Underground
Today we began, as always, with prayer. My liturgy group (made up of 6 of us) was responsible for leading today. I took on the role of presiding at Morning and Evening Prayer. Heading down for the latter shortly.
We then headed back to St. Peter's for a tour of the excavations under the basilica. I had done this when I was a student but it was every bit as fascinating as I remembered. Our tour guide was a seminarian from Seattle who did an excellent job. They are required to a lot of study and are tested and certified by the Vatican to be official guides. Some of the men at the College in my time did this as well so it seems to be a well established tradition.
We began in the area that once was the Circus of Nero. It had been a marshy area that was unused and Nero wanted to build a circus. Since there was no more room in Rome proper he built it on the unused Vatican hill. In the Circus was an obelisk that was later moved to the center of St. Peter's Square where it stands today. Beside the Circus a necropolis (city of the dead) grew up and was used by many of the wealthy Romans to bury their dead. They did not have our modern day squeamishness with having a graveyard next to what was essentially a stadium. In fact, a few of the mausoleums were used for family gatherings before and after the games. One is even two stories high and archaeologists speculate that the family would watch the games from their ancient "box seats." Pretty fascinating.
We followed the street of the necropolis and were able to see into some well preserved tombs. Some were highly decorated and one was positively lavish.
When the emperor Constantine became Christian he decided to build a church in honor of his new found religion. That church was the original St. John Lateran. It turned out that not many of the early Christians visited this church. When he asked why the pope said they were going to the necropolis to visit the tomb of St. Peter who was buried there after his death. According to tradition Peter was crucified upside down and the Christians of Rome came and stole his body (cutting it down by cutting off his feet and letting the body drop). He was buried in a shallow grave nearby with no monument. However, word of mouth spread the location of the tomb and it became a kind of pilgrimage spot. Over time a monument was built to mark the spot as Christianity became less dangerous and more public.
When Constantine discovered that this was where people were going he built a second church - the original St. Peter's. It looked very different than today. It resembled the layout of St. Paul outside the Walls if you have seen that with a colonnaded courtyard in front of the church itself. To do that he leveled the hill and filled in the mausoleums (he gave families one year to remove their dead and the jewels, etc. that had been buried with them. As that happened, some Christians moved their dead into the vacated tombs to have them close to Peter.
Constantine placed the altar of his basilica over the tomb of St. Peter. You can still see one of the columns of the monument built over the tomb. Over time the fact that there was a necropolis under the basilica was forgotten until excavations began to take place around 1930 looking for the tomb of St. Peter. Because of the threats surrounding the time leading up to WWII the excavations were done in secret - no publicity, no power tools and only at night.
When they came upon the tomb, Pope Pius XII came down and received the bones that were found in the grave and placed them reverently in boxes. The bones were sent for analysis and came back as bones from several people, including women and a child. Disappointing! However, a later discovery was made of a niche carved into the wall of the original monument which was lined in marble and contained bones. These were determined to be bones of a 60 year old man from Galilee who lived in the first century. These are the bones venerated as those of St. Peter. Scholars believe that the bones were disinterred at the time of the barbarian invasions when gold, jewels and precious things were being stripped from churches and other buildings. Ax marks show that these things were removed from the altar over the tomb so it was good foresight to move the bones, Their location was again forgotten until rediscovered mid-20th century.
We had an opportunity to see the bones and read from Scripture about Peter's profession of faith. It was very moving. As a lover of history I found it a fascinating day.
Tomorrow we are having a morning to introduce ourselves a little more to the others and then have a free weekend. I don't have plans this weekend but will probably try to go to Mass in the city and then have a nice lunch. Not sure what else will unfold.
We then headed back to St. Peter's for a tour of the excavations under the basilica. I had done this when I was a student but it was every bit as fascinating as I remembered. Our tour guide was a seminarian from Seattle who did an excellent job. They are required to a lot of study and are tested and certified by the Vatican to be official guides. Some of the men at the College in my time did this as well so it seems to be a well established tradition.
We began in the area that once was the Circus of Nero. It had been a marshy area that was unused and Nero wanted to build a circus. Since there was no more room in Rome proper he built it on the unused Vatican hill. In the Circus was an obelisk that was later moved to the center of St. Peter's Square where it stands today. Beside the Circus a necropolis (city of the dead) grew up and was used by many of the wealthy Romans to bury their dead. They did not have our modern day squeamishness with having a graveyard next to what was essentially a stadium. In fact, a few of the mausoleums were used for family gatherings before and after the games. One is even two stories high and archaeologists speculate that the family would watch the games from their ancient "box seats." Pretty fascinating.
We followed the street of the necropolis and were able to see into some well preserved tombs. Some were highly decorated and one was positively lavish.
When the emperor Constantine became Christian he decided to build a church in honor of his new found religion. That church was the original St. John Lateran. It turned out that not many of the early Christians visited this church. When he asked why the pope said they were going to the necropolis to visit the tomb of St. Peter who was buried there after his death. According to tradition Peter was crucified upside down and the Christians of Rome came and stole his body (cutting it down by cutting off his feet and letting the body drop). He was buried in a shallow grave nearby with no monument. However, word of mouth spread the location of the tomb and it became a kind of pilgrimage spot. Over time a monument was built to mark the spot as Christianity became less dangerous and more public.
When Constantine discovered that this was where people were going he built a second church - the original St. Peter's. It looked very different than today. It resembled the layout of St. Paul outside the Walls if you have seen that with a colonnaded courtyard in front of the church itself. To do that he leveled the hill and filled in the mausoleums (he gave families one year to remove their dead and the jewels, etc. that had been buried with them. As that happened, some Christians moved their dead into the vacated tombs to have them close to Peter.
Constantine placed the altar of his basilica over the tomb of St. Peter. You can still see one of the columns of the monument built over the tomb. Over time the fact that there was a necropolis under the basilica was forgotten until excavations began to take place around 1930 looking for the tomb of St. Peter. Because of the threats surrounding the time leading up to WWII the excavations were done in secret - no publicity, no power tools and only at night.
When they came upon the tomb, Pope Pius XII came down and received the bones that were found in the grave and placed them reverently in boxes. The bones were sent for analysis and came back as bones from several people, including women and a child. Disappointing! However, a later discovery was made of a niche carved into the wall of the original monument which was lined in marble and contained bones. These were determined to be bones of a 60 year old man from Galilee who lived in the first century. These are the bones venerated as those of St. Peter. Scholars believe that the bones were disinterred at the time of the barbarian invasions when gold, jewels and precious things were being stripped from churches and other buildings. Ax marks show that these things were removed from the altar over the tomb so it was good foresight to move the bones, Their location was again forgotten until rediscovered mid-20th century.
We had an opportunity to see the bones and read from Scripture about Peter's profession of faith. It was very moving. As a lover of history I found it a fascinating day.
Tomorrow we are having a morning to introduce ourselves a little more to the others and then have a free weekend. I don't have plans this weekend but will probably try to go to Mass in the city and then have a nice lunch. Not sure what else will unfold.
One of the pagan mausoleums
The necropolis under St. Peter's Basilica
Near St. Peter's Tomb
Comments
Sounds like you are having a wonderful time already!
Enjoy the weather! It's is incredibly cold here! Way below 0!!!
Karen Schenk