Vatican marks 1,700th anniversary of Constantine's conversion

A four-day academic congress gets underway at the Vatican today to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the battle of the Milvian Bridge and the conversion of Emperor Constantine.

Constantine ruled the Roman Empire from 306 to 337 and was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity.

The congress, "Constantine the Great, the Roots of Europe", is a collaboration between the Vatican Secret Archives, the Vatican Apostolic Library, the Italian National Research Council, the Ambrosian Library and the Sacred Heart Catholic University in Milan.

It is the first of two international academic congresses being arranged by the institutions, the second of which will take place in Milan next year to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the promulgation of the Edict of Milan, agreed by Emperor Constantine and Licinius Augustus to grant religious freedom across the empire.

The edict signalled the end of the persecution of Christians, which had often been severe up to that point.

According to Catholic news agency Zenit, this week's congress in Rome will look at the environment in which Constantine lived and the relations between Christians and the Roman Empire prior to 313.

It will also consider Constantine's conversion and baptism, and his attitude towards Christians following the battle of the Milvian Bridge on 28 October 312. His victory over rival Maxentius was interpreted by historical recorders to have been the result of divine intervention.

Father Bernard Ardura, president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, was quoted by Zenit as saying: "From a purely strategic-military viewpoint the battle was not very important, but it soon became the founding symbol of the new world which came into being when Constantine found Christianity.

"The era of imperial persecution against Christians was about to come to an end, giving way to the evangelisation of the entire empire and moulding the profile of western Europe and the Balkans, a Europe which gave rise to the values of human dignity, distinction and cooperation between religion and the state, and freedom of conscience, religion and worship.

"Of course these things would need many centuries to come to maturity, but they all existed 'in nuce' in the 'Constantinian revolution' and therefore in the battle of the Milvian Bridge."

The 2013 congress will explore the Constantinian revolution in greater depth.