Old Bones and Sacred Stones

The Thursday Pilgrimage to the Papal Basilicas was crowned by our second visit to San Pietro in Vaticano – the Mother of all Churches – I mean “the Mother Church of all Christendom…” I have walked around St. Peter’s probably 25 times over the years (this is my 7th trip to Rome.) I have celebrated Mass there. I have celebrated reconciliation there both as a penitent and as confessor. I have visited the grottoes with the tombs of the Popes. I have ascended to the top of Michelangelo’s dome. I have prayed before holy images and sacred relics. I have strolled the gardens and enjoyed every inch of the museums. I have been inspired by lofty speeches by great men in Michelangelo’s colonnaded Piazza. I have marveled at the art and been bowled over by the scope of the place. But nothing – nothing - compares to the experience I had on Thursday. I have heard that the tour of the "Vatican Scavi” was a great tour. I have tried on numerous previous occasions to get tickets, but there are very few given out and they are hard to come by. It is one of the few things in Rome that you cannot get by asking some one to “pull strings.” But even the demand and the difficulty did not prepare me for the reality. So what’s there that had me so awestruck?

Quite simply – a cemetery; or rather, a “necropolis,” or a city of the dead. The tour was technical, historical, and archeological. In the end it was also apologetic. The guide, Sarah, a young woman from New York (of Indian extraction) was clearly a scholar. She began methodically explaining why the 16th Century edifice that was currently occupied by literally thousands of pilgrims and tourists was built precisely where it was. She showed us the excavations that run the length of the Basilica, starting in the East end of the Church. She explained, as we walked through the narrow excavated corridors between walls of meticulously laid 2000 year old bricks, that we should envision a small city of tiny houses built as monuments to the dead and places to cultically honor ancestors. I thought of the above ground tombs in New Orleans – some of which are, quite literally little houses. Sarah told us that the corridors we walked had been tread by Roman pagans more than 20 centuries before. The only difference was that when they had walked them they would not have been ceilinged corridors, they would have been streets opened to the canopy of the sky, the sounds of the city and rush of the river. She spoke of pagan burial custom and rituals, she explained the various chambers of several of the tombs. She translated inscriptions that helped us understand this unique place. She helped us understand how this had moved from a pagan place to a place sacred to Christians in the first century. She showed us models of a succession of structures that had occupied this site since the legalization of Christianity: a 4th Century Basilica, a 12th Century expansion, a 16th Century Basilica (currently in use), but all began with one simple tomb that had been a center of Christian cultus not since the 4th Century, but since the 1st.

The question is asked: Why would the Emperor Constantine, anxious to expand the influence of Christianity and to bolster its claims, have chosen this site on which to build the first basilica (Roman administration building) dedicated exclusively to public, Christian worship? It was a site unworthy of such an exalted building for a number of reasons: It was not in central Rome, but rather out of the way. The slope of the Vatican hill would make for a very difficult foundation, the pagan nature of the place would offend Christians; and pagans, who were now being persecuted, would be outraged by this “desecration” of a place that had been sacred to them for perhaps centuries. So why here? The necropolis on this site had grown up around a major Neronian Circus (think Stadium) that had become the central place for the persecution and execution of Christians after Nero blamed them for the Fires of Rome. One particular martyrdom and the burial of its victim in that Necropolis began to change the nature of the Necropolis. Christians had long held that the body of the Apostle Peter was interred in that necropolis. From the first Century until the fourth, Peter’s tomb, including its location and precise shape, was well-known to Christians. This Necropolis was a major pilgrimage site from the 1st Century not only because it had been the site of Peter’s execution, but because it was the site of his burial. THAT is why Constantine chose this site. That is why there have been a succession of monuments and structures honoring Peter on this site.

Over the course of the Centuries, the tomb of Peter itself had become obscured by the projects of “current” Christian communities, though it had been held that the high altar of each successive building was built precisely over the tomb. The post-enlightenment obsession with empirical proof, and the need to renovate the crypt beneath St. Peter’s, led to the discovery of the intact portions of the necropolis and an ambitious archeological project to find the tomb, and (hopefully) relics of St. Peter.

Sarah the Guide, led us step-by-step through the archeological story. She used models, diagrams, and photos to prepare us for what each successive underground movement would let us see. She showed us walls of the 1st-4th Century structures that bore the Saints relics, she showed us the 12th Century tomb, that entirely encased the 4th Century monolith that had been erected to honor Peter. She showed us the floor levels of the Constantinian Basilica and the 12th Century altar. She explained how one archeologist broke through into the chamber that they were sure was Peter’s tomb and found bones. Had they found St. Peter? “Not unless he had 6 knees,” she said. They had found the knees of three people, two of whom were women and the third was a man who had died in his 40s. We knew that could not be Peter. Sarah lead us through the story of how they eventually and quite accidentally stumbled upon 25 bone fragments which were dated to the first century and were those of a man who had died in his 60s. (I have since read that they were also determined to be the bones of a Jewish man who died in the first century AD.) As we moved into the last room, Sarah explained what we would be looking at – as we rounded the corner and peered through a hole broken into a stone wall, there was a plexiglass case containing 16 bones believed by historians, archeologists, and Churchmen to be the bones of the Apostle Peter – there was the Rock on which Jesus (and Constantine, and Julius II) chose to build his Church.

So why was this such an amazing experience for me? I already believe in the special relationship between Peter and Jesus and the implications of that relationship for the leadership of the early Church. I already believe that our contemporary understanding of both ministry and authority rests firmly on the Rock. So what difference does this make? Those who know me well know that my conversion to Catholicism was driven largely by my love for history and the conviction that an historical understanding of faith is not only important, it is vital to a complete Catholic faith. History was so important in my conclusion that the Catholic Church was the Church founded by Jesus. This very scholarly approach to the Rock, this very logical unfolding of more than 1700 years of Catholic history – 1900 years of Christian history excites every fiber of my historian being. It is a marvelous exercise in history, archeology, and theology.

As I stood there peering into the tomb that held the bones of Peter, looking at what are likely the relics of that important 1st Century Christian figure, I was moved to tears. My faith was reaffirmed in a beautiful way. Proof? I don’t need proof; faith is not about proof. Encouragement? Connection? History? Oh yeah!

Then as I was standing there listening to Sarah explain to us that this tour and the history connected to it are enough for most historians to draw the conclusion that archeology had found the bones of the chief among Jesus’ apostles, I was grateful for my connection to it. I am always aware of the giants on whose shoulders we stand as a people of faith. I was proud of our Church and my faith. Then Sarah asked me if I would offer a prayer and blessing. Completely unexpected. It took me a second to compose myself – but I thanked God for the historical nature of our faith; and I asked that our study of history might lead us to deeper truth and more profound faith. I know I was asked to lead that prayer because I am a priest and I was wearing my habit, but it is a privilege that I accepted gladly. As I made the sign of the cross in blessing over those 13 or 14 pilgrims, I was so grateful for my priesthood and for our Church that recognizes the importance of history.

I encourage anyone who is coming to Rome to contact the Scavi Office and ask for a chance to take this tour. It is the best thing in Rome for 10 euro. This is the website where you can find more information: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/institutions_connected/uffscavi/documents/rc_ic_uffscavi_doc_gen-information_20040112_en.html

And the email address to request tickets: scavi@fsp.va