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The names of the first martyrs
are known only to God.
In July AD 64, during the tenth year of Nero's reign, a great fire
engulfed the city of Rome. It was only stopped after six nights and seven
days, when several buildings were demolished. Strangely, the fire
restarted in the garden of Tigellinus the next day. It was rumored Nero
himself ordered the fires, since he seemed to have taken so much joy in
them. Reports of strange men torching houses saying only that they had
orders, fueled the idea Nero started them. It may serve to note that many
fires had afflicted Rome over its history, but as with the others it is
generally thought that this fire started accidentally as well.
Nero, nonetheless, sensing the growing suspicion, declared the
"Christians" had started the fires. No one thought that they had, but they
were rounded up anyway. Some were sewn up in wild beast skins and fed to
wild dogs while still alive. Some were covered in pitch and wax and after
being more or less impaled with stakes, set alight.
Though most were hardened to the utterly savage and barbaric life of the
Roman empire, it is noted that many were horrified at the treatment of
those first Christians.
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