v · pilgrimage during the ages of persecution , and it will be found recorded in certain Acts of the Martyrs that they were seized while praying at the tombs of the Apostles .[ 14 ]
During the reign of the Roman Emperor Valerian , Christian persecution was particularly severe . The remains of the dead , and particularly the Christian dead , had lost their usual protections under Roman law . The remains of Peter and Paul may have been removed temporarily from their original tombs in order to preserve them from desecration by the Romans . They may have been removed secretly by night and hidden in the Catacombs of S . Sebastiano in 258 AD , being returned to their original tombs in 260 when Valerian 's reign ended .[ 14 ]
Constantine 's basilica
When the Church was once more at peace under Constantine the Great , Christians were able at last to build edifices suitable for the celebration of Divine Service . The resting places of the relics of the Apostles were naturally among the first to be selected as the sites of great basilicas . The emperor supplied the funds for these buildings , in his desire to honor the memories of the two Apostles .
Much of the Vatican Hill was leveled to provide a firm foundation for the first St . Peter 's Basilica . The altar of the Basilica was planned to be located directly over the tomb . The matter was complicated by the upper chamber or memoria above the vault . This upper chamber had become endeared to the Romans during the ages of persecution , and they were unwilling that it should be destroyed .[ 14 ] The memoria was turned into the Chapel of the Confession . Above that was the main floor of the Basilica , with the raised altar directly over the Chapel of the Confession . The reverence in which the place has always been held has resulted in these arrangements remaining almost unchanged to the present time .
The Book of Popes details certain the adornments that Constantine apparently added to St . Peter 's tomb at this time .[ 12 ] The sarcophagus itself is said to have been enclosed on all sides with bronze , measuring 5 feet in each dimension . On top of that was laid a gold cross weighing 150 pounds and featuring an inscription , which translates from latin as "Constantine Augustus and Helena Augusta This House Shining with Like Royal Splendor a Court Surrounds ." However , any treasures that may have been present at the tomb are presumed to have been taken by the Saracens during their Sack of Rome in 846 .[ 15 ]
The skull of St . Peter is claimed to reside in the Basilica of St . John Lateran since at least the ninth century , alongside the skull of St . Paul .[ 16 ]
Modern excavation
Between 1939 and 1949 , the Vatican -led archaeological team overseen by Monsignor Ludwig Kaas , who had overall authority over the project ,[ 17 ] had uncovered a complex of pagan mausoleums under the foundations of St . Peter 's Basilica (the so called Vatican Necropolis ), dating to the 2nd and 3rd centuries .[ 18 ] Construction of Constantine 's Old St . Peter 's Basilica and of foundations for Bernini 's Baldacchino destroyed most of the vaulting of these semi -subterranean burial chambers . Among them was the so -called "Tomb of the Julii " with mosaics that appeared to be Christian . No mausoleum had ever been built directly beneath the present high altar of St Peter 's , which did however contain shallow burials , one dated by an impressed tile to the reign of Vespasian ; subsequently they had been attended with care , as later burials clustered round but did not encroach upon the space .[ 19 ] There was a small niched monument built into a wall ca . 160 . The discoveries made the pages of Life magazine .[ 20 ]
Bones transferred in 1942
In 1942 , the Administrator of St . Peter 's , Monsignor Ludwig Kaas , found remains in a second tomb in the monument . Being concerned that these presumed relics of a saint would not be accorded the respect they deserved , and having little understanding of correct archeological procedures , he secretly ordered these remains stored elsewhere for safe -keeping .[ 21 ]
After Kaas 's death , Professor Margherita Guarducci discovered these relics by chance . She informed Pope Paul VI of her belief that these remains were those of St . Peter . Bone testing revealed that the remains belonged to a man in his sixties . On June 26 , 1968 , Pope Paul VI announced that the relics of St . Peter had been discovered .
Possible ossuary of Peter in Jerusalem
In 1953 , two Franciscan monks discovered hundreds of 1st century ossuaries stored in a cave on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem . The archaeologists claimed to have discovered the earliest physical evidence of a Christian community in Jerusalem , including some very familiar Biblical names . The name inscribed on one ossuary read: "Shimon Bar Yonah " - Simon , the Son of Jonah , the original Biblical name of the Disciple Peter .[ 22 ]
The 43 inscriptions discovered in the Dominus Flevit cemetery between May 1953 and June 1955 were published with photographs by P . B . Bagatti and J . T . Milik in 1958 .[ 23 ] The inscriptions on the ossuaries also included the names Jesus , Joseph , Judas , Mathew , Martha , Mary and Mariame - with the inscriptions of the latter two names being written in Greek .
Nearby papal tombs
A seventeenth century map of the papal tombs thought to have been placed near Peter '
s
Main article: List of papal tombs
Very little is known about the burial of Peter 's immediate successors , prior to the period when popes are known with relative certainty to have been buried in the various Catacombs of Rome . Burial near Peter , on Vatican Hill , is attributed to: Pope Linus , Pope Anacletus , Pope Evaristus . Pope Telesphorus , Pope Hyginus , Pope Pius I , Pope Anicetus (later transferred to the Catacomb of Callixtus ), Pope Victor I .[ 24 ] Epigraphic evidence exists only for Linus , with the discovery of a burial slab marked "Linus " in 1615 ; however , the slab is broken such that it could have once read "Aquilinius " or "Anullinus ".[ 24 ]
With three exceptions , each pope prior to Anicetus , the first pope known to have been entombed in the Catacombs , is traditionally regarded as having been buried near Peter . A notable exception is Pope Clement I , who was traditionally regarded as having been martyred in the Black Sea near Crimea .[ 24 ] Similarly , the original tombs of Pope Alexander I and Pope Sixtus I are unknown , although there are several churches positing mutually contradictory claims of translation .[ 24 ]
See also
Notes
^ The location of the tomb with respect to the entire mausoleum complex is shown in this map . The tomb area is marked with the letter "P ". The details of the tomb area are shown in this drawing .
^ Guarducci , Margherita . "THE TOMB OF ST . PETER " . Hawthorn Books . http: //www .saintpetersbasilica .org /Necropolis /MG /TheTombofStPeter -4 .htm #necropolis . Retrieved 2009 -05 -27 . The age of these small buildings seems to vary from about AD 130 to about AD 300 .
^ Walsh , John Evangelist . "The Bones of St . Peter " . Doubleday & Co .. http: //www .saintpetersbasilica .org /Necropolis /JW /TheBonesofStPeter -2 .htm #buried . Retrieved 2009 -05 -27 .
^ Of the coins found with the bones , in a hollow beneath the niche of the earliest shrine on the site "one was of the Emperor Antoninus Pius (138 -161 ), six were from the years 168 -185 , and more than forty were from the years 285 -325 ," noted Roger T . O 'Callaghan , "Vatican Excavations and the Tomb of Peter ", The Biblical Archaeologist 16 .4 (December 1953 ) p . 71 . No mention of these discoveries was made in the official publication .
^ Walsh , John Evangelist . "The Bones of St . Peter " . Doubleday & Co .. http: //www .saintpetersbasilica .org /Necropolis /JW /TheBonesofStPeter -8 .htm #theory . Retrieved 2009 -05 -27 .
^ Guarducci , Margherita . "The Remains of Peter " . http: //www .saintpetersbasilica .org /Docs /RemainsofPeter .htm . Retrieved 2009 -05 -28 .
^ Eusebius (1999 ). Eusebius: The Church History . Kregel Academic . http: //books .google .com /books ?id =DwCS _rWsaEgC .
^ Tertullian . Scorpiace , Antidote for the Scorpion 's Sting . OrthodoxEbooks . http: //books .google .com /books ?id =KgpGs1wdle4C .
^ Cornelius Tacitus (1895 ). Annals of Tacitus . Macmillan and Co .. http: //books .google .com /books ?id =hc8 _AAAAYAAJ .
^ Barnes , Arthur (2006 ). St . Peter in Rome and His Tomb on the Vatican Hill . Kessinger Publishing . http: //books .google .com /books ?id =9aCb5YxyfDkC .
^ a b Schaff , Philip (1904 ). A select library of Nicene and post -Nicene fathers of the Christian church . The Christian literature company . http: //books .google .com /books ?id =84AXAAAAYAAJ . .
^ a b The book of the popes (Liber pontificalis ) . Columbia University Press . 1916 . http: //books .google .com /books ?id =Q3CxAAAAMAAJ .
^ Julian (Emperor of Rome ) (2004 ). Julian 's against the Galileans . Prometheus Books . http: //books .google .com /books ?id =T5PYAAAAMAAJ .
^ a b c "Tomb of St . Peter ". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company . 1913 .
^ Lanciani , Rodolfo Amedeo (1899 ). The destruction of ancient Rome . Macmillan company . http: //books .google .com /books ?id =bTQqAAAAYAAJ .
^ Cuming , H . Syer (December 1870 ). "Notes on a group of reliquaries " . J . British Archeological Association . http: //books .google .com /books ?id =UDAGAAAAQAAJ &pg =PA272 .
^ St . Peter 's Basilica , Rome - Archaeology and the Great Churches of the World
^ Officially published as Esplorazioni sotto la Confessione de San Pietro in Vaticano , B .M . Apollonj ,, A . Ferrua SJ , E . Josi , E . Kirschbaum SJ , eds ., 2 vols . (Vatican City ) 1951 ; the results were assessed in Roger T . O 'Callaghan , "Recent Excavations underneath the Vatican Crypts ", in The Biblical Archaeologist 12 (1949:1 -23 ) and "Vatican Excavations and the Tomb of Peter ", The Biblical Archaeologist 16 .4 (December 1953:70 -87 ).
^ This is the "open area P '. (O 'Callaghan 1953:76 ).
^ Life Magazine , March 27 , 1950:65 -79 , 82 , 85 (noted by O 'Callaghan 1953 , note 1 ); the niche shrine described in O 'Callaghan 1953:77ff .
^ [1 ]
^ The Secrets of the 12 Disciples , Channel 4 , transmitted on 23 March 2008 .
^ P . B . Bagatti , J . T . Milik , Gli Scavi del "Dominus Flevit " - Parte I - La necropoli del periodo romano (Gerusalemme: Tipografia dei PP . Francescani , 1958 ).
^ a b c d Reardon , Wendy J . (2004 ). The Deaths of the Popes . Macfarland & Company , Inc . ISBN 0786415274 .
External links
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann , Charles , ed (1913 ). "Tomb of St . Peter ". Catholic Encyclopedia . Robert Appleton Company .
Coordinates: 41 °54 ′08 ″N 12 °27 ′12 ″E / 41 .9022 °N 12 .4533 °E / 41 .9022 ; 12 .4533
Categories: Apostle Peter St . Peter 's Basilica New Testament history Christian sites of the Roman Empire Papal tombs Burials at St . Peter 's Basilica
Wikimedia Foundation .
2010 .
Look at other dictionaries:
Saint Peter — For other uses , see St . Peter (disambiguation ). Saint Peter the Apostle Painting of Saint Peter by Peter Paul Rubens depicting the saint as Pope (1611 1612 ). Prince of the Apostles , First Pope , Martyr , Preacher … Wikipedia
Saint Peter , Tomb of — • The history of the confusion and conflicting authorities surrounding the location of the tomb of Saint Peter Catholic Encyclopedia . Kevin Knight . 2006 … Catholic encyclopedia
Saint Peter 's Basilica — Present church of St . Peter s in Rome , begun by Pope Julius II in 1506 and completed in 1615 . It is the church of the popes and one of the world s largest churches . It was built to replace Old St . Peter s , erected by Constantine over Peter s … … Universalium
SAINT PETER 'S CHURCH , ROME — Because Saint Peter s , located in the Vatican in Rome , is the mother church of Roman Catholicism , it has historically been one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the world . Even during the Renaissance , a new structure was needed to … … Historical Dictionary of Architecture
Basilica of Saint Peter — Basilica of St . Peter † Catholic Encyclopedia ► Basilica of St . Peter TOPOGRAPHY The present Church of St . Peter stands upon the site where at the beginning of the first century the gardens of Agrippina lay . Her son , Caius … … Catholic encyclopedia
Saint Servatius — Infobox Saint name = Saint Servatius birth date = death date = 384 AD feast day = May 13 venerated in = Roman Catholic Church imagesize = 250px caption = Tomb of St . Servatius birth place = traditionally in Armenia death place = titles = beatified date =… … Wikipedia
Peter , Tomb of Saint — • The history of the confusion and conflicting authorities surrounding the location of the tomb of Saint Peter Catholic Encyclopedia . Kevin Knight . 2006 … Catholic encyclopedia
Peter Lombard — This file is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright … Wikipedia
Peter de Regalado — Saint Peter de Regalado Born 1390 Valladolid Died March 30 , 1456 Honored in Roman Catholic Church Beatified 11 March 1684 by Innocent XI Canonized … Wikipedia
saint ’s life — (saint ’s legend , hagiography ) One of the most popular literary genres in medieval Europe was the saint ’s life . These were short narrative biographies of holy men and women , most often martyrs , whose stories were intended to reveal the active … … Encyclopedia of medieval literature