Basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls

Papal Basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls Basilica Papale di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura (in Italian)
The Basilica Papale di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura is a shrine to the martyred Roman deacon St. Lawrence. An Allied bombing on 19 July 1943, during the Second World War, devastated the facade, which was subsequently rebuilt.
Basic information
Location	Rome, Italy
Geographic coordinates	41°54′09″N 12°31′14″E / 41.90250°N 12.52056°E / 41.90250; 12.52056Coordinates: 41°54′09″N 12°31′14″E / 41.90250°N 12.52056°E / 41.90250; 12.52056
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Province	Diocese of Rome
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Papal Basilica
Leadership	P. Bruno Mustacchio
Website	www.basilicasanlorenzo.it
Architectural description
Architectural type	Church
Groundbreaking	4th century
Specifications
Direction of façade	WbS
Length	90 metres (300 ft)
Width	25 metres (82 ft)
Width (nave)	14 metres (46 ft)

The Papal Basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls (Italian: Basilica Papale di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura) is a Roman Catholic Papalminor basilica and parish church, located in Rome, Italy. The Basilica is one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome and one of the five former "patriarchal basilicas", each of which was assigned to the care of a Latin Church . The Basilica was assigned to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The Basilica is the shrine of the tomb of its namesake, Saint Lawrence (sometimes spelled "Laurence"), one of the first seven deacons of Rome who was martyred in 258. Many other saints and Bl. Pope Pius IX are also buried at the Basilica, which is the center of a large and ancient burial complex.

Before the present-day Basilica was constructed, the former estate upon which it sits was once home to a small oratory built by Emperor Constantine I. The Emperor built it over the site on which it tradition held that St. Lawrence was executed in 258. In the 580s, Pope Pelagius II commissioned the construction of a church over the site in honor of the Saint. In the 13th century, Pope Honorius III commissioned the construction of another church in front of the older one. It was adorned with frescos depicting the lives of Saint Lawrence and the first martyred deacon, St. Stephen, who is interred with St. Lawrence in the crypt, or confessio, under the high altar. The two structures were later united during a program of urban renewal. Excavations have revealed several other crypts of various persons, buried below the contemporary street level. Pope St. Hilarius is also buried here.