian tradition|Christian religious order]], but it is not known whether this was for any particular religious reason.

[[Pope Pius V]] (1566–1572) is said to have recommended that pilgrims gather sand from the arena of the Colosseum to serve as a relic, on the grounds that it was impregnated with the blood of martyrs, although some of his contemporaries did not share his conviction.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=The Coliseum|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04101b.htm|encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia|publisher=New Advent|access-date=24 April 2014|quote=Pope St. Pius (1566–72) is said to have recommended persons desirous of obtaining relics to procure some sand from the arena of the Coliseum, which, the pope declared, was impregnated with the blood of martyrs. The opinion of the saintly pontiff, however, does not seem to have been shared by his contemporaries.}}</ref> A century later Fioravante Martinelli listed the Colosseum at the head of a list of places sacred to the martyrs in his 1653 book ''Roma ex ethnica sacra''. Martinelli's book evidently had an effect on public opinion; in response to Cardinal Altieri's proposal some years later to turn the Colosseum into a bullring, Carlo Tomassi published a pamphlet in protest against what he regarded as an act of desecration. The ensuing controversy persuaded [[Pope Clement X]] to close the Colosseum's external arcades and declare it a sanctuary.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=The Coliseum|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04101b.htm|encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia|publisher=New Advent|access-date=24 April 2014|quote=The pamphlet was so completely successful that four years later, the jubilee year of 1675, the exterior arcades were closed by order of Clement X; from this time the Coliseum became a sanctuary.}}</ref>
[[File:Cruz del Jubileo 2000 en el Coliseo - detalle.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|Cross dedicated to the Christian martyrs, placed in 2000 by [[Pope John Paul II]].]]
At the insistence of St. [[Leonard of Port Maurice]], Pope [[Benedict XIV]] (1740–1758) forbade the quarrying of the Colosseum and erected [[Stations of the Cross]] around the arena, which remained until February 1874.<ref name="Benedict">{{cite encyclopedia|title=The Coliseum|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04101b.htm|encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia|publisher=New Advent|access-date=24 April 2014|quote=At the instance of St. Leonard of Port Maurice, Benedict XIV (1740-58) erected Stations of the Cross in the Coliseum, which remained until February, 1874, when they were removed by order of Commendatore Rosa. St. Benedict Joseph Labre (d. 1783) passed a life of austere devotion, living on alms, within the walls of the Coliseum.}}</ref> [[Benedict Joseph Labre]] spent the later years of his life within the walls of the Colosseum, living on [[alms]], before he died in 1783.<ref name="Benedict"/> Several 19th century popes funded repair and restoration work on the Colosseum, and it still retains its Christian connection today. A [[Christian cross]] stands in the Colosseum, with a plaque, stating:

<blockquote>The amphitheater, one consecrated to triumphs, entertainments, and the impious worship of pagan gods, is now dedicated to the sufferings of the martyrs purified from impious superstitions.<ref name="Litfin2007">{{cite book|last=Litfin|first=Bryan M.|title=Getting to Know the Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction|date= 2007|publisher=Brazos Press|isbn=978-1-4412-0074-7|page=44|quote=But according to Irenaeus (who spent time in Rome not long after these events took place) Ignatius did in fact meet his end by being torn apart by wild animals for the amusement of the Roman masses, probably in the infamous Colosseum. The crowd there that day would have viewed the spectacle as a crushing defeat of this meek man's Christian religion. But Ignatius understood his death to be a shout of victory. Today a Christian cross stands in the Colosseum of Rome with a plaque that reads, "The amphitheater, one consecrated to triumphs, entertainments, and the impious worship of pagan gods, is now dedicated to the sufferings of the martyrs purified from impious superstitions."}}</ref></blockquote>
Other Christian crosses stand in several points around the arena and every [[Good Friday]] the Pope leads a [[Via Crucis]] procession to the amphitheater.