From Wiki about the Colosseum at least
Christians and the Colosseum
There are no historical records or physical evidence for the use of the Colosseum as a place of execution for Christians.[36]The idea that many Christians were martyred in the Colosseum, under the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire is one that is disputed, since ancient Christian records do not record this.[37] However, it may be that "some Christians were executed as common criminals in the Colosseum—their crime being refusal to reverence the Roman gods", although mostChristian martyrs of the early Church were executed for their faith at the Circus Maximus.[38][39] According to Irenaeus (died about 202), Ignatius of Antioch was fed to the lions in Rome around 107 A.D, but Irenaeus says nothing about this happening at the Colosseum, although tradition ascribes it to that place.[40][41][42][43]
In the Middle Ages, the Colosseum was not regarded as a monument, and was used as a quarry,[36] at a time when sites associated with martyrs were highly venerated.[44] It was not included in the itineraries compiled for the use of pilgrims nor in works such as the 12th century Mirabilia Urbis Romae ("Marvels of the City of Rome"), which claims the Circus Flaminius – but not the Colosseum – as the site of martyrdoms.[45] Part of the structure was inhabited by a Christian order, but apparently not for any particular religious reason.
Pope Pius V (1566–1572) is said to have recommended that pilgrims gather sand from the arena of the Colosseum to serve as a relic, on the grounds that it was impregnated with the blood of martyrs, although two popes after him did not share this conviction.[46] A century later Fioravante Martinelli listed the Colosseum at the head of a list of places sacred to the martyrs in his 1653 book Roma ex ethnica sacra. It was only in the 16th and 17th centuries that the Colosseum came to be widely regarded as a Christian site.[47]
Martinelli's book evidently had an effect on public opinion; in response to Cardinal Altieri's proposal some years later to turn the Colosseum into a bullring, Carlo Tomassi published a pamphlet in protest against what he regarded as an act of desecration. The ensuing controversy persuaded Pope Clement X to close the Colosseum's external arcades and declare it a sanctuary.[48]
At the insistence of St. Leonard of Port Maurice, Pope Benedict XIV (1740–1758) forbade the quarrying of the Colosseum and erected Stations of the Cross around the arena, which remained until February 1874.[49] St. Benedict Joseph Labrespent the later years of his life within the walls of the Colosseum, living on alms, prior to his death in 1783.[49] Several 19th century popes funded repair and restoration work on the Colosseum, and it still retains its Christian connection today. a crossstands in the Colosseum, with a plaque, stating:
The amphitheater, one consecrated to triumphs, entertainments, and the impious worship of pagan gods, is now dedicated to the sufferings of the martyrs purified from impious superstitions.
[40]
Other Christian crosses stand in several points around the arena and every Good Friday the Pope leads a Via Crucis procession to the amphitheater.
