E00402: The Liber Pontificalis, written in Latin in Rome in the 530s, and re-edited before 546, recounts the founding and endowment of the basilica of *Paul (the Apostle, S00008) outside Rome by the emperor Constantine (312-337).

Liber Pontificalis 34.21

For the following passage it is impossible to reconstruct the text of the first edition.

Second edition

21. Eodem tempore fecit Augustus Constantinus basilicam beato Paulo apostolo ex suggestione Silvestri episcopi, cuius corpus ita recondit in aere et conclusit sicut beati Petri, cui basilicae hoc donum obtulit:
Sub Tarso Ciliciae: insulam Gordianon, praest. sol. DCCC.
Omnia enim vasa sacrata aurea vel argentea vel aerea ita posuit ut in basilica beati Petri apostoli, ita et beati Pauli apostoli ordinavit. Sed crucem auream super locum beati Pauli posuit, pens. lib. CL.

'Then the emperor Constantine built a basilica to saint Paul the apostle at the petition of bishop Silvester; and he buried and sealed his body in bronze just like St Peter’s. To this basilica he presented the following gift:
In Cilicia, in the suburbs of Tarsus, the island Cordionon, revenue 800 solidi.
He placed and arranged all the sacred vessels of gold, silver and bronze at St Paul’s basilica just as at St Peter’s basilica. He also put a gold cross over the burial place (locum) of the blessed Paul, weighing 150 lb.'

There follows a list of other endowments of St Paul's Basilica.


Text: Duchesne 1886, 178-179. Translation: Davis 2010, 19-20, lightly modified. Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.