Meet Pino D’Amato
Sit down with Pino D’Amato, member of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC). See a glimpse of his life as he takes you on a tour of his hometown, Rome, Italy.
Transcript:
I was brought up in the Bay of Naples, just near Mount Vesuvius. It’s a beautiful area to live in but too congested. So, 4 years ago, we decided to move to Rome with our family – our son Fabio and his two children.
Rome is a very interesting City to live in, it’s like an open-air museum with so many monuments, and history, like the cradle of civilization. We have always been interested in the scriptures about Paul but living here and researching his time here really brings it to life.
The Apostle Paul would have seen some of these buildings. Paul was a most extraordinary man, being brought up as a strict Jew and trained as a rabbi. He persecuted the early Christians in Jerusalem but then had a remarkable conversion when the Lord Jesus actually appeared and spoke to him.
Paul spent the rest of his life in devoted service to Christ. How Paul came to Rome is a very interesting story. He was attacked by a Jewish mob at Jerusalem and rescued just in time by Roman soldiers. He was then held in custody for two years at Caesarea but without any charge being made against him, he then appealed to the Roman Emperor. This meant transferring him to Rome and being shipwrecked on the way at Malta.
This is the Appian Way, via Appia which is the road Paul marched along to reach the capital. The Brethren from Rome came to meet Paul at the Appi Forum. They travelled about 40 English miles to come and meet Paul on his way to Rome and this encouraged Paul. Eventually, Paul’s appeal was heard, probably by the emperor Nero, we do not know if he was then released and rearrested later or held as a prisoner.
The last writing we have of Paul is his second letter to Timothy where he is evidently expecting the end to come soon and asks Timothy to come to him quickly. There are no authentic accounts of Paul’s last days but according to tradition he was condemned to death at some point. It was he here at Tre Fontane, that he was executed, and this is the last stretch of road that he would have walked on. Since he had the status of a Roman citizen he was executed by the Roman sword.
This is St Paul’s, the largest Abbey in Rome after St Peters. After Paul died his body was cared for by Christians and placed in a family tomb nearby. This became a shrine, which was later developed into a church and was rebuilt a number of times and is now this great Basilica.
However, the tomb beneath the altar has remained intact through all the rebuilding and is carefully preserved as the probable final resting place of the great Apostle who devoted his life in service to his Master.
We feel it’s a great honour to carry on the testimony here in Rome where the great Apostle lived for some time and gave up his life in testimony for Christ.
This is where we have our evening meals, al fresco, as it is quite hot here in Rome in the summer time and we like to enjoy the company of our fellow brethren.
