This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.

Step into the heart of Rome and uncover one of Christianity's most mysterious and powerful treasures. History Uncovered: Santa Croce in Gerusalemme — the House of Holy Relics tells the extraordinary story of a basilica built not just of stone and marble, but of sacred fragments said to carry the Passion of Christ itself.

In the fourth century, Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, returned from Jerusalem with relics of the Crucifixion — wood from the True Cross, iron nails, thorns from the Crown, and the Titulus that once proclaimed "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." She placed them within her own palace in Rome, transforming it into Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. Beneath its floors, soil from Calvary was spread so pilgrims might walk upon the very earth of Christ's sacrifice.

From the secret shrines of the catacombs to the glittering reliquaries of medieval Rome, this book traces the rise of relics as the material presence of the divine. It follows Helena's legendary pilgrimage, the birth of the basilica, and the long centuries in which the faithful wept, prayed, and climbed the Scala Sancta — the Holy Stairs said to have been trodden by Christ himself. Alongside the devotion came controversy: relic rivalries, medieval skepticism, Reformation critiques, and modern scientific testing.

History Uncovered: Santa Croce in Gerusalemme reveals how fragile fragments of wood, stone, and iron became lasting symbols of hope, power, and identity. More than a tale of relics, it's a meditation on humanity's longing to touch the divine through matter—and on why this Roman basilica endures as a living site of faith, memory, and wonder.

Perfect for lovers of history, theology, and cultural heritage, this book offers an unforgettable journey into the House of Holy Relics, where empire, faith, and mystery still converge.