There has been a sanctuary on the spot since the ninth century, but the current church is from 1637. The current façade was added in the 17th century. It has been supposed that the sanctuary might have been even more ancient, perhaps a Christian adaptation of an already existing
temple: the church is in fact located in front of the sacred
campus dedicated to
Rediculus, the Roman "God of the Return". This
campus hosted a sanctuary for the cult of the deity that received devotion by travellers before their departure, especially those going to face long and dangerous journeys to far-off places like
Egypt,
Greece or the East. Those travellers upon their safe return also stopped to thank the god for the happy outcome of their journey. The presence of the Apostle Peter in this area, where he is supposed to have lived, appears to be confirmed in an
epigraph in the
Catacombs of Saint Sebastian that reads
Domus Petri (). An
epigram by
Pope Damasus I (366–384) in honor of Peter and
Paul reads: "You that are looking for the names of Peter and Paul, you must know that the saints have lived here." The two footprints on a marble slab at the center of the church — nowadays a copy of the original, which is kept in the nearby
Basilica of San Sebastiano fuori le mura — are popularly believed to be a miraculous sign left by Jesus. The official name of the church alludes to these footprints:
palmis refers to the soles of Jesus' feet. An inscription above the front door on the church's façade formerly read "Stop your walking, traveller, and enter this sacred temple in which you will find the footprint of our Lord Jesus Christ when He met with St. Peter who escaped from the prison. An alms for the wax and the oil is recommended in order to free some spirits from
Purgatory."
Pope Gregory XVI found the advertising tone of this inscription so inappropriate that he ordered its removal in 1845. There is also a modern column with a bust of
Henryk Sienkiewicz, the Polish author of the famous historical fiction novel
Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero (1896). It is said that Sienkiewicz was inspired to write his novel while sitting in this church. The church is currently administered by priests of the
Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel. == See also ==