THE PANTHEON, A CHURCH DEDICATED TO ALL MARTYRS
The Pantheon was so revered that, when it was transformed into a church in the 7th Century, it wasn’t dedicated to a single saint, but to all Christian martyrs.
In 609 AD, Pope Boniface IV obtained permission from the Byzantine Emperor Phocas to convert the Pantheon into a Christian church. Instead of dedicating the building to a specific religious figure, the Pope consecrated it to “Santa Maria ad Martyres” (Saint Mary and all the Martyrs).
This gesture is significant because it emphasizes the continuity of the Pantheon as a sacred place, transitioning from a temple dedicated to all Roman deities to a church dedicated to all Christian saints. It’s as if its intrinsic sacredness was maintained, adapting to the new faith without losing its essence as a place of universal veneration.
Consider that many other pagan temples were destroyed or fell into ruin during Christianization, but the Pantheon, precisely because of its importance and perhaps because of this “openness” to all deities, was preserved and continues to be an active place of worship even today.