It is at the Ostrian Villa, moreover, that the neighboring
Goat's Marsh would provide opportunity for Baptism by
immersion. Tradition affirms this region to have been "St.
Peter's waters, where he baptized" (Acts of Pseudo-
Marcellus). Here also was St. Peter's first chair,
venerated by pilgrims as late as the sixth century
(DeRossi, Roma Soteranea, 176).
It is at this point that it is appropriate to introduce two
remarks of the African Christian controversialist
Tertullian about 200 A.D. He claimed: "There is no
difference (in grace) between those whom John baptized
in the Jordan and those whom Peter baptized in the
Tiber" (On Baptism, 4). Again he says: "Recall the
various churches in which the actual chairs of the
Apostles are still standing in their places, in which their
own authentic letters are read, repeating the voice and
calling up the face of each of them severally . . . If you
are near Italy, you have Rome, whence also our authority
is derived close at hand. How happy is that church on
which the Apostles poured forth all their teaching
together with their blood; where Peter endured a passion
like his Lord's..." (Prescriptions Against Heretics, 32, 36,
by Tertullian).
This first chair of St. Peter no longer exists, but in one
of the crypts of the Ostrian Cemetery one may still see a
chair cut out of the solid tufa in ancient times to
represent the original. It probably occupies the same
position as the original, and by the fifth century a lamp
was kept burning before it (Barnes, St. Peter in Rome,
36). Early Roman martyrologies record under date of
January 18: "The chair of St. Peter on which he first sat
at Rome."
The Acilian family numbered St. Priscilla, Marcus Acilius
Glabrio, and others among Christian converts. They,
along with Prisca and Aquila, are buried in the Ostrian
Cemetery. Another prominent person who was probably
St. Peter's convert was Pomponia Graecina. Tacitus
mentions (Annales, 32) that she was accused of
"superstition" before a family council about 58 A.D., but
acquitted through the influence of her husband, General
Plautius. This hypothesis is strengthened by the
discovery of a tombstone in the Christian Cemetery of St.
Calixtus bearing the name of Pomponius Graecinus,
probably a grandson or grandnephew. Senator Pudens,
mentioned by St. Paul (2 Tim. 4:21), is also traditionally
held as a convert of St. Peter, who is said to have later
resided in his house.
Presumably most of the Christians saluted by St. Paul
(Rom. 16) were St. Peter's converts, and these included
Sts. Linus, Cletus, and Clement, who were first St.
Peter's auxiliaries and later succeeded him in the Roman
episcopate. The greater number of the converts must
have been from the poorer classes, but the few wealthier
converts placed their villas and cemeteries at the
disposal of their brethren. Here groups of Christians
could gather without exciting suspicion, for all Roman
patricians received daily homage from troops of clients.
In 49 A.D., as already noted, the imperial government
ordered expulsion of the Jews. Dio Cassius leads us to
believe that the decree was but partially carried out, so
that probably only the leaders of the factions would be
deported (Dio Cassius, History, IX, 6). Certainly St. Peter
would be regarded as a leader, and he probably deemed
it prudent to absent himself from Rome for a time. He
took the opportunity to revisit Palestine and the East, for
in 49 or 50 we find him presiding over the Apostolic
Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15), dealing with the
Judaizing crisis. Probably shortly afterwards he met St.
Paul at Antioch (Gal. 2: 11). He may also have revisited
the missions which he salutes at the opening of his first
Epistle. At some time before 57 also, he was at Corinth
(1 Cor. 1:12; Eusebius, History, II, 25).