WordandWitness.today

The current background is an image of the coffered dome and oculus of the Pantheon in Rome. Construction of the Pantheon began in 27 BC, a temple dedicated to all gods in the Roman pantheon –  “pan” = “all” and “theon” = “gods.” The building was converted to a church in AD 609 when Pope Boniface the Fourth consecrated it as Santa Maria ad Martyres as cartloads of bones of the saints from the Roman Catacombs were reburied in a crypt beneath the floor in a porphyry under the high altar – see second picture below.