Both St Peter and St Paul are commemorated individually on separate days: Peter in regards to his confession of Jesus as the Messiah (Today's Gospel Reading), and Paul on account of his conversion (Acts 9:1-6). But they are honoured together today, as both were martyred in Rome during the time of Emperor Nero’s persecution of Christians about 64 AD.

Both had worked hard spreading the gospel and growing the church; which they saw extend from Jerusalem to most of the major cities around the Mediterranean by the middle of the 1st century. While many others were also involved in preaching the gospel, it is Peter and Paul who dominate the New Testament book , 'The Acts of the Apostles' (Acts). Both were eventually in Rome. Paul was a prisoner of the Roman authorities. We know nothing of Peter’s work in Rome, but, at the end of Acts, Luke notes that Paul “lived in Rome for 2 years at his own expense, welcoming all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:30,31).

Then Emperor Nero, found the Christians a convenient scapegoat for problems in the city. Christians were different in life-style and commitment, and became useful objects on which public scorn could be heaped. There is a probable reference to the fact of Peter’s martyrdom at the end of John’s Gospel. Tradition maintains that he was crucified, upside-down, and that Paul was beheaded, an easier death because he was a Roman citizen. Because of their importance in the early church, the places identified as the location of their respective burials may well be correct. These places soon became shrines and places of pilgrimage.

In the 4th century the first Christian Emporor, Emperor Constantine built large, important churches on the sites of these shrines: St Peter’s in the Vatican, and St Paul’s outside the walls of Rome.

In the 16th century the one in the Vatican was demolished and the present St Peter’s built. The Church/Shrine of St Paul’s outside the Walls was modified in various periods and was all but destroyed by fire in 1823. The present building is a reconstruction along traditional lines.