reporter: the father frequently shows pilgrims to rome around the coliseum. the persecutions were not very long, they lasted 250 years, but you must imagine it as 250 years of constant persecution, the first persecution started in 64. reporter: the example of men, women and children ready to suffer in the name of christ and, especially, those who gave their lives, as a witness to the faith, was exalted by the first christian writers. one of the earlyist said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of christians, meaning the bloodshed by the martyrs gave rise to new christians and the more christianity was persecuted the more it seemed to grow. it was like fertilized, the blood of the martyrs was fertilizer for the growth of christianity. reporter: tell ahead the
what is now an arab boys school, the first station of the cross where pontias pilate judged jesus and condemned him to death. the faithful stop at 14 stations along the way. however, this is a path of faith, not fact, according to historians and archaeologists, even the number of stations increased from 8 to 14 during the middle ages and the real via de la rosa follows a different path. father murphy o conner says the true beginning starts at the opposite side of the city. jesus was sentenced in front of pontias pilate s residential which father murray o connor says at the time would have been here in what was a palace used by the romans. if you were a general and had a colonel, would you live in the palace or the barracks?