For more than two centuries, Christianity suffered under the Roman Empire.
Christians were arrested, tortured, mutilated, burned, and starved.
Christian buildings and the homes of Christians were torn down and their sacred books burned.
The religious persecutions came to an end when Emperor Constantine ascended the throne.
Unlike his predecessors, the emperor was a great patron of the Church.
Battle of the Milvian Bridge by Giulio Romano, 1520-24.
What made Emperor Constantine convert to Christianity has been debated and discussed by theologians and historians for centuries.
It is possible that Constantine’s mother exposed him to Christianity from an early age.
But what was the celestial event that had such a transforming effect on Constantine?
An impact generating a crater the size of one at Sirente would have been visible from a great distance.
It would have struck earth with the force of a small nuclear bomb, about one kiloton in yield.
The age of the crater also corresponds to local history.
A nearby village was suddenly abandoned possibly because of fire during the 4th century.
Catacombs dating to the same period reveal many bodies interred in a hasty manner.
A local legend, passed orally, also provides a vivid description of the cataclysmic event.
…Soon the star shone as large as a new sun.
An irresistible, dazzling light pervaded the sky.
The oak-leaves shuddered, discolored, curled up.
The forest lost its sap.
