Fr. Tim Kelly
A few days ago, doing a little spring cleaning at the Rectory, I came across some papers from my Roman days. These included original newspapers from 1929 commemorating the Lateran treaty between the Italian State and Mussolini. More of these later. But I also came across some forgotten which I had bought in a little store near the Colosseum.
The first print shows the removal of the bodies under the threat of violence. The soldiers are all around and the fearful Christians lift the bodies into a shaft that leads down into the catacombs. The inscription reads “The protection of the bodies of the Apostles in the catacombs.”
There is often some comment on evangelical radio shows that Peter and Paul never died in Rome and that this claim is merely a Catholic invention. We are told that the Scriptures do not attest to peter ever going to Rome. Yet we know from Paul himself that he did go there and that he expected to die there. Peter’s presence is attested by archaeological finds. We also know that Dionysius of Corinth wrote to the Church of Rome in the time of Bishop Soter, about 170 AD, to say thanks to the Roman Christians for their financial help. Recall that peter had founded the Church at Corinth before going on to Rome and that Paul had sopent several years there also.
"You have thus by such an admonition bound together the planting of Peter and of Paul at Rome and Corinth. For both of them planted and likewise taught us in our Corinth. And they taught together in like manner in Italy, and suffered martyrdom at the same time"
The cult of Peter and Paul is central to the Roman Church’s self identity and so images of them are everywhere in churches and even in street shrines. What I had not previously seen were depictions of the removal of the two bodies from their original graves to be hidden in the catacombs. The original location of the two bodies was well known in Rome. Peter was buried close to his execution place on the Vatican hill and a shrine was quickly erected over his grave by zealous Christians. The most ancient author who gives us this information is Gaius, a churchman of Rome who lived during the time of Pope Zephyrinus (198-217); Paul was buried beside the Via Ostiense where he had been beheaded. After the persecutions of Emperor Nero died down, these graves became places of prayer. Margherita Guarducci in her book The Tomb of St. Peter writes
There are many authoritative writers who testify to the fact that Peter came to Rome to bring the message of Christ, and that he suffered martyrdom in Rome during the reign of Nero (54-68). By comparing the testimony of St. Clement of Rome (about 96 A.D.) with a passage in the Annals of Tacitus, it can be established that the Apostle's martyrdom took place in the Vatican, more exactly, in the famous Gardens of Nero (perhaps in the arena which was its chief attraction), during one of those cruel exhibitions which - following the burning of Rome (July, 64 A.D.) - the emperor had arranged to appease the angry populace. From the testimony of various authors it can also be established with certitude that Peter was crucified
About the year 315 AD Emperor Constantine erected a big basilica outside Rome on the Appian Way and dedicated it to Peter and Paul. This church stands over the catacombs of St. Sebastian and his action begs the question as to why he dedicated the church to peter and Paul since their graves are elsewhere. This was because their bodies had been buried there for some years during persecutions in Rome. Later, when Christianity was established as the favored religion of the Empire, the remains were returned to thee places where they had been killed and reburied there. That is why pilgrims to the city go to St Peter’s in the Vatican and then to St. Paul’s outside the Walls to visit the tombs of the two Apostles. Margherita Guarducci in her book The Tomb of St. Peter writes
“A visitor to Rome who goes out to the Appian Way to the Church of St. Sebastian, at the place usually called in Catacumbas. This church, built at the third mile of the Appian Way, was once dedicated to the Apostles Peter and Paul, and that it is one of the great Christian houses of prayer constructed by Constantine to express his gratitude for the victory at the Milvian Bridge (October 28, 312). Another bit of information is usually added to this: that the remains of Peter and Paul were kept there for a certain period - according to the most popular version, from 258 until the time of Constantine. In 258, it is claimed, the remains were taken from their respective tombs; and in the time of Constantine, when the basilicas in the Vatican and on the Via Ostiense were complete ..”
It appears that these two prints are artist’s copies of frescoes in the portico of the old St Peter’s basilica, (built by Constantine in 315 ad.) which was pulled down around 1490 because it was dangerous. It was replaced by the great basilica with which we are familiar today.
The second print records that moment when the joyful Church brings the saints remains out of the catacombs and takes them back to the City for reburial. The inscription reads “The elevation of the bodies of the Apostles from the catacombs.”