ABSTRACT
Constantine built a small basilica that may have incorporated the shrine. The Emperor Valentinian II (375-92) paid for the enormous building, which endured, with medieval alterations, until the fire of 1823. It was consecrated by Pope Siricius (384-99, Damasus’ successor) in 390, but construction was not actually completed until 402-3. Prudentius described the building in glowing terms in the Peristephanon, xii, vs. 49. Thus it is uncertain whether the corner block o f the shrine bearing the SAT,VS POPVLI inscription belonged to the shrine and was incised to refer to St Paul and his works, or whether it came from some other and presumably pagan source in the necropolis and was incorporated in the shrine. Whatever its origin, the inscription served to keep the term alive in a Christian context during the third and fourth centuries. Other than that, there can hardly be a question of influence on our introit text.
