Catacombe di San Sebastiano Rome 2026: The Only Catacomb Whose Name Is the Origin of the Word 'Catacomb' — and the Place Where Tradition Says Peter and Paul Were Temporarily Buried

Autore: La Redazione di www.tourleaderpro.com

Last updated: April 2026.

Catacombe di San Sebastiano (the Catacombs of Saint Sebastian — on the Via Appia Antica at km 2.7, 300m from the San Callisto entrance, beneath the Basilica di San Sebastiano fuori le Mura): the catacomb whose specific topographic position (the Greek kata kymbas — "near the hollows" or "near the caverns" in reference to the specific landscape of the Via Appia Antica at the point where the natural tufo erosion had created the specific hollowed terrain that the catacomb builders used as their starting point) gave the generic term "catacomb" to all underground burial galleries in the Christian tradition: every catacomb in Rome, in Naples, in Malta, in Paris, and in the Jewish Quarter of Rome carries the name that derives from the specific topography of this one site on the Via Appia.

The Apostles' connection: the specific early Christian tradition (documented in the 4th-century pilgrim itineraries and in the graffiti scratched into the catacomb walls) holds that the bodies of the Apostles Peter and Paul were temporarily moved from their permanent tombs (Peter in the Vatican, Paul on the Via Ostiense) to the San Sebastiano catacombs during the persecution of the Emperor Valerian (257-260 AD) to protect the relics from the imperial confiscation of Christian property: the specific graffiti in the tricliae (the dining chambers adjacent to the pagan burial level of the catacomb) — "Petre et Paule, in mente habete in orationibus vestris" (Peter and Paul, remember us in your prayers) — documenting the specific veneration of the Apostles at this site in the 3rd-4th century, whether or not the tradition of the physical relics is historically accurate.

Catacombe di San Sebastiano: Levels, Graffiti, and Visit

The Three Burial Levels

San Sebastiano catacomb stratification (the specific three-level burial system visible in the catacomb visit): the deepest level (the pagan-period tuff quarry and the 1st-2nd century pagan columbaria (the niched walls for the ash urns of cremated dead — the specific Roman pagan burial practice that the transition to Christian burial displaced)), the intermediate level (the mausoleums — the three preserved above-ground mausoleums (the "Mausoleums of the Banqueters", the "Mausoleum of Geta", and the "Mausoleum of Innocentiores") that were incorporated into the catacomb fabric as the underground galleries were excavated around them), and the upper catacomb level (the Christian burial galleries with the loculi and the arcosolio tombs, and the tricliae — the dining rooms where the refrigerium meals (the ritual memorial meals for the dead) were held): the San Sebastiano stratification provides the most complete single-site demonstration of the transition from pagan to Christian burial practice in Rome.

The Basilica Above

Basilica di San Sebastiano fuori le Mura (the church above the catacomb — the 4th-century basilica built over the catacomb site on the commission of Constantine, rebuilt by Cardinal Scipione Borghese in 1612 in the current Baroque form with the Flaminio Ponzio design): the specific San Sebastiano basilica treasures (the Bernini bust of the Salvatore (the bust of Christ attributed to Bernini that the 17th-century Borghese patronage placed in the church interior), the Reni painting, and the arrow-pierced column to which the saint was tied during his martyrdom (the specific relic whose devotional tradition the basilica maintains in the north transept chapel)).

The Guided Visit

Catacombe di San Sebastiano guided tour (mandatory guided tour, departing every 30-45 minutes): the tour (40-45 minutes underground, covering the three burial levels, the tricliae with the Apostles' graffiti, and the Christian catacomb galleries): admission approximately €10 adults, €6 children. Open Monday-Saturday 10:00-17:00 (closed Sunday and in January and February). Book in advance at catacombresansebastianorome.org for the high season.

Q&A: Catacombe di San Sebastiano

Were Peter and Paul really buried at San Sebastiano?

The temporary burial tradition is historically unverified but not implausible: the 3rd-century Valerian persecution (the specific persecution that confiscated Christian property and executed church leaders — the martyrdom of Pope Sixtus II and his deacons in 258 AD is documented) created the conditions in which the community might have moved the apostles' relics for protection. The specific evidence (the graffiti, the 4th-century pilgrim texts, and the specific devotional practice at the San Sebastiano tricliae) documents the veneration of Peter and Paul at this site but not the physical presence of the relics. The current consensus: the permanent tombs of Peter (under St Peter's Basilica — confirmed by the 1940-1960 excavations that identified the 2nd-century aedicula over the bones carbon-dated to the 1st century) and Paul (under the San Paolo fuori le Mura altar — confirmed by the 2009 carbon dating of the bones in the 4th-century sarcophagus) are at their traditional locations; the San Sebastiano connection represents a temporary protection episode or a devotional association rather than a permanent burial site.