Growing importance of S. Peter's

The importance of Rome as the head of the Church, and the reverence for the Apostle Peter and his successors on the papal chair, meanwhile grew and strengthened, until, in time, the mythic tomb of the poor Galilean fisherman in the sumptuous basilica became the chief sanctuary of the West. In the days of Prudentius barbarians had not yet made their way across the Alps and seas to visit Roman shrines, but after the middle of the seventh century, the city became yearly thronged with thousands of pilgrims from the distant lands of Gaul, Spain, and Britain. Rome had again become the desire of nations, though the fatal spell, which Seneca eloquently describes the Eternal City as possessing over the minds of men, had yielded before the power of other attractions. Relics of the sainted dead were now the magnet which drew wanderers from distant lands and enabled them to overcome difficulties indescribable; their goal, a grave; their reward, a prayer offered up before it, a relic, and the hope of a future paradise. No sooner did these pilgrims arrive within sight of Rome than they threw themselves on their knees as before an Eden of bliss; singing hymns, they entered the city of their dreams, sought the houses for the pilgrims, and there found shelter and countrymen who spoke their own tongue and acted as guides on their visits to the churches and catacombs.