San Pellegrino in Vaticano

The Church of San Pellegrino in Vaticano is an ancient Roman Catholic oratory in the Vatican City, located on the Via dei Pellegrini. The church is dedicated to Saint Peregrine of Auxerre, a Roman priest appointed by Pope Sixtus II who had suffered martyrdom in Gaul in the third century. It is one of the oldest churches in the Vatican City.The church built by Pope Leo III around 800 first received the name of "San Pellegrino in Naumachia", making reference to the naumachia built northwest of the Castel Sant'Angelo and dedicated by Roman emperor Trajan in 109. In the seventeenth century, Pope Clement X granted the church to the Pontifical Swiss Guards, who used it for their religious services in combination with the church of Santi Martino e Sebastiano degli Svizzeri until 1977. Under the name of San Pellegrino degli Svizzeri, it became the national church in Rome of Switzerland. The oratory later fell into disrepair but was restored in the 19th century when evidence of the 9th-century frescoes were discovered.