Got up early today for our
Scavi Tour. We were at the Vatican, St
Peter’s by 8:00a. Our tour was a very
special tour of the Vatican. We toured
the Necropolis under St. Peter’s Basilica.
Only 250 people are allowed on this tour each day. Here is the history we learned on the tour:
The lower level of St.
Peter’s Basilica, called the grotto level is where most of the recent Pope’s
are now interred. In 1939, Pope Pius XI
asked to have the floor lowered, so there would be more head room in the area
of his final resting place. While
lowering the floor, the workers discovered that the Basilica is built on top of
an ancient burial site – a Necropolis.
The Necropolis dates back to the time of Christ, and earlier. Catholic history has always taught that St.
Peter’s Basilica (built in the early 1600’s) is built on top of St. Peter’s
tomb. Directly above the tomb, in the
middle of the Basilica, is a huge altar and canopy, sculpted by the renowned
artist Bernini; and above that is the signature dome by Michelangelo. Now a Necropolis had been discovered, and the
archeologists wished to learn more about what was under the Basilica. Pope Pius XI, ordered the workers to excavate
some of the Necropolis, but specifically to not explore the area under Bernini’s
altar where St. Peter was thought to be buried, for fear of finding something
that the church did not want to know.
Pope Pius XI died shortly after the excavations had begun. The famed archeologists pled with the new
Pope, Pope Pius XII, to continue the exploration towards St. Peter’s tomb. Pope Pius XII agreed.
The team of archeologists
uncovered an extensive Necropolis. Mostly ownned by wealthy pagan families form
Rome. As they neared St. Peter’s tomb,
they discovered a Christian burial site.
Then they uncovered the “Trophy of Gaius”. The Trophy of Gaius was a monument built by
the early Christians, to mark where they had buried St. Peter’s body after his
crucifixion. They would secretly visit
the site, and pray. A “graffiti wall”
was added to the side of the Trophy of Gaius monument, where the early Christians
would write notes on the stone tablet.
Finally they had found what was thought to be tomb that had been thought
to be St. Peter’s. When they analyzed
the remains (the bones) they determined they belonged to two women; one a 20
year old woman; a 40 year old man, and a mouse!
St. Peter was about 77 years old when he died. So these results posed a problem (as Pope
Pius XI had feared). The archeologists studied
the area closer and observed, that a part of the graffiti wall was
missing. They questioned the workers who
told them, they had found another set of bones - that had been interred inside
a small hole in the “graffiti wall”.
These bones had been set aside – not knowing why they were in the
graffiti wall. When these remains were
analyzed, they were found to be of a 70+ year old man. They further analyzed the dirt on the
remains, and found it had in fact come from directly below the Trophy of
Gaius! These had to be the bones of St. Peter.
They have theorized, the remains had been moved and hidden inside the
Trophy of Gaius - graffiti wall, to prevent authorities from confiscating the
real remains. So, all Catholics can now
breath o sigh of relief – St. Peter’s Basilica, the Bernini canopy, and
Michelangelo’s dome are indeed built directly above St. Peter’s tomb!
What a tour, it was awe
inspiring. No pictures allowed but here is a link to a web based
tour of the Necropolis and a look at St. Peter’s tomb and remains.
From there, we went onto
visit the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. Another beautiful piece by Michelangelo! No pictures allowed at the Chapel but here are some from the museum.
Back to our apartment for a
rest and then out to see Rome at night.
Went out tonight to see the
monuments and Basilica at night. We ate
at Piazza Navona. Great night for
walking around.
No comments:
Post a Comment