The Chiesa di Santa Maria in Palmis, better known as Chiesa del Domine Quo Vadis (literally, the church of "Lord, Where Are You Going?") is a small church on the Appian Way in Rome.
The Chiesa del Domine Quo Vadis is located on the spot where tradition says Saint Peter had a vision of the risen Christ while fleeing persecution in Rome. According to the tradition, Peter asked Jesus:
Domine, quo vadis? - Lord, where are you going?
And Jesus answered:
Eo Romam iterum crucifigi - I go to Rome to be crucified anew.
This convinced Peter to turn around and face martyrdom in Rome.
The Chiesa del Domine Quo Vadis is on the Appian way (Via Appia), about 800 m from the St. Sebastian Gate (Porta San Sebastiano), where the Via Ardeatina branches off the Appian way.
There has been a sanctuary on the spot since the 9th century, but the current church is from 1637. The current façade was added in the 17th century.
It has been supposed that the sanctuary might have been even more ancient, perhaps a Christian version of some already existing temple: the church is in fact located just in front of the sacred Campus dedicated to Rediculum, the "God of the return."
This campus hosted a sanctuary for the cult of the god that received devotion by travelers before their departure, especially by those who were going to face long and dangerous journeys towards far places like Egypt, Greece or the East (and the travelers who returned always stopped to thank the god of the happy outcome of the journey).
The position of the sanctuary in Campus Rediculi was ideal, first of all because the ancient Appian way was the most important among the Roman "consular" roads, secondarily because from this location the traveller could give the last look to the walls of Rome.
The presence of the Apostle Peter in this area, where he is supposed to have lived, should however find a confirmation in an epigraph in the catacombs of Saint Sebastian, that recites "Domus Petri" (house of Peter) and in an epigram by Pope Damasus I (366-384), in honor of Peter and Paul, in which we can read: "You that are looking for the names of Peter and Paul, You must know that the saints have lived here".
The two footprints on a marble slab at the center of the church (copy of a relief conserved in the nearby Basilica of San Sebastiano) would be the miraculous sign left by Jesus: it is actually a draft of an "ex voto" paid for the good outcome of a travel, what would confirm the supposition that some connection might link the two temples.
The real name of the church, very little known, indeed, is Chiesa di Santa Maria in Palmis, where palmis stands for the soles of Jesus.
There was an inscription above the front door on the façade, saying:
Stop your walking, traveler, and enter this sacred temple in which you will find the footprint of our Lord Jesus Christ when He met with St. Peter who escaped from the prison. An elemosina for the wax and the oil is recommended in order to free some spirits from Purgatory.
Pope Gregory XVI found it so inappropriate (effectively being advertising) that he ordered its removal in 1845.
In 1983 Pope John Paul II defined the chapel as "a place that has a special importance in the history of Rome and in the history of the Church."