The Origins of All Saints Day and the Consecration of the Pantheon in Rome as a Church in AD 608

The Basilica of Santa Maria ad Martyres (aka, the Pantheon) in Rome as it looks today.

The Feast of All Saints as we know it today has its origins in that period of chaos and transition between Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. One of the milestones in the development of the Feast took place in the year AD 608 when Pope Boniface IV consecrated the formerly pagan temple known as the Pantheon in Rome to Our Lady and All the Saints.

The Pantheon, of course, is that marvelous architectural monument to Roman ingenuity which has somehow managed to survive the scourge of time and come down to us practically intact. Originally built as a temple to all the gods by Augustus Caesar's greatest general, Marcus Agrippa, the Pantheon would burn down and be completely reconstructed by the emperor Hadrian in the early 2nd century AD. In that form, it would remain a silent witness to the climactic moments of Roman history, including the Crisis of the Third Century, the persecution of Christians under Decius, Valerian and Maximian, the rise and defeat of Maxentius, and the victorious advent of Constantine the Great.

Yet even after the conversion of Rome to Christianity, the Pantheon would remain a pagan temple for another 80 years. The temples were finally shuttered by Theodosius the Great in the late 4th century, so the Pantheon likely existed as a fortress-like hulk for 200 years as the city around it became universally Christian. Devout residents of Rome likely viewed the darkened, abandoned temple as a demon-infested haunt, and an anonymous Latin sermon about the consecration says that "the Romans were so thoroughly terrified that they customarily did not dare to go near the temple even at noon."

It wasn't until the early years of the 7th century AD that a change would occur at a time when the usurping tyrant, Phocas, unleashed his brutally inept reign upon a Roman Empire on the brink of dissolution. Rome during this time was still nominally part of the Empire. With the climax of the Gothic Wars in AD 555, the Roman Empire was briefly re-established in all of Italy. But by the time of Pope Gregory the Great, in the 580s, everything was once again falling apart. The Italian peninsula was overrun by an insuperable horde of Lombards who conquered and settled practically all the land outside of the major cities. The Empire hung on to the city of Rome—but barely.  

In Constantinople, Phocas had taken the throne as beneficiary of a rebellion which toppled the reigning emperor, Maurice. The unfortunate Maurice would be executed by Phocas, along with his wife and eight children. With more than enough crises to deal with in the East, Phocas was anxious to maintain whatever political alliances he could in the West. 

19th century engraving of Pope Boniface IV cleansing "the ancient filth of idolatry" from
the Pantheon and consecrating the building to the Ever Virgin Mary and All the Saints. 

Boniface IV became Pope during the seemingly endless troubles of the early 7th century. With the political authority of the Empire once again waning in Italy, the Popes had been forced to take a more active role in defending and caring for the city. When Boniface requested that Phocas grant the Pantheon to the Church, Phocas likely felt that this was an easy way to demonstrate his authority and keep Boniface and Rome solidly on his side. In his celebrated Ecclesiastical Annals written in the late 16th century, Caesar Cardinal Baronius gives a summary of what happened, based originally on the biography of Boniface from the Liber Pontificalis of the 9th century AD: 

Boniface IV, Pope, who dedicated the Pantheon to God.

In the six hundred and seventeenth year of the Indiction, Boniface, from the city of Valeria in the region of the Marsi, the son of John the physician, was created Pope on the eighteenth day of September, being the fourth of that name. Immediately he turned his own house into a monastery and enriched it with revenues.

When he saw that the Emperor Phocas was more favorably disposed toward the Roman Pontiffs than previous rulers had been, he ventured—what none of the Roman Pontiffs before him had attempted—to ask the emperor to grant him the Pantheon, that noble temple of Rome. He wished, after it had been cleansed of the ancient filth of idolatry, to consecrate it in honor of the Mother of God, the Blessed Mary, and of all the holy martyrs.

The emperor freely granted this request, and Boniface, having obtained what he desired, happily accomplished it without delay. These things are taken from Anastasius [author of that section of the Liber Pontificalis].

Thus that marvelous building, celebrated by the praises of so many ancient writers—constructed by Marcus Agrippa, consul, in the time of the Emperor Augustus, and dedicated to Jupiter the Avenger—at length passed into the service of the Christian religion after six hundred and thirty-two years.

Indeed, it had remained untouched by demolishers—(as has been said) though it had been the dwelling-place of demons—because of the solid strength of its construction, which made it stand firm. Yet it had not yet been dedicated to Christian use, since such a conversion seemed execrable to some.

For we see from Saint Gregory that at first he had ordered that the temples of idols among the newly converted English nation be destroyed; but later he permitted that, for the sake of the new planting of faith, those same buildings should remain intact—provided that, after solemn purification, they be consecrated and adapted to sacred worship.

So likewise the Pantheon, being transformed into a church and consecrated, and ennobled by the title of the Mother of God, and enriched with the relics of martyrs brought from cemeteries outside the city, obtained the name that it should be called the Temple of the Mother of God and of All Martyrs—a venerable title which it retains to this day. [Ecclesiastical Annals of Baronius, Volume 11, page 77]

A similar account may be found in the History of the Langobards (Lombards), an early 8th century work by Paul the Deacon. Other accounts refer to Boniface translating 28 cartloads of relics of various martyrs from the catacombs to a porphyry niche beneath the high altar of the newly-consecrated church. The date of this consecration (May 13) would become a day to commemorate all the saints in Rome, which would be moved to November 1 and become a universal feast throughout the Holy Roman Empire by Louis the Pious in AD 835.

Note that Baronius's account above refers to the letter of Gregory the Great written in AD 601 that permitted the British converts to Catholicism to consecrate their pagan buildings to Christian usage. The full letter may be found here: "That the nation, seeing that their temples are not destroyed, may remove error from their hearts." ~ St. Gregory the Great's letter to St. Mellitus on reconsecrating pagan temples as Christian churches, AD 601

The Pantheon would continue to exist as the Basilica of Santa Maria ad Martyres for the next 1,400 years. The building's remarkably solid construction and continuing service as a Catholic Church help to explain its wonderful state of preservation. 

Aside from the martyrs whose remains were entombed at the consecration of the building as a church, numerous other more modern Italians are interred within these sacred precincts. Most notable among these are the artist Raphael along with several other Renaissance-era painters and sculptors, Italian Kings Vittorio Emanuele II, his son, Umberto I, and Umberto's wife, Queen Margherita. 

We should let the Basilica's history and conversion stand as a metaphor for all of us Catholics, who were rescued by Christ from the filth of idolatry and who should remain standing steadfast to the end with the help of our Blessed Lady and the holy saints in Heaven.

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As Saint Alphonsus Liguori said, "Let us read the lives of the saints, and pride shall depart from us. There we shall find the great things that they have done, at the sight of which we shall feel ashamed of the little we have done." 

A good place to start is the book, I Am a Christian: Authentic Accounts of Christian Martyrdom and Persecution from the Ancient Sources. Reading about the saints and their works is a beautiful way to commemorate the feast of All Saints, and directly contrary to the worldly culture's insistence on tying the celebration of the vigil of the holy day with the works of darkness.